Inch vs Pace - What's the difference?
inch | pace | 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
(obsolete) Passage, route.
# (obsolete) One's journey or route.
# (obsolete) A passage through difficult terrain; a mountain pass or route vulnerable to ambush etc.
#* 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , III.1:
# (obsolete) An aisle in a church.
Step.
# A step taken with the foot.
# The distance covered in a step (or sometimes two), either vaguely or according to various specific set measurements.
Way of stepping.
# A manner of walking, running or dancing; the rate or style of how someone moves with their feet.
#* {{quote-news
, year=2012
, date=June 9
, author=Owen Phillips
, title=Euro 2012: Netherlands 0-1 Denmark
, work=BBC Sport
# Any of various gaits of a horse, specifically a 2-beat, lateral gait.
Speed or velocity in general.
(cricket) A measure of the hardness of a pitch and of the tendency of a cricket ball to maintain its speed after bouncing.
The collective noun for donkeys.
* 1952 , G. B. Stern, The Donkey Shoe , The Macmillan Company (1952), page 29:
* 2006 , "
* 2007 , Elinor De Wire, The Lightkeepers' Menagerie: Stories of Animals at Lighthouses , Pineapple Press (2007), ISBN 9781561643905,
(cricket) Describing a bowler who bowls fast balls.
Walk to and fro in a small space.
* 1874 , (Marcus Clarke), (For the Term of His Natural Life) Chapter V
Set the speed in a race.
Measure by walking.
Inch is a related term of pace.
As a noun inch
is a unit of length equal to one twelfth of a foot, or exactly 254 centimetres or inch can be (scotland) a small island.As a verb inch
is (followed by a preposition) to advance very slowly, or by a small amount (in a particular direction).As a proper noun pace is
.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 verbspace
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) pas, (etyl) pas, and their source, (etyl) passus.Noun
(en noun)- But when she saw them gone she forward went, / As lay her journey, through that perlous Pace [...].
How Many? A Dictionary of Units of Measurement: English Customary Weights and Measures, © Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (§: Distance , ¶ ? 6)
- Even at the duel, standing 10 paces apart, he could have satisfied Aaron’s honor.
- I have perambulated your field, and estimate its perimeter to be 219 paces .
citation, page= , passage=Netherlands, one of the pre-tournament favourites, combined their undoubted guile, creativity, pace and attacking quality with midfield grit and organisation.}}
- but at Broadstairs and other places along the coast, a pace of donkeys stood on the sea-shore expectant (at least, their owners were expectant) of children clamouring to ride.
Drop the dead donkeys", The Economist , 9 November 2006:
- A pace of donkeys fans out in different directions.
page 200:
- Like a small farm, the lighthouse compound had its chattering'' of chicks, ''pace'' of donkeys, ''troop'' of horses, and ''fold of sheep.
Derived terms
* pace car * pacemaker * pace setter * pacerAdjective
(-)Verb
(pac)- Groups of men, in all imaginable attitudes, were lying, standing, sitting, or pacing up and down.