footmeal means step by step: incrementally, little by little, by degrees, one foot (measure) at a time. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 84 out of 100.
Why “footmeal” is a great word
FOOTMEAL — [Adverb/Noun] As an adverb: proceeding step by step or incrementally; as a noun: a fotmal, an obsolete unit of weight. From Middle English footmele, fotmelen, from Old English fōtmǣlum ('step by step, by degrees'), the dative plural of Old English fōtmǣl ('a foot-measure, one foot'), equivalent to foot + -meal (a suffix meaning 'measure' or 'portion'). First attested in the Old English period (pre-1150). Unlike 'piecemeal' (which implies a haphazard assembly of disparate parts) or 'gradually' (a vague, ambient progression), 'footmeal' evokes a deliberate, metrical advance measured in the most ancient of units—the human foot. It is the farmer pacing off a field boundary with his own stride, the patient placement of one stone upon another to build a wall, and the slow accretion of silt that builds a river delta—a philosophy of progress measured in the quiet, geological unit of a single stride.
Etymology
From Middle English footmele, fotmelen, from Old English fōtmǣlum (“step by step, by degrees”), dative plural of Old English fōtmǣl (“a foot-measure, one foot”), equivalent to foot + -meal.
adv
- Step by step: incrementally, little by little, by degrees, one foot (measure) at a time.“Grandees must covet condos, since they let bids rip, And "spaces" measured footmeal now reach record tops.”