footbreadth

English

Etymology

foot +‎ breadth

Noun

footbreadth (plural footbreadths)

The breadth of a foot; used as a measure.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomy 2:5:
  Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a footbreadth; because I have given Mount Seir unto Esau for a possession.
- 1863 November 23, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Sage of King Olaf”, in Tales of a Wayside Inn, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC:
  Wherewith at a stroke he hewed
  The millstone through and through,
  And Foot-breadth of Thoralf the Strong,
  Were neither so broad nor so long

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.