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jmdict 2419470 Active (id: 2223772)
庇を貸して母屋を取られるひさしを貸して母屋を取られる [sK] 庇を貸して母屋をとられる [sK] ひさしを貸して母屋をとられる [sK]
ひさしをかしておもやをとられる
1. [exp,v1] [id]
▶ to have one's kindness taken advantage of
▶ give him an inch and he'll take a mile
▶ [lit] to lend out the eaves but have one's whole house taken
2. [exp,v1] [id]
▶ to have a favor returned with spite

Conjugations


History:
10. A 2023-03-05 20:01:38  Jim Breen <...address hidden...>
9. A* 2023-03-04 21:57:01  Robin Scott <...address hidden...>
  Refs:
gg5, prog
庇を貸して	1,626		
ひさしを貸して	666
母屋を取られ	908		
母屋をとられ	178
  Comments:
yard/ell -> mile
  Diff:
@@ -5,0 +6,12 @@
+</k_ele>
+<k_ele>
+<keb>ひさしを貸して母屋を取られる</keb>
+<ke_inf>&sK;</ke_inf>
+</k_ele>
+<k_ele>
+<keb>庇を貸して母屋をとられる</keb>
+<ke_inf>&sK;</ke_inf>
+</k_ele>
+<k_ele>
+<keb>ひさしを貸して母屋をとられる</keb>
+<ke_inf>&sK;</ke_inf>
@@ -14,2 +26,2 @@
-<gloss>give him an inch and he'll take an ell</gloss>
-<gloss>give him an inch and he'll take a yard</gloss>
+<gloss>to have one's kindness taken advantage of</gloss>
+<gloss>give him an inch and he'll take a mile</gloss>
8. A 2023-03-03 21:47:05  Jim Breen <...address hidden...>
  Comments:
庇 - eaves.
Trimming.
  Diff:
@@ -16 +16 @@
-<gloss g_type="lit">to lend out the leaves but have the whole house taken from one</gloss>
+<gloss g_type="lit">to lend out the eaves but have one's whole house taken</gloss>
7. A* 2023-03-03 20:31:59  Marcus Richert <...address hidden...>
  Refs:
Koj imidas
  Comments:
The Japanese is actually an idiom rather than a proverb (my bad). Not sure the "give sb an inch" can be worked into an idiom? 
"to give someone an inch and have a wole yard taken"? it's a little awkward.
  Diff:
@@ -13 +13 @@
-<misc>&proverb;</misc>
+<misc>&id;</misc>
@@ -15,0 +16,7 @@
+<gloss g_type="lit">to lend out the leaves but have the whole house taken from one</gloss>
+</sense>
+<sense>
+<pos>&exp;</pos>
+<pos>&v1;</pos>
+<misc>&id;</misc>
+<gloss>to have a favor returned with spite</gloss>
6. A* 2023-03-03 12:40:29  Brian Krznarich <...address hidden...>
  Refs:
Cambridge phrasing:
give someone an inch and they'll take a mile
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/give-someone-an-inch-and-they-ll-take-a-mile

Weblio gloss for 庇を貸して母屋を取られる
https://ejje.weblio.jp/content/give+him+an+inch+and+he'll+take+a+mile 
Give him an inch and he'll take a mile [a yard].
彼にひさしを貸したら母屋まで取られるよ

Totally Japanese reference for variant: 軒のきを貸して母屋おもやを取られる
https://japanese-note.jp/noki-omoya/
英文	Give him an inch and he’ll take a mile.
彼に庇を貸したら母屋まで取られるよ
(直訳:彼に少しでも与えたら善意に付け込まれるよ)
  Comments:
Alternate suggestion, single gloss only: 

give someone an inch and they'll take a mile

========= Long winded reasoning
Before adding a new entry for a variant of this Japanese idiom, I'd like to add to the discussion on the current glosses, and see if something different might be considered. 

Google N-gram Corpus Counts
庇を貸して母屋	1530
軒を貸して母屋	908    NEW

Adding to Stephen's comment, I have also have never heard the "ell" formation (though it's fair to say I'm not well versed in literature).  Kids these days I guess... (I'm 42). I also immediately though "wouldn't mile be better than yard?"  Obviously all of these formulations, and a number of variants (give 'em an inch, give them an inch, give someone an inch) are all in circulation(with "ell" appearing to be the origin)

Currently, Cambridge Dictionary online has a single, modern / gender-neutral formulation:

- give someone an inch and they'll take a mile

No mention of yards or ells. If it were me, I would just use this gloss alone.  I think it's likely to be readily understood by native English speakers, and safe to use for Japanese learners who acquire it via jmdict (I would not necessarily say the same of the "inch/ell" formulation).

===== 

Just looking at cute quotations and comic images, if you do a google image search for just the quoted prefix, you get the following rough counts for "miles", "yards", "foot", "ells", and "furlongs"(hah)...    As you move toward gender neutrality (~modern usage), miles seems to gain in popularity.

"give someone an inch" 17 miles, 1 yard, 0 ells
"give them an inch" 12 miles, 2 yards, 0 ells
"give em an inch". 6 miles, 2 x "foot", 1 furlong, 0 ells
"give him an inch" 3 miles, 5 yards, 2 ells    (there were a bunch of additional t-shirts with the "yard" expression)

Also anecdotally, a twitter search for "give someone an inch" seems to be entirely "miles" (though other formulations sometimes yield different results)
(show/hide 5 older log entries)

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