measure

plural measures

1. A prescribed quantity or extent.
   1. countableobsoleteuncountableModeration, temperance.First known use 13th–19th c.

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

      1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jeremiah 30

   2. countableuncountableA limit that cannot be exceeded; a bound. (Now chiefly in set phrases.)First known use 14th c.

      Mom's rage has no measure.

      3 more examples

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

      1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

      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. countableuncountableAn (unspecified) portion or quantity.First known use 16th c.

      1 more example

      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. countableuncountablecookingA receptacle or vessel of a standard size, capacity etc. as used to deal out specific quantities of some substance.First known use 14th c.

      a measure of salt

   2. countableuncountableA standard against which something can be judged; a way of measuring it; a criterion for it.First known use 14th c.

      Honesty is the true measure of a man.

      2 more examples

      By what measure should we judge the performance of our teachers?

      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.

      2011 October 23, Phil McNulty, “Man Utd 1-6 Man City”, in BBC Sport

      Synonyms: metric

   3. countableuncountableAny of various standard units of capacity.First known use 14th c.

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

   4. countableuncountableA unit of measurement.First known use 14th c.

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

      1993, Scientific American, February 33.3

      Synonyms: metric

   5. countableuncountableThe size of someone or something, as ascertained by measuring. (Now chiefly in make to measure.)First known use 14th c.

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

      1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 11:9

   6. archaiccountableuncountableThe act or process of measuring.First known use 14th c.
   7. countableuncountableA ruler, measuring stick, or graduated tape used to take measurements.First known use 16th c.
   8. countableuncountablegeographyA bed or stratum.First known use 17th c.

      coal measures; lead measures

      1 more example

      For many years the coal measures on the shores of Lough Allen were worked only in the most primitive fashion, and the coal was transported laboriously in the inevitable ass carts of the Irish peasant.

      1951 May, R. K. Kirkland, “The Cavan & Leitrim Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 339

   9. archaiccountableuncountablemathematicsA number which is contained in a given number a number of times without a remainder; a divisor or factor.First known use 16th c.

      the greatest common measure of two or more numbers

   10. countableuncountablemathematicsA function which obeys a particular set of formal conditions, created to generalize and rigorize the notions of length, volume, and probability. Formally, a non-negative, countably additive set function on a sigma-algebra; see Measure (mathematics) on Wikipedia.WikipediaFirst known use 20th c.
3. Metrical rhythm.
   1. archaiccountableuncountableA melody.First known use 14th c.
   2. archaiccountableuncountableA dance.First known use 15th c.

      He took her soft hand, ere her mother could bar,— / "Now tread we a measure!" said young Lochinvar.

      1808 February 22, Walter Scott, “Canto Fifth. The Court.”, in Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field, Edinburgh: […] J[ames] Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, […]; London: William Miller, and John Murray, →OCLC, stanza XII (Lochinvar. Lady Heron’s Song.), page 259

      1 more example

      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. countableuncountablecommunicationsThe manner of ordering and combining the quantities, or long and short syllables; meter; rhythm; hence, a metrical foot.First known use 15th c.

      a poem in iambic measure

   4. countableuncountableentertainmentA 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.First known use 17th c.

      Synonyms: bar

4. A course of action.
   1. countablein pluraluncountableActions designed to achieve some purpose; plans.First known use 17th c.

      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 March 12, “It's coronavirus-free, but El Salvador is banning all foreign travellers”, in The Straits Times

   2. countableuncountableA piece of legislation.First known use 18th c.

      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 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55

present singular third person measures · participle present measuring · participle past measured · past measured

1. transitiveTo ascertain the quantity of a unit of material via calculated comparison with respect to a standard.

   We measured the temperature with a thermometer.

   2 more examples

   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 June 1, “Towards the end of poverty”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, archived from the original on 05 Sep 2024, page 11

   Synonyms: take, dimension

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

   The window measured two square feet.

   3 more examples

   This park is the first large-scale public park in Taiwan. It is located on the border of Nantzu District in Kaohsiung City and Chiaotou village, Kaohsiung County and this park measures 95 hectares.

   2003, An Outline of Interior Affairs, Republic of China, 2003, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 114

   Youth worker Rob, 25, is 5’ 3” tall but measures 6’ 6” around his girth – just an inch less than the height of England’s beanpole striker Peter Crouch.

   2012 March 7, Richard Smith, “I'm wider than I am tall: 35 stone Rob measures 6ft 6in around his waist”, in Daily Mirror, archived from the original on 16 May 2026

   Weave with Azure until the woven cloth measures 31¼".

   2026, Malynda Allen, “Flights of Fancy”, in Handwoven, volume XLVII, number 1, page 46

3. To estimate the unit size of something.

   I measure that at 10 centimetres.

4. To judge, value, or appraise.

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

   1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

   1 more example

   ſince they meaſure our deſerts so meane, That in conceit beare Empires on our ſpeares, Affecting thoughts coequall with the cloudes, They ſhalbe kept our forced followers, Til with their eies they view vs Emperours.

   c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii

5. To obtain or set apart; to mark in even increments.
6. rareTo traverse, cross, pass along; to travel over.

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

   c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vii]

   1 more example

   "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.

   To secure a contented spirit, you must measure your desires by your fortune and condition, not your fortunes by your desires

   1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], →OCLC

8. oftenTo allot or distribute by measure; to set off or apart by measure; often with.

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

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 7:2

   1 more example

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

   1711 September 11 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “FRIDAY, September 1, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 159; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC

9. transitiveTo 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

   2 more examples

   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, →ISBN, 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 May 26, Demetra Tzanaki, Women and Nationalism in the Making of Modern Greece: The Founding of the Kingdom to the Greco-Turkish War, Springer, →ISBN, page 119