inch

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
inch1

▶noun

• 1 a unit of linear measure equal to one twelfth of a foot (2.54 cm).

  ■ (inches) informal a person's height or waist measurement.

  ■ a very small amount or distance.

• 2 a quantity of rainfall that would cover a horizontal surface to a depth of one inch.

• 3 (also inch of mercury) a unit of atmospheric pressure able to support a column of mercury one-inch high in a barometer.

▶verb move along slowly and carefully.

– phrases
every inch

• 1 the whole surface, distance, or area.

• 2 entirely; very much so.

(to) within an inch of one's life almost to the point of death.

– origin OE ynce, from L. uncia ‘twelfth part’, from unus ‘one’ (prob. denoting a unit): cf. ounce1.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
inch2

▶noun chiefly Scottish (in place names) a small island or area of high land.

– origin ME: from Sc. Gaelic innis.