Inch vs Dash - What's the difference?
inch | dash | Related terms |
A unit of length equal to one twelfth of a foot, or exactly 2.54 centimetres.
(meteorology) The amount of water which would cover a surface to the depth of an inch, used as a measurement of rainfall.
The amount of an alcoholic beverage which would fill a glass or bottle to the depth of an inch.
(figuratively) A very short distance.
* Shakespeare
(followed by a preposition) To advance very slowly, or by a small amount (in a particular direction).
* 1957 , :
*:The window blind had been lowered — Zooey had done all his bathtub reading by the light from the three-bulb overhead fixture—but a fraction of morning light inched under the blind and onto the title page of the manuscript.
* {{quote-news
, year=2012
, date=May 9
, author=John Percy
, title=Birmingham City 2 Blackpool 2 (2-3 on agg): match report
, work=the Telegraph
To drive by inches, or small degrees.
* Dryden
To deal out by inches; to give sparingly.
(Scotland) A small island
* Sir Walter Scott, Rosabelle
(typography) Any of the following symbols: (''horizontal bar ).
A short run.
A small quantity of a liquid substance; less than 1/8 of a teaspoon.
Vigor.
A dashboard.
* 1955 , edition, ISBN 0553249592, page 31:
One of the two symbols of Morse code.
(Nigeria) A bribe or gratuity.
* 1992 , George B. N. Ayittey, Africa betrayed (page 44)
* 2006 , Adiele Eberechukwu Afigbo, The Abolition of the Slave Trade in Southeastern Nigeria, 1885-1950 (page 99)
* 2008 , Lizzie Williams, Nigeria: The Bradt Travel Guide (page 84)
(obsolete, euphemistic) A stand-in for a censored word, like "Devil" or "damn". (Compare deuce.)
* 1824 , "Kiddywinkle History, No. II", Blackwood's Magazine (15, May 1824)
* 1853 , (William Makepeace Thackery), (The Newcomes)'', Chapter VI, serialized in ''Harper's New Monthly Magazine , (VIII, no. 43, Dec 1853)
*:Comment : Some editions leave this passage out. Of those that include it, some change the 'you!' to 'you?'.
* 1884 , (Lord Robert Gower), My Reminiscences'', reprinted in "The Evening Lamp", ''The Christian Union , (29) 22, (May 29, 1884)
* 1939 , , (Uncle Fred in the Springtime)
To run quickly or for a short distance.
(informal) To leave or depart.
To destroy by striking (against).
* 1897 , (Bram Stoker), (Dracula) Chapter 21
* 1912 : (Edgar Rice Burroughs), (Tarzan of the Apes), Chapter 4
To throw violently.
* Francis Bacon
To sprinkle; to splatter.
* Thomson
(of hopes or dreams) To ruin; to destroy.
* {{quote-news
, year=2011
, date=September 13
, author=Sam Lyon
, title=Borussia Dortmund 1 - 1 Arsenal
, work=BBC
To dishearten; to sadden.
To complete hastily, usually with down'' or ''off .
To draw quickly; jot.
* 1922 , (Virginia Woolf), (w, Jacob's Room) Chapter 1
To throw in or on in a rapid, careless manner; to mix, reduce, or adulterate, by throwing in something of an inferior quality; to overspread partially; to bespatter; to touch here and there.
* Addison
* Tennyson
As nouns the difference between inch and dash
is that inch is a unit of length equal to one twelfth of a foot, or exactly 2.54 centimetres while dash is any of the following symbols: ‒ (figure dash), – (en dash), — (em dash), or ― (horizontal bar).As verbs the difference between inch and dash
is that inch is to advance very slowly, or by a small amount (in a particular direction) while dash is to run quickly or for a short distance.As an interjection dash is
damn.inch
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) (ang) ynce, from (etyl) . Compare ounce.Noun
(es)- "Don't move an inch !"
- Beldame, I think we watched you at an inch .
Derived terms
* every inch * * inch-perfectVerb
(es)- Fearful of falling, he inched along the window ledge.
citation, page= , passage=Already guarding a 1-0 lead from the first leg, Blackpool inched further ahead when Stephen Dobbie scored from an acute angle on the stroke of half-time. The game appeared to be completely beyond Birmingham’s reach three minutes into the second period when Matt Phillips reacted quickly to bundle the ball past Colin Doyle and off a post.}}
- He gets too far into the soldier's grace / And inches out my master.
Derived terms
* inch along * inch forward * inch up * inchwormSee also
* thou * milEtymology 2
From Gaelic (innis)Noun
(es)- The blackening wave is edged with white; / To inch and rock the sea-mews fly.
Usage notes
* Found especially in the names of small Scottish islands, e.g. (Inchcolm), (Inchkeith).Anagrams
* English intransitive verbsdash
English
Noun
(es)- sometimes dash'' is also used colloquially to refer to a ''hyphen'' or ''minus sign .
- Add a dash of vinegar
- Aren't we full of dash this morning?
- The dash clock said 2:38 when.
- The traditional practice of offering gifts or "dash " to chiefs has often been misinterpreted by scholars to provide a cultural explanation for the pervasive incidence of bribery and corruption in modern Africa.
- Writing in 1924 on a similar situation in Ugep, the political officer, Mr. S. T. Harvey noted: "In the old days there was no specified dowry but merely dashes given to the father-in-law
- The only other times you'll be asked for a dash is from beggars.
p. 540
- I'll be dashed if I gan another step for less 'an oaf.
p. 118
- Sir Thomas looks as if to ask what the dash is that to you! but wanting still to go to India again, and knowing how strong the Newcomes are in Leadenhall Street, he thinks it necessary to be civil to the young cub, and swallows his pride once more into his waistband.
p. 524
- Who the dash' is this person whom none of us know? and what the ' dash does he do here?
Chapter 8
- I'll be dashed if I squash in with any domestic staff.
Hyponyms
* See alsoHypernyms
* punctuation markDerived terms
* dashing * dash off * em dash, en dashSee also
(punctuation)Verb
(es)- He dashed across the field.
- I have to dash now. See you soon.
- He dashed the bottle against the bar and turned about to fight.
- "`Silence! If you make a sound I shall take him and dash his brains out before your very eyes.'
- Kala was the youngest mate of a male called Tublat, meaning broken nose, and the child she had seen dashed to death was her first; for she was but nine or ten years old.
- The man was dashed from the vehicle during the accident.
- If you dash a stone against a stone in the bottom of the water, it maketh a sound.
- On each hand the gushing waters play, / And down the rough cascade all dashing fall.
- Her hopes were dashed when she saw the damage.
citation, page= , passage=Arsenal's hopes of starting their Champions League campaign with an away win were dashed when substitute Ivan Perisic's superb late volley rescued a point for Borussia Dortmund.}}
- Her thoughts were dashed to melancholy.
- He dashed''' down his eggs'', ''she '''dashed off her homework
- "Scarborough," Mrs. Flanders wrote on the envelope, and dashed a bold line beneath; it was her native town; the hub of the universe.
- to dash''' wine with water; to '''dash paint upon a picture
- I take care to dash the character with such particular circumstance as may prevent ill-natured applications.
- The very source and fount of day / Is dashed with wandering isles of night.