(~es, ~ing, ~ed)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
An ~ is an imperial unit of length, approximately equal to 2.54 centimetres. There are twelve ~es in a foot.
...18 ~es below the surface.
N-COUNT: num N, oft N of n
2.
To ~ somewhere or to ~ something somewhere means to move there very slowly and carefully, or to make something do this.
...a climber ~ing up a vertical wall of rock...
He ~ed the van forward...
An ambulance ~ed its way through the crowd.
VERB: V prep/adv, V n prep/adv, V way prep/adv
3.
If you say that someone looks every ~ a certain type of person, you are emphasizing that they look exactly like that kind of person.
He looks every ~ the City businessman...
PHRASE: v-link PHR n emphasis
4.
If someone or something moves ~ by ~, they move very slowly and carefully.
The car moved forward ~ by ~...
PHRASE: PHR after v emphasis