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Inch vs Prey - What's the difference?

inch | prey |

As nouns the difference between inch and prey

is that inch is a unit of length equal to one twelfth of a foot, or exactly 2.54 centimetres while prey is anything, as goods, etc., taken or got by violence; anything taken by force from an enemy in war; spoil; booty; plunder.

As a verb inch

is to advance very slowly, or by a small amount (in a particular direction).

inch

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) (ang) ynce, from (etyl) . Compare ounce.

Noun

(es)
  • 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.
  • "Don't move an inch !"
  • * Shakespeare
  • Beldame, I think we watched you at an inch .
    Derived terms
    * every inch * * inch-perfect

    Verb

    (es)
  • (followed by a preposition) To advance very slowly, or by a small amount (in a particular direction).
  • Fearful of falling, he inched along the window ledge.
  • * 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 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.}}
  • To drive by inches, or small degrees.
  • * Dryden
  • He gets too far into the soldier's grace / And inches out my master.
  • To deal out by inches; to give sparingly.
  • Derived terms
    * inch along * inch forward * inch up * inchworm

    See also

    * thou * mil

    Etymology 2

    From Gaelic (innis)

    Noun

    (es)
  • (Scotland) A small island
  • * Sir Walter Scott, Rosabelle
  • 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).

    prey

    English

    Noun

  • (archaic) Anything, as goods, etc., taken or got by violence; anything taken by force from an enemy in war; spoil; booty; plunder.
  • * Bible, Numbers xxxi. 12
  • And they brought the captives, and the prey , and the spoil, unto Moses, and Eleazar the priest.
  • That which is or may be seized by animals or birds to be devoured; hence, a person given up as a victim.
  • * Dryden
  • Already sees herself the monster's prey .
  • * Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
  • [The helmsman] steered with no end of a swagger while you were by; but if he lost sight of you, he became instantly the prey of an abject funk
  • A living thing that is eaten by another living thing.
  • * Bible, Job iv. ii
  • The old lion perisheth for lack of prey .
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= William E. Conner
  • , title= An Acoustic Arms Race , volume=101, issue=3, page=206-7, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Nonetheless, some insect prey take advantage of clutter by hiding in it. Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.}}
  • The act of devouring other creatures; ravage.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Hog in sloth, fox in stealth, lion in prey .
  • The victim of a disease.
  • References

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    Anagrams

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