measure

From Middle English mesure, borrowed from Old French mesure, from Latin mēnsūra (“a measuring, rule, something to measure by”), from mēnsus, past participle of mētīrī (“to measure, mete”). Displaced native Middle English mǣte, mete (“measure”) (from Old English met (“measure”), compare Old English mitta (“a measure”)), Middle English ameten, imeten (“to measure”) (from Old English āmetan, ġemetan (“to mete, measure”)), Middle English hof, hoof (“measure, reason”) (from Old Norse hōf (“measure, reason”)), Old English mǣþ (“measure, degree”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛʒə/

• Audio

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛʒɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• (regional US) IPA^(key): /ˈmeɪʒɚ/
• Rhymes: -ɛʒə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: meas‧ure; mea‧sure

measure (plural measures)

1. A prescribed quantity or extent.
   1. (obsolete) Moderation, temperance. [13th-19th c.]
      • c. 1390, William Langland, Piers Plowman, I:

        Mesure is medcynee · þouȝ þow moche ȝerne.

      • 1611, Bible, Authorized Version, Jer. XXX:

        I will correct thee in measure, and will not leaue thee altogether vnpunished.

   2. A limit that cannot be exceeded; a bound. (Now chiefly in set phrases.) [from 14th c.]
      • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, V:

        Full to the utmost measure of what bliss Human desires can seek or apprehend.

      • 2005, J Coarguo, Hávamál: The Words of the High One a Personal Interpretation:

        but there is never found a foolish man who knows the measure of his stomach

      • 2009, Mike Selvey, The Guardian, 25 Aug 2009:

        They have gloried to this day, the tedious interminable big-screen replays of that golden summer irritating beyond measure.

   3. An (unspecified) portion or quantity. [from 16th c.]
      • 2013, Daniel Taylor, Danny Welbeck leads England's rout of Moldova but hit by Ukraine ban (in The Guardian, 6 September 2013):

        It ended up being a bittersweet night for England, full of goals to send the crowd home happy, buoyed by the news that Montenegro and Poland had drawn elsewhere in Group H but also with a measure of regret about what happened to Danny Welbeck and what it means for Roy Hodgson's team going into a much more difficult assignment against Ukraine.

      a measure of salt

2. The act or result of measuring.
   1. (now chiefly cooking) A receptacle or vessel of a standard size, capacity etc. as used to deal out specific quantities of some substance. [from 14th c.]
   2. A standard against which something can be judged; a criterion. [from 14th c.]
      • 2011 October 23, Phil McNulty, “Man Utd 1-6 Man City”, in BBC Sport:

        City were also the victors on that occasion 56 years ago, winning 5-0, but this visit was portrayed as a measure of their progress against the 19-time champions.

      Honesty is the true measure of a man.

   3. Any of various standard units of capacity. [from 14th c.]

      The villagers paid a tithe of a thousand measures of corn.

   4. A unit of measurement. [from 14th c.]
      • 1993, Scientific American February 33.3:

        The fragments shrank by increments of about three kilodaltons (a measure of molecular weight).

   5. The size of someone or something, as ascertained by measuring. (Now chiefly in make to measure.) [from 14th c.]
      • Bible, Job xi. 9

        The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.

   6. (now rare) The act or process of measuring. [from 14th c.]

      (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

   7. A ruler, measuring stick, or graduated tape used to take measurements. [from 16th c.]
   8. (mathematics, now rare) A number which is contained in a given number a number of times without a remainder; a divisor or factor. [from 16th c.]

      the greatest common measure of two or more numbers

   9. (geology) A bed or stratum. [from 17th c.]

      coal measures; lead measures

   10. (mathematics) A function that assigns a non-negative number to a given set following the mathematical nature that is common among length, volume, probability and the like. [from 20th c.]
3. Metrical rhythm.
   1. (now archaic) A melody. [from 14th c.]
   2. (now archaic) A dance. [from 15th c.]
      • 1808, Walter Scott, Marmion:

        Now tread we a measure! said young Lochinvar.

      • 1922, Michael Arlen, “2/2/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days‎:

        They danced on silently, softly. Their feet played tricks to the beat of the tireless measure, that exquisitely asinine blare which is England's punishment for having lost America.

   3. (poetry) The manner of ordering and combining the quantities, or long and short syllables; meter; rhythm; hence, a metrical foot. [from 15th c.]

      a poem in iambic measure

   4. (music) A musical designation consisting of all notes and or rests delineated by two vertical bars; an equal and regular division of the whole of a composition; a bar. [from 17th c.]
4. A course of action.
   1. (in the plural) Actions designed to achieve some purpose; plans. [from 17th c.]
   2. A piece of legislation. [from 18th c.]
      • 2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55:

        The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology would sometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight. Barack Obama is hoping that several measures announced on June 4th will have a similarly paralysing effect on their modern incarnation, the patent troll.

• (musical designation): bar
• (unit of measurement): metric

• (mathematics): positive measure, signed measure, complex measure, Borel measure, σ-finite measure, complete measure, Lebesgue measure

measure (third-person singular simple present measures, present participle measuring, simple past and past participle measured)

1. To ascertain the quantity of a unit of material via calculated comparison with respect to a standard.
   • 2013 June 1, “Towards the end of poverty”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 11:

     But poverty’s scourge is fiercest below $1.25 (the average of the 15 poorest countries’ own poverty lines, measured in 2005 dollars and adjusted for differences in purchasing power): people below that level live lives that are poor, nasty, brutish and short.

   We measured the temperature with a thermometer.   You should measure the angle with a spirit level.

2. To be of (a certain size), to have (a certain measurement)

   The window measured two square feet.

3. To estimate the unit size of something.

   I measure that at 10 centimetres.

4. To judge, value, or appraise.
   • John Milton

     Great are thy works, Jehovah, infinite / Thy power! what thought can measure thee?

5. To obtain or set apart; to mark in even increments.
6. (rare) To traverse, cross, pass along; to travel over.
   • William Shakespeare

     A true devoted pilgrim is not weary / To measure kingdoms with his feeble steps.

7. To adjust by a rule or standard.
   • Jeremy Taylor

     To secure a contented spirit, measure your desires by your fortunes, not your fortunes by your desires.

8. To allot or distribute by measure; to set off or apart by measure; often with out or off.
   • Bible, Matthew vii. 2

     With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

   • Addison

     That portion of eternity which is called time, measured out by the sun.

• “measure” (US) / “measure” (UK) in Oxford Dictionaries, Oxford University Press.
• measure in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• measure in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• measure at OneLook Dictionary Search

• Reaumes