For a short distance, they precede Jodi's characters (4)
I believe the answer is:
inch
I believe this is a double definition.
'for a short distance' is the first definition.
(I have seen 'Short distance' mean 'inch' so perhaps 'distance' could also mean 'inch'; 'short' indicates an abbreviation)
'they precede jodi's characters' is the second definition.
(I, N, C and H precede J, O, D and I alphabtically)
(Other definitions for inch that I've seen before include "Imperial measure" , "Short length" , "Fraction of a foot" , "One point 63380 th of a mile" , "2.54 centimetres" .)