by inches
Slowly over time. You won't improve your grade all at once, but rather, by inches throughout the semester. You've still got some time to try to sell your house—prices around here are skyrocketing, and they will only go down by inches. I had hoped that enthusiasm for this project would only fizzle out by inches, but that has obviously not been the case, as we're the only two people who showed up for the meeting.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
by inches
Also, inch by inch. Gradually, bit by bit, as in We found ourselves in rush hour traffic, moving by inches. Shakespeare used this term in Coriolanus (5:4): "They'll give him death by inches." Despite the increasing use of metric measurements, it survives, often as an exaggeration of the actual circumstance. The phrase to inch along, first recorded in 1812, means "to move bit by bit," as in There was a long line at the theater, just inching along.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.