inch

UK: /ˈɪntʃ/ US: /ɪntʃ/ ,(inch)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

inch¹ /ɪntʃ/   n. [countable]

1. Weights and Measures a unit of length, 1&sfracdenom;12&sfracend; of a foot, equivalent to 2.54 centimeters.
2. a very small amount, degree, or distance:
   avoiding disaster by inches.

v. 

3. to move by small degrees: [no object]
   We inched slowly through the traffic.
   [~ + object]
   The driver inched her truck carefully into the spot.

Idioms

4. Idioms every inch, in every respect;
   completely:
   She's every inch a lady.
5. Idioms within an inch of, nearly;
   close to:
   We came within an inch of being drowned.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

inch¹  (inch), n. 

1. Weights and Measures a unit of length, ¹⁄₁₂ foot, equivalent to 2.54 centimeters.
2. a very small amount of anything;
   narrow margin:
   to win by an inch; to avert disaster by an inch.
3. Idioms by inches:
   • narrowly;
     by a narrow margin:
     escaped by inches.
   • Also, inch by inch. by small degrees or stages;
     gradually:
     The miners worked their way through the narrow shaft inch by inch.
4. Idioms every inch, in every respect;
   completely:
   That horse is every inch a thoroughbred.
5. Idioms within an inch of, nearly;
   close to:
   He came within an inch of getting killed in the crash.

v.t., v.i. 

6. to move by inches or small degrees:
   We inched our way along the road.

• Latin uncia twelfth part, inch, ounce. See ounce¹
• bef. 1000; Middle English; Old English ynce

inch²  (inch), n. [Scot.]

1. Scottish Terms a small island near the seacoast.

• Scots Gaelic innse, genitive of innis island, Old Irish inis, cognate with Welsh ynys
• late Middle English 1375–1425

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

inch / ɪntʃ/ noun

1. a unit of length equal to one twelfth of a foot or 0.0254 metre
2. an amount of precipitation that would cover a surface with water one inch deep
3. a unit of pressure equal to a mercury column one inch high in a barometer
4. a very small distance, degree, or amount
5. every inch ⇒ in every way; completely: he was every inch an aristocrat
6. inch by inch ⇒ gradually; little by little
7. within an inch of ⇒ very close to

verb

1. to move or be moved very slowly or in very small steps: the car inched forward
2. (transitive) followed by out: to defeat (someone) by a very small margin

Etymology: Old English ynce, from Latin uncia twelfth part; see ounce¹

inch / ɪntʃ/ noun

1. a small island

Etymology: 15th Century: from Gaelic innis island; compare Welsh ynys