What is the difference between inch and thou?
inch | thou |
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
To address (a person) using the pronoun thou, especially as an expression of familiarity or contempt.
* 1888 , Rudyard Kipling, ‘On the City Wall’, In Black and White , Folio Society 2005, p. 443:
To use the word thou.
(slang) A thousand, especially a thousand dollars, a thousand pounds sterling, etc.
As nouns the difference between inch and thou
is that inch is a unit of length equal to one twelfth of a foot, or exactly 2.54 centimetres while thou is a unit of length equal to one-thousandth of an inch.As verbs the difference between inch and thou
is that inch is to advance very slowly, or by a small amount (in a particular direction) while thou is to address (a person) using the pronoun {{term|thou|lang=en}}, especially as an expression of familiarity or contempt.As a pronoun thou is
you singular informal, nominative caseinch
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 verbsthou
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) thou, thow, thu, ).Alternative forms
* (l), (l), (l), (l)Usage notes
* , as in, for example, “Lovest thou me?” Irregular forms include: (art) (of be), (hast) (of have), shalt (of shall), wost (of (wit)), wilt (of (will)), and (m) (of (m)).Derived terms
* th'art * thou'lt * thou'rt * thou'stSee also
(English personal pronouns)Verb
(en verb)- "One service more, Sahib , since thou hast come so opportunely," said Lalun. "Wilt thou" – it is very nice to be thou-ed by Lalun – "take this old man across the City [...] to the Kumharsen Gate?"
- I thou thee, thou traitor! (Edward Coke to Walter Raleigh)
- Avaunt, caitiff, dost thou thou me! I am come of good kin, I tell thee!'' (The morality play ''Hickscorner , ca. 1530)
- If thou thou'st him some thrice, it shall not be amiss''[...] (''Twelfth Night'' 3.2, Sir Toby Belch to Sir Andrew, egging him on to pick a fight with another, where one would expect one knight courteously to say to another, "If ''you thou him...").
- Don't thou''' them as '''thous thee! (Yorkshire English admonition to overly familiar children)