Brewer's: Ell

(Anglo-Saxon eln, an ell). It is said that the English ell was the length of Henry I.'s arm, but the ordinary length of a man's arm is about a yard.

Give him an inch, and he'll take an ell.
Give him a little licence, and he will take great liberties, or make great encroachments. The ell was no definite length. The English ell was 45 inches, the Scotch ell only 37 inches, while the Flemish ell was three-quarters of a yard and a French ell a yard and a half. This indefinite measure expresses the uncertainty of the length to which persons will go to whom you give the inch of liberty. Some will go the French ell; while others of more modesty or more limited desires will be satisfied with the shorter measures.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
Ell-wand
Elizabethan
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