measure

Etymology

From Middle English mesure, from Old French mesure, from Latin mēnsūra (“a measure”), from mēnsus, past participle of mētīrī (“to measure”). Displaced native Old English metan (“to measure”) and ġemet (“a measure”).

noun

1. A prescribed quantity or extent.
   1. (obsolete) Moderation, temperance.
   2. A limit that cannot be exceeded; a bound. (Now chiefly in set phrases.)
      but there is never found a foolish man who knows the measure of his stomach 2005, J Coarguo, Hávamál: The Words of the High One a Personal Interpretation
      They have gloried to this day, the tedious interminable big-screen replays of that golden summer irritating beyond measure. 25 August 2009, Mike Selvey, The Guardian
   3. An (unspecified) portion or quantity.
      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. 6 September 2013, Daniel Taylor, “Danny Welbeck leads England's rout of Moldova but hit by Ukraine ban”, in The Guardian
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.
      a measure of salt
   2. A standard against which something can be judged; a criterion.
      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. October 23, 2011, Phil McNulty, “Man Utd 1-6 Man City”, in BBC Sport
      Honesty is the true measure of a man.
   3. Any of various standard units of capacity.
      The villagers paid a tithe of a thousand measures of corn.
   4. A unit of measurement.
      The fragments shrank by increments of about three kilodaltons (a measure of molecular weight). 1993, Scientific American, February 33.3
   5. The size of someone or something, as ascertained by measuring. (Now chiefly in make to measure.)
   6. (now rare) The act or process of measuring.
   7. A ruler, measuring stick, or graduated tape used to take measurements.
   8. (mathematics, now rare) A number which is contained in a given number a number of times without a remainder; a divisor or factor.
      the greatest common measure of two or more numbers
   9. (geology) A bed or stratum.
      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.
3. Metrical rhythm.
   1. (now archaic) A melody.
   2. (now archaic) A dance.
      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. 1922, Michael Arlen, “2/2/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days
   3. (poetry) The manner of ordering and combining the quantities, or long and short syllables; meter; rhythm; hence, a metrical foot.
      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.
4. A course of action.
   1. (in the plural) Actions designed to achieve some purpose; plans.
      The president said the measures involve a ban on all visitors to the country via all ports of entry who aren't residents or diplomats. El Salvadorans or residents who return to El Salvador will be quarantined for 30 days.. 2020-03-12, “It's coronavirus-free, but El Salvador is banning all foreign travellers”, in The Straits Times
   2. A piece of legislation.
      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. 2013-06-08, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55

verb

1. To ascertain the quantity of a unit of material via calculated comparison with respect to a standard.
   We measured the temperature with a thermometer. You should measure the angle with a spirit level.
   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. 2013-06-01, “Towards the end of poverty”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 11
2. (stative) 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.
5. To obtain or set apart; to mark in even increments.
6. (rare) To traverse, cross, pass along; to travel over.
   "And for a very sensible reason; there never was but one like her; or, that is, I have always thought so until to-day," replied the tar, glancing toward Natalie; "for my old eyes have seen pretty much everything they have got in this little world. Ha! I should like to see the inch of land or water that my foot hasn't measured." 1859, Ferna Vale, Natalie; or, A Gem Among the Sea-Weeds
7. To adjust by a rule or standard.
8. (often with out or off) To allot or distribute by measure; to set off or apart by measure; often with.
9. (transitive) To regulate or control (one's actions, speech, etc.), as if one were carefully measuring their length or quantity.
   To measure one’s own activity, to make it conform to these standards of clearness, brevity and truth, is practically a very difficult matter. 1912, A. Everett George, The Montessori Method, Frederick A. Stokes Co., translation of original by Maria Montessori, page 110
   In its opening portrait of Madame Caillaux, the rightist and anti-Caillaux Illustration asked its readers to imagine not a wronged victim or a female ruled by emotion but a careful player who measured her every word. 1992, Edward Berenson, The Trial of Madame Caillaux, Univ of California Press, page 17
   He measured his actions with a critical eye and was an exemplary citizen and householder. He was, the author explained, a simple, good man, and like all simple, good men he had an ideal […] 2009-05-26, Demetra Tzanaki, Women and Nationalism in the Making of Modern Greece: The Founding of the Kingdom to the Greco-Turkish War, Springer, page 119