measure

Forms

1.A prescribed quantity or extent.
- Full to the utmost measure of what bliss Human desires can seek or apprehend.
- They have gloried to this day, the tedious interminable big-screen replays of that golden summer irritating beyond measure.
- Mom's rage has no measure.
2.The act or result of measuring.
- Honesty is the true measure of a man.
- The villagers paid a tithe of a thousand measures of corn.
- By what measure should we judge the performance of our teachers?
3.Metrical rhythm.
- He took her soft hand, ere her mother could bar, / "Now tread we a measure!" said young Lochinvar.
- 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.
4.A course of action.

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.
2.To be of (a certain size), to have (a certain measurement).
- The window measured two square feet.
- Weave with Azure until the woven cloth measures 31¼".
- 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.
3.To estimate the unit size of something.
- I measure that at 10 centimetres.
4.To judge, value, or appraise.

Common· #1032

From Middle English mesure, from Old French mesure, from Latin mēnsūra (“a measure”), mētior (“to measure”, supine stem in mēns-) + -tūra.

Largely displaced native Old English metan ("to measure" whence modern mete) and ġemet (“a measure”).