"inchmeal" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "inch",
        "3": "meal"
      },
      "expansion": "inch + -meal",
      "name": "suffix"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From inch + -meal.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "inchmeal (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adv"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adv",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English positive polarity items",
          "parents": [
            "Positive polarity items",
            "Terms by semantic function"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms suffixed with -meal",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Bulgarian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Russian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:",
          "text": "All the infections that the sun sucks up / From bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall, and make him / By inch-meal a disease!",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1725, Daniel Defoe, Everybody's Business is Nobody's Business:",
          "text": "Those who are not thus slippery in the tail, are light of finger; and of these the most pernicious are those who beggar you inchmeal.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1822, Charles and Mary Lamb, The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb (Vol. 6):",
          "text": "I am a sanguinary murderer of time, and would kill him inchmeal just now.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1901, Maurice Hewlett, The Life and Death of Richard Yea-and-Nay:",
          "text": "He could be as patient as Death, that inchmeal stalker of his prey; he could be as ruthless as the sea, and incredibly generous upon occasion.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "gradually, little by little (an inch at a time)"
      ],
      "id": "en-inchmeal-en-adv-oCWP-qMW",
      "links": [
        [
          "gradually",
          "gradually"
        ],
        [
          "little by little",
          "little by little"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "inch-meal"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "bg",
          "lang": "Bulgarian",
          "roman": "malko po malko",
          "sense": "little by little",
          "word": "малко по малко"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "málo-pomálu",
          "sense": "little by little",
          "word": "ма́ло-пома́лу"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "djújm za djújmom",
          "sense": "little by little",
          "word": "дю́йм за дю́ймом"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɪnt͡ʃ.miːl/"
    }
  ],
  "word": "inchmeal"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "inch",
        "3": "meal"
      },
      "expansion": "inch + -meal",
      "name": "suffix"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From inch + -meal.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "inchmeal (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adv"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adv",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English adverbs",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English positive polarity items",
        "English terms suffixed with -meal",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English uncomparable adverbs",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with Bulgarian translations",
        "Terms with Russian translations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:",
          "text": "All the infections that the sun sucks up / From bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall, and make him / By inch-meal a disease!",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1725, Daniel Defoe, Everybody's Business is Nobody's Business:",
          "text": "Those who are not thus slippery in the tail, are light of finger; and of these the most pernicious are those who beggar you inchmeal.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1822, Charles and Mary Lamb, The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb (Vol. 6):",
          "text": "I am a sanguinary murderer of time, and would kill him inchmeal just now.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1901, Maurice Hewlett, The Life and Death of Richard Yea-and-Nay:",
          "text": "He could be as patient as Death, that inchmeal stalker of his prey; he could be as ruthless as the sea, and incredibly generous upon occasion.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "gradually, little by little (an inch at a time)"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "gradually",
          "gradually"
        ],
        [
          "little by little",
          "little by little"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɪnt͡ʃ.miːl/"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "inch-meal"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "bg",
      "lang": "Bulgarian",
      "roman": "malko po malko",
      "sense": "little by little",
      "word": "малко по малко"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "málo-pomálu",
      "sense": "little by little",
      "word": "ма́ло-пома́лу"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "djújm za djújmom",
      "sense": "little by little",
      "word": "дю́йм за дю́ймом"
    }
  ],
  "word": "inchmeal"
}