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Inch   Listen
verb
Inch  v. t.  (past & past part. inched; pres. part. inching)  
1.
To drive by inches, or small degrees. (R.) "He gets too far into the soldier's grace And inches out my master."
2.
To deal out by inches; to give sparingly. (R.)






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Inch" Quotes from Famous Books



... resolved to marry him to a daughter of the Prince de Conde. The Prince was greatly pleased at the project. He had three daughters for M. du Maine to choose from: all three were extremely little. An inch of height, that the second had above the others, procured for her the preference, much to the grief of the eldest, who was beautiful and clever, and who dearly wished to escape from the slavery ...
— The Memoirs of Louis XIV., His Court and The Regency, Complete • Duc de Saint-Simon

... this we cite the following illustration: Two bodies, each having a mass of 4 pounds, and one inch apart, are attracted toward each other, so they touch. If one has twice the mass of the other, the smaller will draw the larger only one-quarter of an inch, and the large one will draw the other three-quarters of an inch, thus confirming the law that two bodies will attract ...
— Aeroplanes • J. S. Zerbe***

... every condition of horror, borne, shattered and shrieking, by thoughtless hands, who banged the stretchers against pillars and posts, dumped them anywhere, and walked over the men without compassion. Imagine an immense river-steamboat filled on every deck: every berth, every square inch of room, covered with wounded men,—even the stairs and gangways and guards filled with those who were less badly wounded; and then imagine fifty well men, on every kind of errand, hurried and impatient, rushing to and ...
— Woman's Work in the Civil War - A Record of Heroism, Patriotism, and Patience • Linus Pierpont Brockett

... approaches the nearest to the Black Hole of Calcutta of any city that I have sojourned in. The lower part of the town is badly drained, and very filthy. The flies, on a moderate calculation, are in many parts fifty to the square inch. I wonder that they have not a contagious disease here during the whole summer; it is, however, indebted to heavy rains for its occasional purification. They have not the yellow-fever here; but during the autumn they have one which, under another name, is almost as fatal—the bilious congestive ...
— Diary in America, Series One • Frederick Marryat (AKA Captain Marryat)

... convey intelligence to Walker, that he had troops and provisions on board for their relief, but found it impracticable to sail up the river: he promised, however, that he would land a body of forces at the Inch, and endeavour to make a diversion in their favour-, when joined by the troops at Inniskilling, which amounted to five thousand men, including two thousand cavalry. He said he expected six thousand men from England, where they were embarked before he set sail. He exhorted them to persevere ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. - From William and Mary to George II. • Tobias Smollett

... in the bedroom which had created such a tumult, frightening Burke within an inch of his life, and driving him pellmell away and to his bed, where he had remained until the following Tuesday. Both had utterly vanished by the time I effected an ...
— The Paternoster Ruby • Charles Edmonds Walk

... attracted attention anywhere. Years had added no roundness to his frame. His nose was aquiline, perhaps a trifle too fine in lines; and his mouth might have been too large if uncovered by a silvery white mustache, whose training bespoke a minute, an almost effeminate, care. Now he looked every inch a gentleman going for a morning canter, except for the compact, high-powered rifle resting easily in the hollow ...
— Sunlight Patch • Credo Fitch Harris

... foe; the Bruce was at our head, and with him victory. We burst through their ranks; we compelled them, at the sword's point, to turn and fight even to the death; we followed them foot to foot, and hand to hand, disputing every inch of ground; they sought to retreat, to fly—but no! Five miles of Scottish ground, five good broad miles, was that battle-field; the enemy lay dead in heaps upon the field, the ...
— The Days of Bruce Vol 1 - A Story from Scottish History • Grace Aguilar

... more steps leading down, and another passage, and then a second door locked and barred. Before this door the shadows halted, huddled together. "Hist—st!" Instantly the floor under them began to quiver and drop, inch by inch, foot by foot, down a well of continued blackness. The minutes passed. They still dropped lower and lower, so low that they were now below the level of the canal; down, down into the very foundations of the tenement, once a palace. ...
— The Black Cross • Olive M. Briggs

... supposed to be generated spontaneously; and this alleged fact rests not on direct proof, but only on our inability in certain cases to trace the process of their production in the ordinary way. As many of these animals, in their perfect state, are not more than the twelve thousandth part of an inch in diameter, it is not much to be wondered at, that we should not be able in all cases to discover their ova, or to follow these ova through all their stages of development into the complete being. It is farther remarkable, that these animalcules, when ...
— A Theory of Creation: A Review of 'Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation' • Francis Bowen

... sixteen inches of slope—not more. If we were on the spot I shouldn't have to explain. On the other side, you know, I shall raise the path about three feet. When all that's done, M. Mauperin, do you know that there won't be an inch of my land that will not have been ...
— Rene Mauperin • Edmond de Goncourt and Jules de Goncourt

... a big car drove up and a figure stepped out—a figure known to the whole world—Sir Douglas Haig. Well groomed, handsome, quick of his movement, he looked as he was, every inch a soldier. As he approached the groups everyone stood to attention; the senior officer gave the salute, and the ...
— On the Fringe of the Great Fight • George G. Nasmith

... the bill was contested inch by inch, and by division on division, till eleven at night, after our wise leaders had whittled down the minority to twenty-four.(823) Charles Townshend, they say, surpassed all he had ever done, in a wrangle ...
— The Letters of Horace Walpole Volume 3 • Horace Walpole

... roll o' the vessel, down she come sliding, and sliding, nearer and nearer, till the splintered end brought up ag'in the wreck o' my gun. But presently I see it begin to slide ag'in nearer to me—very slow, d'ye see—inch by inch, and there's me pinned on the flat o' my back, watching it come. 'Another foot,' I sez, 'and there's an end o' Jerry Tucker—another ten inches, another eight, another six.' Lord, young sir, I heaved and I strained at that crushed leg ...
— The Amateur Gentleman • Jeffery Farnol et al

... and forth and from side to side and little by little, inch by inch, she could feel something giving way; she was not sure, yet, whether it was the tub, the paint or herself; but something was giving way. And at last, with one agonizing jerk, she broke away and arose to her feet. And then she turned ...
— Continuous Vaudeville • Will M. Cressy

... the case with Tripoxylon figulus. To obtain the store-rooms wherein to deposit her scanty stock of Spiders, she divides her borrowed cylinder into very unequal cells, by means of slender clay partitions. Some are a centimetre (.39 inch.—Translator's Note.) deep, the proper size for the insect; others are as much as two inches. These spacious rooms, out of all proportion to the occupier, reveal the reckless extravagance of a casual proprietress whose ...
— Bramble-bees and Others • J. Henri Fabre

... HEADING. In all business letters the writer's address and the date of writing should precede the letter and be placed at the upper right hand side of the sheet not less than an inch from the top. This address and date is called the HEADING. In friendly letters the parts of the heading are sometimes placed at the end of the letter on the left side a short distance below the body of the letter. This is permissible, but ...
— Practical Grammar and Composition • Thomas Wood

... committing to-day some rash act which they would gladly repent and repeal to-morrow, is both touching and edifying. But it exists only in the minds of the philosophers, who find a reason for everything just because it is there. Members of Parliament, I have observed, seem to know their own minds every inch as well as earls—nay, ...
— Post-Prandial Philosophy • Grant Allen

... as the ball is warned; then a seizure of the disputed bladder, and futile endeavors to give it another impetus, ending in stout grappling and the endeavor to force it through. Now there is fierce issue; neither party gives an inch. Now there is a side movement and roll of the struggling orb as to relieve the pressure. Now one party gives a little, then closes desperately in again on the encouraged enemy. Now a dozen are down in a heap, and there is momentary cessation, then up ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol. 2, No 3, September, 1862 - Devoted to Literature and National Policy. • Various

... at the beginning of this letter, cultivating my farm and my talents with the utmost care. The little girl grew and grew till I thought she would never stop; and by the time she was sixteen she was at least an inch taller than I was. Many people like those prodigious women of five feet six—I'm only five feet five myself, which I believe was the exact measurement of Napoleon; and I must confess that when I looked on Martha Brown—that was her name—a sort of compliment I always thought to the complexion ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 364, February 1846 • Various

... did more than startle. At about 11 in the morning two six-inch shells hit the Hardinge near the southern entrance of the lake. The first damaged the funnel and the second burst inboard. Pilot Carew, a gallant old merchant seaman, refused to go below when the firing opened and lost a leg. Nine others were wounded. One or two merchantmen ...
— New York Times Current History: The European War, Vol 2, No. 1, April, 1915 - April-September, 1915 • Various

... independent in thought, and the problems of a new country, and the lack of stability inherent to the colonist, robbed them of the fanatical love of the earth, which is perhaps the strongest trait of the peasant. Every inch of the ground up to the cliffs above the sea, in Millet's country, represented the struggle of man with nature; and each parcel of land, every stone in the walls which kept the earth from being engulfed in the floods beneath, bore marks of his handiwork. Small wonder, then, ...
— McClure's Magazine, Vol. VI., No. 6, May, 1896 • Various

... egressed from the room in the inner end and interposed her remarks. "Such a being as you are," she said, "shouldn't surely be allowed by Mr. Chia Cheng, an inch or a step from his side, and then you'll be all right. But just then it slipped my memory, for why didn't I, when your father was present, instigate him to bid you compose a rhythmical enigma; and you would, I have ...
— Hung Lou Meng, Book I • Cao Xueqin

... gallop, prance, and curvet; the veins of their faces and legs seem distended with circulation. The beholder is charmed with the deer-like lightness and elegance of their make; and although the relief is not above an inch from the background, and they are so much smaller than nature, we can scarcely suffer reason to persuade us they are not alive." The Greeks also carved gems, cameos, medals, and vases, with unapproachable excellence. Very few specimens have come down to our times, but those ...
— Beacon Lights of History, Volume III • John Lord

... again. He'll work his fines well out on 'em, I'll warrant. He's as slippery as an eel, he is. He's like a cat,—as sleek, and cunning, and fierce. It'll never be an honest up and down fight wi' him, as it will be wi' Thornton. Thornton's as dour as a door-nail; an obstinate chap, every inch on him,—th' ...
— North and South • Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

... Lurgan Sahib, fifteen feet off, laid one hand on the jar. Next instant, it stood at Kim's elbow, full to within half an inch of the brim—the white cloth only showing, by a small wrinkle, where it had slid ...
— Kim • Rudyard Kipling

... he, when he again entered the counting-house, "not a bit of it. He's all Goodrick, or whatever his mother's name was, every inch ...
— International Miscellany of Literature, Art and Science, Vol. 1, - No. 3, Oct. 1, 1850 • Various

... asked his followers to love their enemies even as themselves, could not have sung of his enemies, 'confound his enemies frustrate their knavish tricks.' The last book that Dr. Wallace wrote set forth his deliberate conviction that the much vaunted advance of science had added not an inch to the moral stature of Europe. The last war however has shown, as nothing else has, the Satanic nature of the civilization that dominates Europe to day. Every canon of public morality has been broken by the victors in ...
— Freedom's Battle - Being a Comprehensive Collection of Writings and Speeches on the Present Situation • Mahatma Gandhi

... place of the troublesome and extravagant petticoat of the old days. It was they who introduced smocked pinafores to you; and those modish patent-leather belts for children at which your grandmothers would have raised horrified hands. They taught you that an inch of hand embroidery is worth a yard of cheap lace. And as for style, cut, line—you can tell a Horn & Udell child from among a flock ...
— Fanny Herself • Edna Ferber

... handle of a dirk; and in a large glass case magnificent ornaments for the turban. There must have been thousands of diamonds in these head-pieces, besides some of the largest pearls I have ever seen; a ruby three-quarters of an inch square; four emeralds nearly two inches long; and a great variety of all kinds of precious stones. The handle and sheath of one sword were entirely covered with diamonds and rubies. There were rings and clasps, and antique bowls filled with uncut stones, ...
— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. XVII. No. 101. May, 1876. • Various

... in on either side, and the Indian sent the canoe twisting in and out amid their tall stalks like a creeping panther. He seemed to know every inch of the way, and followed it as well as if ...
— Frank Merriwell Down South • Burt L. Standish

... and examined the wound closely. The bullet had entered near the point of the shoulder, but a little below, so that it had merely cut a secant through the curve of the muscle. If it had struck a quarter of an inch to the left it would have gouged a furrow; a quarter of an inch beyond that would have caused it to miss entirely. Fay saw that the hurt itself was slight, and that the Easterner had fainted more because of loss of blood than from the shock. ...
— The Claim Jumpers • Stewart Edward White

... back of his head on his heels. His own brother is one of our reporters and what Dan did to Dave when Dave made a holler at the door is a matter of record on the emergency-hospital blotter. That's straight! Inch of sword-blade. ...
— All-Wool Morrison • Holman Day

... Marshall, which had performed extremely severe duty in the campaign of 1776, was placed in a wood on the right, and in front of Woodford's brigade, and Stephen's division. Though attacked by much superior numbers, it maintained its position without losing an inch of ground, until both its flanks were turned, its ammunition nearly expended, and more than half the officers, and one third of the soldiers were killed and wounded. Colonel Marshall, whose horse had received two balls, then retired in good order to resume his position on the ...
— The Life of George Washington, Vol. 2 (of 5) • John Marshall

... we were within a mile of a village named Tone, a wild boar, closely pressed by a man with a spear, rushed down through the woods, and around a huge mass of rocks. The hunter, knowing every inch of the ground, sprang round a shorter curve, and reached the path at the end of the gully just as the boar at full trot leaped down. Levelling his long weapon, with all his might he drove the blade with a terrific lunge between the boar's ribs, just back ...
— Harper's Young People, January 13, 1880 - An Illustrated Weekly • Various

... guns of 6-inch calibre, firing a shell of 100 pounds, are used against targets beyond the range of light and medium guns, and with greater effect. Heavy Howitzers, of 8-inch or 9.2-inch calibre, are principally employed ...
— Lectures on Land Warfare; A tactical Manual for the Use of Infantry Officers • Anonymous

... units were being organised in America. The projector at-tracted the Americans, and they were ready, as General Fries informs us, to launch a big projector gas attack, when Marshal Foch's counter attack disorganised the front concerned. They then turned their attention to the use of the four-inch Stokes mortar in an attempt to neutralise the German machine-gun nests, using phosphorus for smoke and thermit shell, and continued to assist the infantry either by taking part in the preparations for ...
— by Victor LeFebure • J. Walker McSpadden

... The door opened an inch, and the slot of light from within was interrupted by a rolling eyeball which surmounted a pair of ...
— Lady Luck • Hugh Wiley

... the sail, and some to the 'down-haul,' and got it in; the helm being put hard down, up, head to sea, came the lifeboat, and overboard went the anchor, taking with it coil after coil of the great white five-inch cable of Manilla hemp; and to this they also bent a second cable, in order to ride by a long scope, thus running out about 160 fathoms or 320 yards of cable. They dropped anchor therefore nearly a ...
— Heroes of the Goodwin Sands • Thomas Stanley Treanor

... pound of nice brown sugar into a quart of flour, sift it, and make it into a paste, with four ounces of butter melted in as much milk as will wet it; knead it till light, roll it tolerably thin, cut it in strips an inch wide, and just long enough to lay in a plate; bake them on a griddle, put them in the plate in rows to checker each other, and serve them ...
— The Virginia Housewife • Mary Randolph

... was lifted to the back of her head. He pressed it forward, and she was forced slowly, slowly, fighting every inch of the way to keep her face out of reach of his lips. His face drew nearer hers. She felt his hot breath upon her cheeks. She shut her eyes to keep the sight of his hated, terrifying eyes out, but ever his ...
— The Twins of Suffering Creek • Ridgwell Cullum

... forward upon her hands, she tested cautiously the strength of her wounded leg, smothering groans of pain that seemed to tear her throat in the swallowing. But the whispering of the night-wind was like a spur in her side; inch by inch, she crawled steadily ...
— The Ward of King Canute • Ottilie A. Liljencrantz

... 592) chose to omit this tale, which is founded on historic facts and interests us by suggesting a comparison between Medival Moslem superstitions and those of our xixth Century, which to our descendants will appear as wild, if not as picturesque, as those of The Nights. The "inspired British inch" and the building by Melchisedek (the Shaykh of some petty Syrian village) will compare not unaptly with the enchanted swords, flexible glass and guardian spirits. But the Pyramidennarren is a race which will not speedily die out: it ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 5 • Richard F. Burton

... to-night"—the song that led the Americans to victory in Cuba and the Philippines? We know the names of hundreds of finicky little poets and novelists and pianists; but their work never shook a nation one inch, or cheered men in sickness and despair. Of the men who really captured and interpreted the national soul we know nothing and care less; and how much they get for their copyrights is a matter that even themselves do not seem to take with sufficient seriousness. ...
— Nights in London • Thomas Burke

... by inch, his shadow just before him, and in spite of his injunction, I could not refrain from following, so as to get a good view of the encounter; and besides, I argued with myself, how could I be ready to help unless I was ...
— Mass' George - A Boy's Adventures in the Old Savannah • George Manville Fenn

... deep, none less than 250 feet, the iron casing 10-inch diameter, the pipe 6-inch or 8-inch, and the mill-wheels 20 feet in diameter; this huge wind power being necessary to pump up from such a depth a sufficiency of water. The water was pumped directly ...
— Ranching, Sport and Travel • Thomas Carson

... the young Amazon's fury. Her eyes were like live coals, flashing at him hatred and defiance. Beneath the skin smock she wore, her breath came raggedly and deeply. Neither of them spoke, but her gaze did not yield a thousandth part of an inch to his. ...
— Man Size • William MacLeod Raine

... Marcel returned, and found them locked in a mutual embrace, and dissolved in tears. The floor was half an inch deep in fluid—either from that cause or the liquor that had been spilt. He stumbled against the table, and remarked the splendid relics of the sumptuous feast. He tried the bottles, they were utterly empty. He attempted to rouse Schaunard, but ...
— Bohemians of the Latin Quarter • Henry Murger

... you value your life don't touch it!" cried the colonel. "That's what I was looking for! Don't so much as scratch yourself the hundredth part of an inch or— Well, you saw Singa ...
— The Diamond Cross Mystery - Being a Somewhat Different Detective Story • Chester K. Steele

... call for a fork, eh?" said he, after watching the mate apparently come within an inch of cutting his ...
— Mr. Trunnell • T. Jenkins Hains

... on the fair face deepened a shade: the little chin was raised a full inch, and the voice became ...
— Dead Man's Rock • Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

... He was tall—if an inch above six feet be tall, but not of his brother's fine proportion. He was thin, with long slender fingers and feet like his mother's. His small, strong bones were covered with little more than hard muscle, but every motion of limb or body was grace. ...
— What's Mine's Mine • George MacDonald

... lily-stems with his long, pendulous nose, was the biggest and blackest bull moose in the world. As he pulled the roots from the mud and tossed up his dripping head I could see his horns—four and a half feet across, if they were an inch, and the palms shining like tea-trays in the moonlight. I tell you, old Silverhorns was the most beautiful ...
— Days Off - And Other Digressions • Henry Van Dyke

... not compensate for nine-inch shoulders and spindle legs," he answered. "But I'm going to get well. Knowing you has given me renewed desire to be a man. I'm going to ride and rough it, and sleep out of doors till I can follow you anywhere. You'll be proud of me before the month is out. But I'm going ...
— The Forester's Daughter - A Romance of the Bear-Tooth Range • Hamlin Garland

... scoundrel," he said. "I know very well who you are and what you want, and I'm going to thrash you within an inch ...
— The Bittermeads Mystery • E. R. Punshon

... cloth, trowsers of black wool, a silk waistcoat, boots and linen." On the margin there stood: ex-ambassador, and a note which we also copy: "In a separate box, a neatly frizzed peruke, green glasses, seals, and two small quills an inch long, wrapped in cotton." All this belonged to the statesman, the ex-ambassador. This whole costume was, if we may so express ourselves, debilitated; the seams were white, a vague button-hole yawned at one of the elbows; moreover, ...
— Les Miserables - Complete in Five Volumes • Victor Hugo

... of Bilin is stated by M. Ehrenberg to form a 'series' of strata fourteen feet in thickness, entirely made up of the siliceous shells of 'Gaillonellae', of such extreme minuteness that a cubic inch of the stone contains forty-one thousand millions! The 'Bergmehl' ('mountain meal' or 'fossil farina') of San Fiora, in Tuscany, is one mass of animalculites. See the interesting work of G. A. Mantell, 'On the Medals of Creation', vol. i., p. ...
— COSMOS: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe, Vol. 1 • Alexander von Humboldt

... were many accidents, and then one or both of them would nurse a punctured skin for a few days. So, while blood was often let on both sides, the training produced a fearless swordsman who was so truly the master of his point that he could stop a thrust within a fraction of an inch of ...
— The Outlaw of Torn • Edgar Rice Burroughs

... 1860, the cycling world fluttered in a manner that must have been very encouraging to the artist. His machine, they said, was the most wonderful one ever placed on the market. Sir H. H. Fowler, it was said, was sitting on a half-inch tube without a saddle, and "working with his heels on pedals shaped like a Mexican gaucho's stirrup"—but his critics had clearly never seen a gaucho's stirrup. "Nor has the lady—riding behind, instead of ...
— The History of "Punch" • M. H. Spielmann

... the triple movement of dialectic, and so the nature of God as presented in religion must be a triplicity, a trinity.' But beyond thus naming Goethe and Wordsworth and establishing the trinity, Mr. Haldane's Hegelianism carries us hardly an inch into the concrete detail of the world we ...
— A Pluralistic Universe - Hibbert Lectures at Manchester College on the - Present Situation in Philosophy • William James

... Nellie sprang upon Joe and endeavored to stop his march toward the derrick in the near distance, the ponderous arm of which stretched enticingly out some nine feet above the ground. Without swerving an inch to the right or the left, Joe hurried on toward it, while with his disengaged hand, and without apparently using any force, he kept ...
— A Lover in Homespun - And Other Stories • F. Clifford Smith

... of the Pickwickians attended the breakfast. Mr. Pickwick's dignity was too great for him to don a fancy costume, but the rest wore them, Tupman going as a bandit in a green velvet coat with a two-inch tail. ...
— Tales from Dickens • Charles Dickens and Hallie Erminie Rives

... eyes as big and as bright and as yellow (o' my word)—as yellow as two crown pieces! They looked out from under her thick eyebrows like sunlight peeping from a heavy cloud. And she was made like a lad for suppleness. Taller than her mother by head and shoulders, and within a full inch o' my forelock. By'r lay'kin! how she could sing too! She would troll thee a ditty i' th' voice o' a six-foot stripling, but for a' that, as sweet as bells far away on a still noon in summer-tide. And she ...
— A Brother To Dragons and Other Old-time Tales • Amelie Rives

... also has its influence on the unit of exposure. For instance, we may have a half-inch oil-burner, in which case we would probably have to expose a standard negative at four inches in order to get the proper contrasts. But this is out of the question with a negative of 5 x 7 or over, as a reference to the diagram, Fig. 1, will clearly show. Here we find that while the centre ...
— Bromide Printing and Enlarging • John A. Tennant

... they lie to each other, and equally unable to draw consequences. He never sees a truth until he touches it; he is ever groping and feeling, and, as in hide-and-seek, continually burns without discovering. I know there are ten thousand persons who cannot see an inch before their nose, and who can comfortably digest contradictions; but Carlton is really a clever man; he is no common thinker; this makes it so provoking. When I write an essay for him—I know I write obscurely, and often ...
— Loss and Gain - The Story of a Convert • John Henry Newman

... slipping out of the shell and falling in the sea, becommeth those foules which we call Barnacles. The like shelles haue bene seene in ships returning from Iseland, but these shels were not past halfe an inch in length. Of the other that came from Guinea, I sawe the Primerose lying in the docke, and in maner couered with the said shels, which in my iudgement should greatly hinder her sayling. Their ships were also ...
— The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of - The English Nation, Vol. 11 • Richard Hakluyt

... about an hour's ride from Podgorica characteristically called the "Crna Zemlja" or Black Earth. It is neutral, lying between Montenegro and Albania, and the man who sets his foot on it carries his life in his hands. Men who know, say that every inch is soaked in blood. It is overlooked by some small hills from Albania, and is covered with long pampas grass, affording good cover for a man, and they shoot there for ...
— The Land of the Black Mountain - The Adventures of Two Englishmen in Montenegro • Reginald Wyon

... curtains were drawn aside, and Claudius himself came into the beautiful apartment. Livia ran to greet him; she was a child of ten years old, bright and winning in her ways, in beauty and bearing every inch the child of a patrician. She was dressed in ...
— The Junior Classics • Various

... mamma was quite well developed, flaccid, the nipple prominent, and the superficial veins larger and more tortuous than usual. The patient stated that the right mamma had always been larger than the left. The areola was large and well marked, and 1/4 inch from its outer edge, immediately under the nipple, there was an ulcer with slightly elevated edges measuring about 1 1/4 inches across the base, and having an opening in its center 1/4 inch in diameter, covered with a thin scab. By removing the scab and making pressure at the base ...
— Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine • George M. Gould

... though he be my master's son, I am my master's man, and a man is a man in any ground of England. Come, and he dares, a comes upon his death: I will not budge an inch, ...
— A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. VII (4th edition) • Various

... was prosecuted with vigour during the years 1810 and 1811. The territory of the peninsula was defended inch by inch, and its was necessary to take several towns by storm. Suchet, Soult, Mortier, Ney, and Sebastiani made themselves masters of several provinces; and the Spanish junta, unable to keep their post at Seville, retired to Cadiz, which the French army began to blockade. ...
— History of the French Revolution from 1789 to 1814 • F. A. M. Mignet

... up until he was at least an inch taller. "Heap—heap strong and brave, thank you," he ...
— The Goody-Naughty Book • Sarah Cory Rippey

... in summer with thistles, such as English people can hardly imagine. The needles at the points of the leaves are fully an inch long, extremely fine and strong, and sharper than any two-edged sword. No clothes except a leather dress can resist them. They pierce everywhere with the most stinging pain, and make antiquarian research in this famous spot a veritable ...
— Seeing Europe with Famous Authors, Vol VIII - Italy and Greece, Part Two • Various

... twirled a glittering tomahawk which he threw from a distance of ten, fifteen, and twenty feet and every time the sharp blade of the hatchet sank deep into the stake within an inch of Isaac's head. With a proud and disdainful look Isaac gazed straight before him and paid ...
— Betty Zane • Zane Grey

... steadiest. But I was determined to try to have the baseball match postponed. There could be no difficulty. One day was as much of a holiday as another to these easy-going fellows. But The Duke, when I suggested a change in the day, simply raised his eyebrows an eighth of an inch ...
— The Sky Pilot • Ralph Connor

... that was half a laugh and half a religious shout, snatched his pistol from his belt, placed the muzzle within an inch of the dead skull and fired. The brains of the corpse splashed the muzzle ...
— The Man in Gray • Thomas Dixon

... by the reparation of their own wrongs, achieves a triumph more glorious than any field of blood can ever give."—J. Q. Adams. "The English nation, from which we descended, have been gaining their liberties inch by inch."—Webster's Essays, p. 45. "If a Yearly Meeting should undertake to alter its fundamental doctrines, is there any power in the society to prevent their doing so?"—Foster's Report, i, 96. "There is a generation ...
— The Grammar of English Grammars • Goold Brown

... then it is better as far as possible to forget them and to put them away from us—at all events, not to indulge them or dwell in them. To yield is simply to delay the pilgrimage, to fall exhausted in some unhappy arbour by the road. The road has to be travelled, every inch of it, and it is better to struggle on in feebleness ...
— Joyous Gard • Arthur Christopher Benson

... hour fixed, all talking must stop. There is just room enough for the party to lie side by side on the floor-cloth. Each man gets into a long felt bag, made of heavy felting literally nearly half an inch thick. He brings this up wholly over his head, and buttons himself in. He has a little hole in it to breathe through. Over the felt is sometimes a brown holland bag, meant to keep out moisture. The officer lies farthest ...
— If, Yes and Perhaps - Four Possibilities and Six Exaggerations with Some Bits of Fact • Edward Everett Hale

... through apertures, light from sources placed upon the two rules, R and R'. A flaring tube, P, fixes the position of the eye very definitely. As for the screen, this is painted with black varnish, and three vertical windows, about an inch apart, are left in white upon its paper. Over one of the halves of these parts a solution of stearine is passed. To operate with the apparatus, in comparing two lights, the central spot is first brought to invisibility, and the distances ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 421, January 26, 1884 • Various

... giving the lace quite a character of its own, to have been the cause of much of its destruction, as, in washing, the hair contracts and curls. It will be noticed also that the ground is worked in strips, shortways of the lace of less than an inch in length, afterwards being stitched together in what is known as "fine joining." So elaborate was the original Point d'Alencon that no less than eighteen workers were engaged on one single piece. Later the number was reduced to twelve, when the ...
— Chats on Old Lace and Needlework • Emily Leigh Lowes

... planet from the summit of a mountain in Arizona, using an 18-inch refracting telescope and every resource of delicate measurement and spectroscopy. So superb a climate favoured them that for ten months the planet was kept under continual observation. Over 900 ...
— The Birth-Time of the World and Other Scientific Essays • J. (John) Joly

... led the people to suspect that an assault was contemplated. The night was moonless, starless, and of Egyptian darkness. The Indians, perfectly acquainted with the location of every building and every inch of the ground, crept noiselessly, three hundred in number, each to his appointed post. They spread themselves over all parts of the town, skulking behind every fence, and rock, and tree. They concealed themselves in orchards, sheds, and barns. King Philip himself was with them, guiding, with amazing ...
— King Philip - Makers of History • John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot) Abbott

... driving back the Boers' right and gaining the main road leading through Dewdrop to Ladysmith, while Woodgate's brigade watched Spion Kop. Fighting went on all day, the British forcing the enemy back step by step. On the 20th it began early and continued the whole day. Every inch of the ground was contested stubbornly by the Boers, but the Irish Brigade, who were in the hottest position, pressed them back fiercely with sudden rushes, and, had the rest of the division kept up with their advance, might have cleared the way through the ...
— With Buller in Natal - A Born Leader • G. A. Henty

... sailor took off his hat and exhibited a head which had been trimmed down till all the scalp resembled a dingy brush, for it was cut with the most perfect regularity, for the hair to stand up in bristly fashion for about a quarter of an inch from the skin. ...
— The Ocean Cat's Paw - The Story of a Strange Cruise • George Manville Fenn

... he said respectfully, "and the rest of your fine deeds. You were born for the work it seems. Move an inch and off comes your head," he turned furiously on the man who had tried to edge away. Then he continued in the soft, courteous tones he had been using. "I hope some day you will do me the honor of telling me of the attack yourself," he said. "It is ...
— Lucia Rudini - Somewhere in Italy • Martha Trent

... would have been disturbed could he have seen Mr. Reardon in his state-room, with the door locked, removing from beneath his dungaree jumper several fathoms of light, strong, cotton signal halyard, two five-foot lengths of half-inch steel chain, and a strip of canvas. His pockets also gave up two padlocks, with keys to fit. This loot Mr. Reardon very carefully hid in the space under his settee, after which, with due thanks, he returned the ...
— Cappy Ricks Retires • Peter B. Kyne

... these things tools are necessary, and for the present they should not be expensive. A small, rigidly built bench is the first requirement. This may be made, as shown in Fig. 1, of three 2-inch planks, each 10 inches wide and 6 feet long, mounted on legs 36 inches in height. In the front part are three drawers for your material, or the small odds and ends, as well as for such little tools as you may accumulate. Then you will need a small vise, say, with a 2-inch jaw, and you ...
— Electricity for Boys • J. S. Zerbe

... instead of being a Greaser, was a high-blooded youth from the cow ranches, of about the Kid's own age and possessed of friends and champions. His blunder in missing the Kid's right ear only a sixteenth of an inch when he pulled his gun did not lessen the indiscretion ...
— Roads of Destiny • O. Henry

... creepy just to think of it, and we said we wouldn't budge. So Tom was for slipping back there by himself to see if he couldn't get at the steering-gear and land the ship. We begged and begged him not to, but it warn't no use; so he got down on his hands and knees, and begun to crawl an inch at a time, we a-holding our breath and watching. After he got to the middle of the boat he crept slower than ever, and it did seem like years to me. But at last we see him get to the professor's head, ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain

... Mr. Fry and I have been arguing, more or less amicably, about the principles of aesthetics. We still disagree profoundly. I like to think that I have not moved an inch from my original position, but I must confess that the cautious doubts and reservations that have insinuated themselves into this Preface are all indirect consequences of my friend's criticism. And it is not only of general ideas and fundamental things that we have ...
— Art • Clive Bell

... to a vortex; Muza and his cavalry had joined Boabdil and the Moorish foot. On the other hand, Villena had been reinforced by detachments that in almost every other quarter of the field had routed the foe. The Moors had been driven back, though inch by inch; they were now in the broad space before the very walls of the city, which were still crowded by the pale and anxious faces of the aged and the women: and, at every pause in the artillery, the voices that spoke of ...
— Leila or, The Siege of Granada, Book V. • Edward Bulwer Lytton

... Then he pointed significantly to the rails below them. His companion started. The metal was scaling off in thin strips from the rails, and in some places its thickness had been reduced a quarter of an inch, while in others the projecting edges were torn off, or hanging in iron shreds, so that the wheels actually ran on the narrow central strip. It seemed marvelous that the ...
— Sally Dows and Other Stories • Bret Harte

... are other proofs—unescapable," Kennedy hurried on. "For instance, I have counted the number of threads to the inch in the ribbon, as shown by the letters of this note. That also corresponds to the number in one of the ...
— The Dream Doctor • Arthur B. Reeve

... frequently sent flying by the cannon balls and shells with which Alexander's artillery pounded them all day, they held at nightfall the line Sanders had been directed to hold in the morning, and had not given back an inch. [Footnote: Colonel O. M. Poe, in "Century War ...
— Military Reminiscences of the Civil War V2 • Jacob Dolson Cox

... gold that glitters. All's well that ends well. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All your geese are swans. Always taking out of the meal tub, and never putting in, soon comes to the bottom. An inch on a man's nose is much. An old bird is not caught with chaff. An old dog will learn no new tricks. As bare as ...
— Verse and Prose for Beginners in Reading - Selected from English and American Literature • Horace Elisha Scudder, editor

... movement has turned out a complete failure here in Ireland, and abroad too. As its stronghold was the United States, you can see that the power of the American Minister will be much diminished. It is very important to approach him in the right way, and count every inch of the road that leads to him. We must not make any mistakes, ye know, if only for Miss ...
— The Art of Disappearing • John Talbot Smith

... person was Clara Talboys, who used to walk by her father's side, more beautiful than the morning—for that was sometimes dull and cloudy, while she was always fresh and bright—in a broad-leaved straw-hat and flapping blue ribbons, one quarter of an inch of which Mr. Audley would have esteemed a prouder decoration than ever adorned ...
— Lady Audley's Secret • Mary Elizabeth Braddon

... seemed hardly to know what he was saying, and stared at the marquis in a strange manner. The marquis shouted to him to get out of the way; but the peasant remained planted on the roadside without stirring an inch. The marquis advanced with threatening looks, and asked how he dared to ...
— Celebrated Crimes, Complete • Alexandre Dumas, Pere

... pull aside to let some transport motor-lorries past an' One's off-lead that was a new 'orse just come to the Column from Base Remounts an' had some objections to motor-lorries hootin' in his ear an' scrapin' past a eighth of an inch from his nose—'e side-slipped into the ditch. 'E stood there wi' the water up to 'is shoulder an' the lead driver lookin' down on 'im an' repeatin' rapid-fire prayers over 'im. I may say it took the best bit ...
— Between the Lines • Boyd Cable

... inch of its heavy barrel and polished walnut stock he rubbed a piece of greased linen with loving care, drew back the flint-lock and greased carefully every nook and turn of its mechanism, lifted the gun finally to his shoulder and drew an imaginary bead on the head of a turkey gobbler ...
— The Southerner - A Romance of the Real Lincoln • Thomas Dixon

... and make the one big river. The drive through the forest right there is usually delightful, and although we knew that the water was high in the Gallatin by Fort Ellis, we were wholly unprepared for the scene that confronted us when we reached the valley. Not one inch of ground could be seen—nothing but the trees surrounded; by yellow, muddy water ...
— Army Letters from an Officer's Wife, 1871-1888 • Frances M.A. Roe

... ideal in the great story of the young girl of Domremy who saved France when all the pomp and wisdom of generals had broken down. And in our own poetry has not Mr. Bottomley rewritten the Lear story, with the focus of power and interest transferred from the old king—left with not an inch of king in him—to a ...
— Recent Developments in European Thought • Various

... while cleaning the rifle of Commander Peary, had the misfortune to have the piece explode while in his hands. From some unknown cause a cartridge was discharged, the projectile pierced two thick partitions of inch-and-a-half pine, and penetrated the cabin occupied by Professor MacMillan and Mr. Borup. The billet of that bullet was the shoulder and forearm of Professor MacMillan, who at the time was sound asleep in his berth. He had been lying with his arm doubled and his head resting on his hand. A half ...
— A Negro Explorer at the North Pole • Matthew A. Henson

... ring, suspended from the top of the arch, was not more than an inch in diameter. The horseman who could impale it on his tilting peg and carry the ring away with him the greatest, number of times, would be declared the winner. Each one was to be given ...
— The Pony Rider Boys in New Mexico • Frank Gee Patchin

... Male of Ibla Cumingii, Larval antennae; from the terminal point of the body (e in fig. 1), as seen with a 1/8th of an inch ...
— A Monograph on the Sub-class Cirripedia (Volume 1 of 2) - The Lepadidae; or, Pedunculated Cirripedes • Charles Darwin

... an inch each time, and when it had attained the height of three feet and a half, two of the candidates failed to clear it ...
— St. Winifred's - The World of School • Frederic W. Farrar

... will do nicely. Heat the spring enough to take some of the temper out of it, in order to drill the holes in the ends, as shown, and file in the teeth. Make the blade 12 in. long, with 10 teeth to the inch. A and B show how the blade fits on the frame. -Contributed by ...
— The Boy Mechanic: Volume 1 - 700 Things For Boys To Do • Popular Mechanics

... yet crowded gloriously with life. Adventure lurked in every inch. There was danger, too, terror, wonder, and excitement. And since for them it was the beginning of all things, they called it, naturally, The End of the World. To escape to the End of the World, unaccompanied by grown-ups, and, if possible, their whereabouts unknown ...
— The Extra Day • Algernon Blackwood

... bad temper and not at all disposed to take a couple of starving lads on board out of charity. But he did not look at all such a man as those awkward, gaudily dressed, unsteady fellows the boys had seen in Antonino's shop on the previous night. He looked a seaman, every inch of him, and they instinctively felt that as he stood there at the helm he knew his business thoroughly and could manage his craft as coolly in a winter storm as on this flat September sea, when the men were getting the sweeps out ...
— The Children of the King • F. Marion Crawford

... question, sire. You know that Austria threatens. Is France in this the friend or enemy To Prussia? There's not an inch of middle ground To stand on. If our foe, then pour your strength To Mexico. If friend, keep it at ...
— Semiramis and Other Plays - Semiramis, Carlotta And The Poet • Olive Tilford Dargan

... right!" gritted Rolfe, squirming in every inch of his skin with the tremendous responsibility confronting him. None knew better than he what the consequences must be of attacking a party of Government sailors. But the sight he saw—the sounds ...
— Gold Out of Celebes • Aylward Edward Dingle

... your crib, You, an inch of experience— Vaulted about With the wonder of darkness; Wailing and striving To reach from your feebleness Something you feel Will be good to and cherish you, Something you know And can rest upon blindly: O then a hand (Your mother's, your mother's!) By the fall of its fingers All knowledge, ...
— The Song of the Sword - and Other Verses • W. E. Henley

... Newtown-Butler. To the cry of "No Popery," Wolseley led them into an action, the most considerable yet fought. The raw southern levies on the Royalist side, were routed by the hardy Enniskilleners long familiar with the use of arms, and well acquainted with every inch of the ground; 2,000 of them were left on the field; 400 prisoners were taken, among them dangerously, but not mortally wounded, was the ...
— A Popular History of Ireland - From the earliest period to the emancipation of the Catholics • Thomas D'Arcy McGee



Words linked to "Inch" :   advance, in, mesh, Great Britain, America, go on, UK, U.S., the States, mil, march on, em, area unit, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, ligne, linear measure, bits per inch, United States, US, column inch, square inch, linear unit, square measure, foot, acre inch, pounds per square inch, progress, edge, every inch



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