"give them an inch and they'll take an ell" meaning in English

See give them an inch and they'll take an ell in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Proverb

Head templates: {{en-proverb}} give them an inch and they'll take an ell
  1. Archaic form of give them an inch and they'll take a mile. Tags: alt-of, archaic Alternative form of: give them an inch and they'll take a mile
    Sense id: en-give_them_an_inch_and_they'll_take_an_ell-en-proverb-EbyHc4p3 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English proverbs, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries
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      "expansion": "give them an inch and they'll take an ell",
      "name": "en-proverb"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "word": "give them an inch and they'll take a mile"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
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      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              111,
              147
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1546, John Heywood, chapter IX, in Julian Sharman, editor, The Proverbs of John Heywood. […], London: George Bell and Sons, […], published 1874, →OCLC, part II, page 161:",
          "text": "I will yet thrive, (I say), as good is an ynch / As an ell. Yee can, (quoth shee), make it so well, / For when I gave you an inch, you tooke an ell, / Till both ell and inch be gone, and we in det.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Archaic form of give them an inch and they'll take a mile."
      ],
      "id": "en-give_them_an_inch_and_they'll_take_an_ell-en-proverb-EbyHc4p3",
      "links": [
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          "give them an inch and they'll take a mile",
          "give them an inch and they'll take a mile#English"
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  "word": "give them an inch and they'll take an ell"
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      "expansion": "give them an inch and they'll take an ell",
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "word": "give them an inch and they'll take a mile"
        }
      ],
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        "English entries with incorrect language header",
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          "ref": "1546, John Heywood, chapter IX, in Julian Sharman, editor, The Proverbs of John Heywood. […], London: George Bell and Sons, […], published 1874, →OCLC, part II, page 161:",
          "text": "I will yet thrive, (I say), as good is an ynch / As an ell. Yee can, (quoth shee), make it so well, / For when I gave you an inch, you tooke an ell, / Till both ell and inch be gone, and we in det.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Archaic form of give them an inch and they'll take a mile."
      ],
      "links": [
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          "give them an inch and they'll take a mile",
          "give them an inch and they'll take a mile#English"
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  "word": "give them an inch and they'll take an ell"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-06-07 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-06-01 using wiktextract (92124b4 and f1c2b61). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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