within an inch of one's life
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English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /wɪðˌɪn ən ˈɪntʃ əv wʌnz ˈlaɪf/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Rhymes: -aɪf
- Hyphenation: with‧in an inch of one's life
Prepositional phrase
- To a point where one is at great risk of death; or (figuratively, hyperbolic) of severe danger or trouble.
- Synonym: (obsolete) within an inch of one's skin
- (figuratively, hyperbolic) Almost as much as possible; to an extreme extent.
- 2000, Dana Stabenow, Midnight Come Again, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Minotaur, →ISBN, page 77:
- Every drawer had the names of the tools inside written on the front. There were also several parts lockers; they too were labeled and organized within an inch of their lives.
Translations
to a point where one is at great risk of death
to a point of severe danger or trouble
|
almost as much as possible; to an extreme extent
See also
Further reading
- “within an inch of one’s life (or †skin)” under “inch, n.1”, in OED Online
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2020. - “within an inch of one's life, phrase”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
