| 释义 |
▪ I. measure, n.|ˈmɛʒ(j)ʊə(r)|
Forms: 3–6 mesur(e, 4–6 mesour(e, -ore, (5 meser, Sc. 6 myssour, myssuyr, 7 meassour, missour), 6– measure.
[a. F. mesure:—L. mēnsūra, n. of action f. mēns-, ppl. stem of mētīrī to measure. Cf. Pr. me(n)sura, Sp., Pg. mesura, It. misura. Many of the senses below were developed in Fr., and adopted.]
I. Action, result, or means of measuring.
1. a. The action or process of measuring, measurement. Now rare.
c1400Rom. Rose 5026 So litel whyle it doth endure That ther nis compte ne mesure. 1530Palsgr. 442/1, I awme, I gesse by juste measure to hytte or touche a thyng. 1557Recorde Whetstone Pref. b ij b, Measure is but the nombryng of the partes of lengthe, bredthe, or depthe. 1607J. Norden Surv. Dial. iii. 150 Doe you imagine that the truest measure is by triangles? 1650J. Wybard Tactometria 3 Every continuall or continued Quantity falling under Measure (in practicall Geometry) is referred..to the discrete. 1774Maskelyne in Phil. Trans. LXIV. 167 The formula, for the measure of heights, may also be changed. 1875Encycl. Brit. II. 380/2 [Archimedes] The Measure of the Circle (κύκλου µέτρησις).
b. by measure: as determined by measuring (in contradistinction to weighing or counting).
1553Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 22 It is solde there by measure, as wheat is with vs, and not by weight. 1715Lond. Gaz. No. 5309/4 The Page Galley,..burthen about 301 Tons by Measure. 1844Stephens Bk. Farm II. 394 In Scotland, grain used to be sold by measure alone. 1863Fownes's Chem. (ed. 9) 144 Composition of the Atmosphere. Nitrogen. By weight 77 parts. By measure 79·19.
2. a. Size or quantity as ascertained or ascertainable by measuring. Now chiefly in phrase (made) to measure, i.e. (made) in accordance with measurements taken (said of garments, etc., in contradistinction to ‘ready-made’). Also transf. and fig.: fashioned to fulfil specified requirements; appropriate for a particular purpose; chiefly attrib.
to know the measure of (a person's) foot: see foot n. 26 c.
a1300Cursor M. 1668, I sal þe tell hou lang, hou brade, O quat mesur it sal be made. 1382Wyclif Ex. xxvi. 2 Of o mesure shal be made alle the tentis. c1440Alphabet of Tales 32 A stake of þe same mesur & lenthe. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 58 Hee suffered not..the fourme and measure of his members to be made in metall. 1668Wilkins Real Char. 163 Therefore the measure of the cubit must be larger. 1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 126 Their measure they note down upon a piece of paper. 1851Mayhew Lond. Lab. I. 476/2 The suit is more likely to be bought ready-made than ‘made to measure’. 1857G. Bird's Urin. Deposits (ed. 5) 61 It is much easier to obtain the measure than the weight of urine passed in a given time. 1928Punch 11 July p. xix/1 (Advt.), It is to give all the benefits of made-to-measure shoes..that these Lotus Bespoke Models have been created. 1937Evening News 5 Feb. 8/2 We shall have made-to-measure houses..with provision for adding rooms as families grow. 1958Listener 9 Oct. 563/2 The new knowledge..may ultimately enable us to produce made-to-measure mutant viruses. 1959Ibid. 2 Apr. 608/1 The Boat Race..made to measure for television.
b. full measure, good measure, short etc. measure (see the adjs.): ample or deficient quantity in what is sold or given by measure. Also fig.
Full, good measure are also appended to designations of measured quantity, to indicate something in excess of the stated amount.
1382[see good a. 19]. 1581, etc. [see over-measure n.]. 1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 68 What's wanting in his Guns is made up in his Cups, which are sure to have full measure. 1887Lowell Democracy, etc. 6 His audience would feel defrauded of their honest measure.
c. to take measures († measure): to ascertain the different dimensions of a body. So, to take the measure of a person for clothes, etc.
c1430Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 11 Euclyde toke mesures, be craft of Gemytré. 15..Adam Bel 283 in Hazl. E.P.P. II. 150 To take the mesure of that yeman, And therafter to make hys graue. 1520Gresham in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. iii. I. 234, I have takyn the measures of xviij. Chambres at Hamton Cortte and have made a Boke of them. 1580Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 290 Like the Taylours boys, who thinketh to take measure before he can handle the sheeres. 1590Shakes. Com. Err. iv. iii. 9. 1647 Ward Simp. Cobler 28 He that makes Coates for the Moone, had need take measure every noone. 1793Smeaton Edystone L. §97 The difficulty I had to get the proper measures taken. 1834Marryat P. Simple ii, The man..took my measure, and departed.
d. techn. The width of a printed page; the width of an organ pipe.
1683Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xxii. ⁋4 So many Words as will fill up the Measure pretty stiff, viz. Justifie the Line. Ibid. xxiv. ⁋7 A second Form of the same Volumne, Measure and Whites. 1824Johnson Typogr. II. 93 After having made the measure for the work, we set a line of the letter that is designed for it. 1852Seidel Organ 76 The width of a pipe is called its measure.
e. Fencing. The distance of one fencer from another as determined by the length of his reach when lunging or thrusting. (In first quot. fig.) Also, in military drill.
1591Shakes. Two Gent. v. iv. 127 Come not within the measure of my wrath. 1692Sir W. Hope Fencing-Master 95 Break his measure, or make his thrust short of you. 1696R. H. Sch. Recreat. 67 Measure. This is only a distance between you and your Adversary, which must be cautiously and exactly observed when he is Thrusting at you; so that you may be without his measure or reach. 1833Reg. Instr. Cavalry i. 144 As soon as the Attacking File has passed on, and is out of measure, both Files will ‘Slope Swords’. Ibid. 146 The opposing Files should..circle ‘Right’ within measure. 1868T. Griffiths Mod. Fencer 69 The Measure..must be determined by the length of the foil and the height of your opponent.
† f. Duration (of time, of a musical note). Obs.
1662Playford Skill Mus. i. viii. 26 Pauses or Rests are silent Characters, or an Artificial omission of the Voyce or Sound, proportioned to a Certain Measure of Time. Ibid. xi. 36 Hold..is placed over the Note which the Author intends should be held to a longer Measure then the Note contains. 1696Phillips, Measure of time, is much to be regarded in handling Nativities, that when you have a Direction, you may know how long it will be before it operates. 1706[see measure-note in 23].
3. fig.
a. In the phrases under 2 c. † to take measure(s: to form an opinion or opinions; also, † to take a fair, wrong (etc.) m. of. to take the measure of, formerly to take m. of: to form an estimate of; now esp. to weigh or gauge the abilities or character of (a person), with a view to what one is to expect from him.
1650Jer. Taylor Holy Living ii. §7 (1686) 118 He onely lived according to Nature, the other by pride and ill customs, and measures taken by other mens eyes and tongues. 1659Burton's Diary (1828) IV. 458, I know nothing of it, and therefore must take measure by what is before me. 1677Hale Prim. Orig. Man. 245 They thought it more sutable to take their Measures, and make their Conclusions consonant to the course of Nature. 1790Burke Fr. Rev. Wks. V. 58 If we take the measure of our rights by our exercise of them at the revolution. 1795― Th. Scarcity Wks. 1842 II. 253 We cannot assure ourselves, if we take a wrong measure, from the temporary necessities of one season. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 84, I have encountered a good many of these gentlemen in actual service, and have taken their measure. 1889Doyle Micah Clarke 113 Our hostess..bustled off..to take the measure of the new-comer. 1893Nation 5 Jan. LVI. 4/1 The people have taken the measure of this whole labor movement.
†b. Hence, An estimate, opinion, or notion. Obs.
1665Glanvill Scepsis Sci., Addr. Roy. Soc. A 3 b, I can expect no other from those, that judge by first sights and rash measures, then to be thought fond or insolent. 1670in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 487 He has given the King of France the character of all our Court..as he himself thinks of them; so that he has..given as wrong measures here as he has given you. a1678H. Scougal Life of God, etc. (1735) 79 All who are enemies to holiness have taken up false measures and disadvantageous notions of it. 1691T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 20 Be pleased to receive the Measures of this Companies judging therein.
4. An instrument for measuring.
a. A vessel of standard capacity used for separating and dealing out fixed quantities of various substances (as grain, liquids, some vegetables, coal).
1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 8834 False elnen & mesures he broȝte al clene adoun. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. cxxviii. (1495) 932 That is properly callyd mesure by whom fruyte and corne and lycour and other thynges moyste and drye ben mette. c1440Alphabet of Tales 330 If I hafe right-wuslie..mesurd with thies mesurs to þaim at I selde ale to. 1508Acc. Ld. Treas. Scot. (1902) IV. 137 For ane mesure to the Kingis gun of silvir. 1694Holder Disc. Time 3 A Concave Measure, of known and denominated Capacity, serves to measure the Capaciousness of any other Vessel. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. i. v, A little wooden measure which had no discernible inside.
b. A graduated rod, line, tape, etc., used by builders, tailors, etc. for taking measurements; † also (see quot. 1688). See also tape-measure, yard-measure.
1555Eden Decades (Arb.) 240 The streates were also directed with corde, compase and measure. 1595Shakes. John iv. ii. 196 [A tailor] with his Sheeres, and Measure in his hand. 1688R. Holme Armoury ii. 464/1 Instruments used by Perawick Makers... Measures, are lengths of Paper or Parchment, with Figures on, by which the Hair is Woven in the rounds, according as it is to fall in the Wig, whether long or short. 169.Ad Populum Phaleræ i. 24 Our ancient Rolls, grown useless to preserve Our Rights, may then for Taylors Measures serve.
5. a. A unit or denomination of measurement.
1535Coverdale 1 Chron. xxiii[i.] 29 For all maner of weight and measure [1611 measures and size]. 1555Eden Decades (Arb.) 257 They vse waightes and measures. 1559W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 56 A Barly corne (being the least measure). 1650J. Wybard Tactometria To Rdr., The Standard-measures for Wine and Ale or Beer. 1688[see dry a. 10]. a1696,1848[see lineal 1 b]. 1710J. Harris Lex. Techn. II, Measures of Capacity. 1765Blackstone Comm. I. i. vii. 305 Superficial measures are derived by squaring those of length. 1842–59Gwilt Archit. §2316 The common measure for tiling is a square of 10 feet. 1843Penny Cycl. XXVII. 196/2 The measures of time..are the only usual ones in which a natural standard exists. Ibid. 203/1 All the multiples and subdivisions of every measure [in the metrical system] are decimal.
b. Used for some specific unit of capacity (formerly also of length) understood from context or usage; in England often applied to the bushel. Also, such a quantity of anything as is indicated by this unit. In translations from foreign langs. sometimes used to render the name of some definite unit: e.g. in the Bible of 1611 as translation of seah, cor, and bath.
1382Wyclif Luke xvi. 7 An hundrid mesuris [1388 coris] of whete. 1494Will Joan Wynne in Somerset Med. Wills (1901) 322, ij mesers of Ode [? = woad]. 1535Coverdale 1 Sam. xxv. 18 Fyue measures of firmentye. 1604Shakes. Oth. iv. ii. 73, I would not doe such a thing for a ioynt Ring, nor for measures of Lawne, nor for Gownes. 1605― Macb. iii. iv. 11 Anon wee'l drinke a Measure The Table round. 1606― Ant. & Cl. ii. vi. 37 To send Measures of Wheate to Rome. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 337/2 A Measure, an Hoop, or a Strick, is 4 Pecks, or 9 Gallons. Yet some reckon but 8 gallons to the Measure, which in some places is also called a Bushel. 1787Winter Syst. Husb. 194 This field used commonly to be sowed with twenty measures of wheat, each measure containing one hundred and six pounds of eighteen ounces. 1805Forsyth Beauties Scotl. II. 253 Between 20,000 and 30,000 measures in shells..the measure containing two Winchester bushels. 1870Bryant Homer I. vii. 234 These Brought wine, a thousand measures.
c. Chem. A unit of volume used in ascertaining the quantity of a gas or liquid, usually indicated by graduations on a tube (as an alkalimeter or eudiometer) or other vessel. Also, the quantity measured by such a unit.
1807T. Thomson Chem. (ed. 3) II. 149 The gas amounted to 16 very small measures. 1845Parnell Chem. Anal. 416 Each measure of the alkalimeter represents half a grain of chloride of lime.
d. In descriptions of mixture or composition: One of a number of equal volumes indeterminate in quantity; a ‘part’ as estimated by measurement.
1837Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 33/2 The concrete..is to consist of six measures of gravel and sand to one of ground lime. 1863Fownes's Chem. (ed. 9) 144 Carbonic acid, from 3·7 measures to 6·2 measures, in 10,000 measures of air.
6. A method of measuring; esp. a system of standard denominations or units of length, surface, or volume.
Chiefly with qualifying word denoting the class or kind of system, the substances to which it is applied, or the locality in which it is used or originated; e.g. linear measure, long measure, square measure, cubic measure; liquid measure, dry measure, ale measure, corn measure; Irish measure, London measure.
1439Rolls of Parlt. V. 30/2 There as any Merchaunt..excepte at London, will make a Clothe in measuring xxiiii yerdes, they woll make therof xxii or lasse, seyinge that it is the mesure of London. 1455Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889) I. 288 Al maner of women that syllyn ale..syll aftyr the Kyng's ale mesure. 1670Capt. J. Smith Eng. Improv. Reviv'd 25 The content of the whole fence by the said Wood measure is 1466 Perch 12 foot. 1672Petty Polit. Anat. Irel. in Tracts (1769) 299 A perch or pole Irish measure, is 21 foot. 1709J. Ward Yng. Math. Guide i. iii. (1734) 34 That there should be but one Measure for Wine, Ale and Corn, throughout this Realm. Ibid. 36 Dry Measure is different both from Wine and Ale Measure. 1842–59Gwilt Archit. §2303 In lime measure, what is called a hundred is 100 pecks, or 25 striked bushels (old measure). 1843Penny Cycl. XXVII. 200/2 Apothecaries' fluid measure. 1898Engineering Mag. XVI. 95 The completed raft contains 450,000 lineal feet of timber, or in the neighborhood of 3,000,000 feet, board-measure.
7. a. That by which anything is computed or estimated, or with which it is compared in respect of quantity. Chiefly in phr. to be the measure of. [Cf. Gr. use of µέτρον.]
c1580Sidney Ps. vi. i, Lord,..let [not] thy rage of my due punishment Become the measure. 1612Bacon Ess., Of Despatch (Arb.) 244 Time is the measure of businesse, as money is of wares. 1635Wells Sciographia 113 The tangent of SG [the subtending arc] the measure of the angle Z. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey) s.v., In Philosophy, Time is the Measure of Motion; but in Mechanicks, Motion is the Measure of Time. 1852C. W. H[oskyns] Talpa 19 The weakest link of a chain is the measure of its strength. 1865Brande Dict. Sci., etc. III. 606/1 The reciprocal of the radius of a circle is a measure of its curvature. 1892Kipling Barrack-room Ballads 65 And the measure of our torment is the measure of our youth.
b. A standard or rule of judgement; a criterion, test; also, a standard by which something is determined or regulated. Now rare.
1641in Rushworth's Hist. Coll. (1692) iii. I. 555 Having..no measure of happiness or misfortune in this world, but what I derive from your Majesties value of my affection and fidelity. 1660Stanley Hist. Philos. xi. Protagoras ii. (1687) 768 He began one of his Books thus: Man is..the measure of all things. 1690Locke Hum. Und. iii. vi. §22 Our abstract ideas are to us the measures of species. 1785Paley Mor. Philos. ii. ix, The will of God is the measure of right and wrong. 1830Tennyson Poems 153 Man is the measure of all truth Unto himself.
c. In collocation with rule n. (q.v.).
8. Math. A quantity which divides or is contained in another quantity some number of times without remainder; a submultiple. Thus, 2, 3, 4, and 6 are all measures of 12. [After Gr. µέτρον.]
common measure = common divisor (see divisor 1 b). Also fig. or allusively. greatest common measure (abbreviated G.C.M.): the greatest quantity that divides each of a number of given quantities exactly.
1570Dee Math. Pref. 5 In pure Arithmetike, an Vnit, is the common Measure of all Numbers. 1570Billingsley Elem. Geom. 234 b, It is required of these three magnitudes to finde out the greatest common measure. 1656Hobbes Six Less. Wks. 1845 VII. 196 One quantity is the measure of another quantity, when it, or the multiple of it, is coincident in all points with the other quantity. 1727–52Chambers Cycl. s.v., 9 is a measure of 27. 1870J. H. Newman Gramm. Assent i. iv. 80 The establishment of a common measure between mind and mind. 1875Colenso Elem. Alg. v. 48 We may sometimes find by inspection the G.C.M. of two quantities.
9. [? concr. of sense 2.] A stratum or bed of mineral; now only pl. (Geol.) in coal-measures, culm measures (see culm1 3).
1665[see coal-measure]. 1686Plot Staffordsh. 158 The other Iron Ores..which lye in some places but thin, others thicker, and as the coal is, divided into measures of different denominations. 1795Aikin Manchester 523 The measures or strata, by which the beds of coal are divided. 1837[see culm1 3]. 1865Lyell Elem. Geol. 532 The Devonian group..its relations to the overlying Carboniferous rocks or ‘Culm Measures’. 1881Raymond Mining Gloss., Measures, strata of coal, or the formation containing coal beds.
II. Prescribed or limited extent or quantity.
†10. What is commensurate or adequate; satisfaction (of appetite, desire, need). Obs.
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 55 And he sette muðes mesure on his ferde þat he gaderede [L. et fecit gulam militiæ suæ principem]. 13..E.E. Allit. P. A. 224 A mannez dom moȝt dryȝly demme, Er mynde moȝt malte in hit mesure. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, ii. iii. 32 Till either death hath clos'd these eyes of mine, Or Fortune giuen me measure of Reuenge. 1607― Cor. ii. ii. 127 He cannot but with measure fit the Honors which we deuise him.
11.
†a. Proportion; due proportion, symmetry.
c1400Destr. Troy 806 Sho gafe hym a glasse with a good lycour, And bade..To werke it in mesure. Ibid. 1648 The windowes, worthely wroght in a mesure. c1407Lydg. Reas. & Sens. 58 Wyth the which she dooth gouerne Euery maner creature, With-oute[n] ordre or mesure. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lv. §2 Measure is that which perfecteth all things. 1600E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 25 For being an exercise that requireth order and measure, all things were there disordered and confused. 1662Evelyn Chalcogr. Table, Measure and proportion have Influence on all our Actions.
b. in measure as: in proportion as. [A Gallicism: cf. F. á mesure que.]
1789Cowper Let. to Newton 16 Aug. Wks. (1836) VI. 256 [Fame] is a commodity that daily sinks in value, in measure as the consummation of all things approaches. 1894G. Moore Esther Waters 332 His irritability increased in measure as he perceived the medicine was doing him no good.
†c. to hold measure with: to be proportionate to or commensurate with. Obs.
1611Tourneur Ath. Tragedie i. i, Now let thy trust..Hold measure with thy amplitude of wit.
12. a. An extent not to be exceeded; a limit. Now only in certain phrases, as to set measures to, to know no measure (see also b and c).
1390Gower Conf. III. 234 That he schal mesure His bodi, so that no mesure Of fleisshly lust he scholde excede. 1514Barclay Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (Percy Soc.) 30 Thou pasest mesure, Faustus. 1530Palsgr. 572/1 This mater gothe out of mesure, ceste matiere se desmesure. 1604E. G[rimstone] tr. Acosta's Hist. Indies i. vi. 19 Although the great Ocean stretcheth farre, yet doth it never passe this measure. 1633G. Herbert Temple, Ch. Porch xix, If thy sonne can make ten pound his measure. 1659Pearson Creed (1839) 272 What bounds can we set unto that grief, what measures to that anguish? 1667Milton P.L. v. 517 Full to the utmost measure of what bliss Human desires can seek or apprehend. 1710Philips Pastorals i. 14 Fond Love no Cure will have..nor any Measure knows. a1716South Twelve Serm. (1744) XI. 162 To determine and give measures to the divine bounty and wisdom, to tell it what it ought to do.
b. In advb. phr. beyond (above, † without, † over) measure, also † out of measure, out of all measure (arch.): beyond all bounds, excessively. † Formerly (esp. Sc.) used also predicatively = boundless, unlimited, excessive.
c1375Barbour Bruce i. 570 He wes angry out of mesur. Ibid. xvii. 810 The laiff our mesur war wery. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xxx. 137 On lenth it es withouten mesure. 1470–85Malory Arthur ii. i. 77 The damoysel made grete sorow out of mesure. 1513Douglas æneis vii. vi. 59 Abufe myssuyr forsuth thai chaistyit war. 1530Palsgr. 418/2 This adversite hath anguissed me beyonde measure. 1565Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 370 A thing sa far beyond all measour that [etc.]. 1642Rogers Naaman To Rdr. §2 So Selfe encountered with a Law, proves out of measure sinfull. 1665Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 356 The air is usually warm, and at some time above measure. 1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 73 He's so often out of Measure in his Drinking. 1856R. A. Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. vi. iii. 166 He was full of Eckart's doctrine, out of all measure admiring the wonderful man. 1872Black Adv. Phaeton xxxi 414 My Lady was once vexed beyond measure.
c. to keep or observe measure(s: to be moderate or restrained in action. † to keep measures with: to use consideration towards (a person).
1551R. Robinson tr. More's Utopia ii. (Arb.) 135 In rewardes they kepe no measure. 1710Shaftesbury Charac. (1737) II. 266 Our Author..endeavours to shew Civility and Favour, by keeping the fairest Measures he possibly can with Men of this sort. 1734tr. Rollin's Rom Hist. (1827) III. 69 He thought fit to observe measures with him in the beginning, hoping, perhaps, by gentle methods to bring him back to his duty. Ibid. 74 He no longer observed any measures and reigned like a true tyrant. 1792W. Roberts Looker-On No. 7 (1794) I. 93 If his taylor continue to disappoint him, I promise to keep no measures with the delinquent. a1832Macintosh Life More Wks. 1846 I. 493 More, having no longer any measures to keep, openly declared, that [etc.]. 1852M. Arnold Second Best i. 2 Quiet living, strict-kept measure. 1863Cowden Clarke Shakesp. Char. viii. 198 He keeps no measure in his contempt for him.
d. In Biblical phrases. by measure, in measure: to a limited extent, in part. to fill up the measure of: to complete the sum of (one's iniquities), to add what is wanting to the completeness of (a person's misfortunes). [A blending of Matt. xxiii. 32 with Gen. xv. 16; cf. F. combler la mesure.]
1382Wyclif Ezek. iv. 11 And thou shalt drynke water in mesure [Vulg. in mensura] the sixt part of hyn. [1382― Matt. xxiii. 32 Ȝe fulfillen the mesure of ȝoure fadris.] 1535Coverdale John iii. 34 God geueth not the sprete (vnto him) by measure. 1581N. Burne Disputation 143 The mesour of impietie begun be him is nocht zit fullie accomplished. 1611Bible Jer. xxx. 11, I will correct thee in measure, and will not leaue thee altogether vnpunished. a1716Bp. O. Blackall Wks. I. 66 To obtain that Righteousness which they desire, (here in good measure, and hereafter to the full). 1820W. Irving Sk. Book II. 267 To fill up the measure of his misfortunes. 1846Trench Mirac. xvi. (1862) 276 The prophets having grace only in measure, so in measure they wrought their miracles. 1856Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. ii. 91 The church was allowed a hundred and fifty more years, to fill full the measure of her offences.
†13.
a. Moderation, temperance. of measure: moderate, temperate. by measure, in measure: in moderation. Obs.
a1225Ancr. R. 74 Vt of god into vuel, & from mesure into unimete. 13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 247 Al in mesure & meþe was made þe vengaunce. 1390Gower Conf. II. 112 Slep..helpeth kinde..Whan it is take be mesure. a1400Sir Perc. 397 Luke thou be of mesure Bothe in haulle and in boure. c1430Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 81 Iche thynge is praysed if it in mesure be. 1548Cranmer Catech. 182 Yf we wyll be contente with a meane dyet, and kepe a measure in our apparell. 1583Babington Commandm. 194 It hath euer been helde, that blushing in measure, modestie, and silence haue been commendable tokens in yong yeeres. 1593Shakes. Rich. II, iii. iv. 7 My Legges can keepe no measure in Delight, When my poore Heart no measure keepes in Griefe. 1667Milton P.L. vii. 128 Knowledge..needs..Her Temperance over Appetite, to know In measure what the mind may well contain.
personified.1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xiv. 70 If men lyued as mesure wolde. c1412Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 502 Mesure is out of londe on pylgrymage. a1510Douglas K. Hart ii. 511 That fayr sweit thing [Chastity]..That..euirmore is mareit with mesour.
b. Proverbs.
1362Langl. P. Pl. A. i. 33 Mesure is Medicine þauh þou muche ȝeor[n]e. 1399― Rich. Redeles ii. 139 Mesure is a meri mene. c1430Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 208 Men wryte of oold how mesour is tresour. a1529Skelton Sp. Parrot 64 In mesure is tresure. 1570Satir. Poems Reform. xvii. 44 Thinkand alwayis that mesure was ane feist. a1598Fergusson Prov. (1785) 13 He that forsakes missour, missour forsakes him.
†c. ? A compromise. Obs.
1425Paston Lett. I. 21 If this mesure be accepted.
14. a. A quantity, degree, or proportion (of something), esp. as granted to or bestowed upon a person.
1610J. Guillim Heraldry iii. xiv. (1660) 171 The Buck..hath a degree and measure of all the properties of the Stag. 1671Milton Samson 1439 For never was from Heaven imparted Measure of strength so great to mortal seed. 1674W. Allen Danger Enthus. 105 Mens differences about these points proceed..from their different measures of Light and understanding. 1784Cowper Task v. 309 In whom lust And folly in as ample measure meet As in the bosoms of the slaves he rules. 1850Scoresby Cheever's Whalem. Adv. xiii. (1859) 181 We had a good measure of these contingents of successful enterprise. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 680 Critias..begs that a larger measure of indulgence may be conceded to him. 1877‘H. A. Page’ De Quincey I. x. 200 To do some measure of steady work.
b. In advb. phr. formed with preps. in a great or large measure († in good m., † after some large m.): to a considerable extent or degree, largely. in some or a measure: to a certain extent, in some degree, somewhat. in († upon) the same measure: to the same extent.
138.Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 360 Þei [sc. curatis] shulden lyve on þe puple in good mesure as Poul biddiþ. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. i. ii. 30, I will condole in some measure. 1611Bible Ps. lxxx. 5 Thou..giuest them teares to drinke in great measure. 1632Lithgow Trav. x. 493 The recouery (after some large measure) of my health. 1662Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. i. i. §20 Which difference of writing is in a great measure the cause of the different dialect between the Athenians and Ionians. 1664Evelyn Pomona Gen. Advt. (1729) 91 Cider cannot be unwholesome upon the same Measure that stummed wine is so. 1736Butler Anal. ii. iii. Wks. 1874 I. 180 Objections against Christianity itself are, in a great measure, frivolous. 1871Smiles Charac. i. (1876) 8 Goodness in a measure implies wisdom. 1895R. L. Douglas in Bookman Oct. 22/2 Louis [XIV] was in a large measure responsible for the horrors of the Revolution.
15. Treatment (of a certain kind) ‘meted out’ to a person, esp. by way of punishment or retribution. Obs. or arch. exc. in hard measure.
1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, ii. vi. 55 In stead whereof, let this supply the roome, Measure for measure, must be answered. 1601― All's Well ii. iii. 273 This is hard and vndeserued measure. 1603― Meas. for M. iii. ii. 257 He professes to haue receiued no sinister measure from his Iudge. 1611Bible Transl. Pref. ⁋3 This is the measure that hath been rendred to excellent Princes in former times, euen..For their good deedes to be euill spoken of. 1667Milton P.L. i. 513 He from mightier Jove..like measure found. a1715Burnet Own Time (1724) I. 558 He thought he had met with hard measure. 1784Cowper Ep. Jos. Hill 55 O happy Britain! we have not to fear Such hard and arbitrary measure here. 1887A. Birrell Obiter Dicta Ser. ii. 67 It is certainly hard measure on the poor fellow.
III. ‘Measured’ sound or movement.
16. Poetical rhythm, as ‘measured’ by quantity or accent; a kind of poetical rhythm; a metrical group or period; = metre. spec. applied to Old English verse.
long measure (in hymns): see long a.1 A. 18.
c1450Lydg. & Burgh Secrees 1530 Or of metrys the feet to make equal, be tyme and proporcion kepying my mesurys. 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie ii. iii. (Arb.) 81 Meeter and measure is all one, for what the Greekes called µετρον, the Latines call Mensura, and is but the quantitie of a verse, either long or short. 1599Shakes. Hen. V, v. ii. 139. 1699 Bentley Phal. 198 It is an Iambic Verse; and it was a good while after the invention of Comedy and Tragedy, before that Measure was used in them. 1706A. Bedford Temple Mus. vi. 115 The..Verse consisted of Two Measures, and each of them of Ten Syllables. 1774R. Henry Hist. Gt. Brit. II. 432 The kinds and measures of their [sc. Saxon and Danish poets’] verses. 1778Johnson L.P., Cowley (1868) 23 To the disproportion and incongruity of Cowley's sentiments must be added the uncertainty and looseness of his measures. 1802J. Sibbald Chron. Scottish Poetry IV. p. lviii, In the same kind of measure [as the Fragment of the genuine Cædmon] are almost all the popular rhymes which still continue to be repeated by children in their ring-dances. 1820Hazlitt Lect. Dram. Lit. 73 It is beautiful prose put into heroic measure. 1869A. J. Ellis E.E. Pronunc. iv. §4. 333 Chaucer's verse seems to consist generally of five measures. 1873H. Morley First Sk. Eng. Lit. 20 There is one measure for Beowulf, Cædmon's Paraphrase, and all subsequent First English poems. 1877H. Rehrmann Ess. Anglo-Saxon Poetry 10 A foot or measure is made up..of one accented syllable and its connected unaccented syllable, or syllables. 1942J. C. Pope Rhythm of Beowulf 44 According to Heusler, alliteration must introduce the first measure in the second half-line.
17. An air, tune, melody. Now poet.
1390Gower Conf. III. 301 Bot if ye the mesure pleide, Which, if you list, I schal you liere. c1461E.E. Misc. (Warton Club) 50 A pype, boy, thou schalt have also, True of measure schall it go. 1595Shakes. John iii. i. 304 Shall braying trumpets, and loud churlish drums..be measures to our pomp. 1774Bryant Mythol. I. 445 A great musician, and particularly expert in all pastoral measure. 1842Lytton Zanoni 22 He would pour forth..strange wild measures, on his violin. 186.Bryant Sella 361 They called for quaint old measures.
18. Mus.
a. The relation between the time-values of a note of one denomination and a note of the next, determining the kind of rhythm (duple, triple, etc.); hence, the time of a piece of music. (Also called mode.)
1597Morley Introd. Mus. Annot. *4 This [triple time] is the common hackney horse of all the Composers, which is of so manie kindes as there be maners of pricking,..and yet all one measure. 1601Shakes. Twel. N. v. i. 41 The triplex, sir, is a good tripping measure. 1662Playford Skill Mus. i. vii. 23 Measure..is a Quantity of the length and shortness of Time, either by Natural Sounds pronounced by the Voyce, or by Artificial upon Instruments; which Measure is by a certain Motion of the Hand expressed in a varietie of Notes. 1727–52Chambers Cycl. s.v. Time, The mode or measure of two times, or the dupla measure. 1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XII. 533/1 There are properly two kinds of measures or modes of time: the measure of two times, or of common time..and the measure of three times, or of triple time. 1840Penny Cycl. XVIII. 207/1 It admits but one measure, the duple. 1901H. E. Wooldridge Oxf. Hist. Mus. I. 102 A special name, Cantus mensurabilis, was indeed often adopted by many authors, to describe the music in which measure was present throughout.
b. Each portion of a musical composition comprising a group of notes beginning with a main accent, and commonly included between two vertical lines or bars; a ‘bar’ (see bar n.1 16).
1667C. Simpson Pract. Mus. i. §10. 30 The Mood..called Perfect of the Less, in which three Semibreves went to a Measure. 1878F. Taylor in Grove Dict. Music I. 136 The word bar is also commonly, though incorrectly, applied to the portion contained between any two such vertical lines [bars], such portion being termed a ‘measure’.
¶c. Inaccurately used for L. modus as transl. of Gr. τρόπος, ἁρµονία: see mode.
1635Carpenter Geog. Del. ii. xiv. 247 The Northerne mans humour consortes best with the Phrygian measure, a loud and stirring harmony. 1776Burney Hist. Mus. I. iii. 60 The Lydian measure was appropriated to..songs of sorrow.
19. Rhythmical motion, esp. as regulated by music; the rhythm of a movement. to keep measure: to observe strict time.
1576Fleming tr. Caius' Dogs 35 Dogges..which are taught..to daunce in measure at the musicall sounde of an instrument. 1623Bingham Xenophon 104 All this is performed in measure to the Flute. 1655Stanley Hist. Philos. i. vii. (1687) 25/1 He first taught Soldiers to march by the sound of Fifes and Harps, observing a kind of measure in their pace. 1694Addison St. Cecilia's Day Wks. 1726 I. 33 The Bears in aukward measures leap. a1704T. Brown On Beauties Wks. 1730 I. 44 May she in measure like Clarinda move. 1704Prior To Mrs. Singer 14 If Amaryllis breathes thy secret pains, And thy fond heart beats measure to thy strains. 1800–24Campbell Pilgrim of Glencoe 8 Whose crews..Keep measure with their oars. 1864D. G. Mitchell Sev. Stor. 253 He would beat the measure of a light polka on his pallet.
20. a. A dance, esp. a grave or stately dance; often in phr. tread a measure. Now arch.
1509[see dance v. 4]. 1584Lyly Campaspe iv. iii, To tread the measurs in a daunce. 1590Marlowe 2nd Pt. Tamburl., v. i, Where fair Semiramis..Hath trod the measures. 1671Milton P.L. i. 170 All Heaven..in Celestial measures mov'd Circling the Throne and Singing. 1808Scott Marm. v. xii, Now tread we a measure! said young Lochinvar. a1839Praed Poems (1864) II. 44 And dancers leave the cheerful measure To seek the Lady's missing treasure. 1888W. E. Henley Bk. Verses 28 Kate the scrubber..treads a measure.
†b. to lead (a person) the measures: to ‘lead him a dance’. Obs.
1594Nashe Unfort. Trav. K 4 b, Hee stript her, and scourged her from top to toe tantara. Day by day he disgested his meate with leading her the measures.
IV.
21. A plan or course of action intended to attain some object. a. pl. esp. in phrases to take, adopt, † follow, pursue (certain) measures. † to break (a person's) measures [= F. rompre (ses) mesures]: to frustrate his plans. † in the measures of: privy to the plans of.
This sense of ‘to take measures’ (prendre des mesures) is adopted from Fr.; Littré regards it as developed from the sense ‘to form an estimate of a situation’, in which the phrase also occurs. Cf. 3 above.
1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 51 By the Measures they follow, this also in time must fall into their hands. 1700S. L. tr. Fryke's Voy. E. Ind. 185 We agreed there in an instant to take our measures about it. 1704Trapp Abra-Mulé i. i. 323 On purpose to defeat My close Contrivances, and break my Measures. 1708Partridge Bickerstaff detected in Swift's Wks. (1755) II. i. 168 [He] has paid his visits to St. Germains, and is now in the measures of Lewis XIV. a1715Burnet Own Time (1724) II. 360 He pursued the Measures, which he had begun to take, of raising new Divisions in that Kingdom. 1719De Foe Crusoe ii. (Globe) 594 My Measures being fix'd..for Arch-Angel, and not to Muscovy. 1767T. Hutchinson Hist. Prov. Mass. Bay iii. 297 This rupture with the Indians broke his measures. 1817Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. v. 476 Pondicherry was the object of importance; and it was resolved to lose no time in taking measures for its reduction. 1874J. R. Green Short Hist. viii. §4 (1882) 494 The measures of Laud soon revived the panic of the Puritans. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 604 To assist the external measures by internal medication.
b. sing.
1767A. Young Farmer's Lett. to People 36 Every just argument that can be urged for or against any measure. 1833H. Martineau Charmed Sea i. 7 Before..any measure of prevention..could be taken. 1841Brewster Mart. Sci. ii. iii. 170 His first plan was to remove every thing from Huen, as a measure of security. 1842Borrow Bible in Spain xxxviii, This measure by no means took me by surprise.
22. a. spec. A legislative enactment proposed or adopted.
1759Robertson Hist. Scot. i. Wks. 1851 I. 64 In none of our historians do we find an instance of any opposition formed against the court in parliament, or mention of any difficulty in carrying through the measures which were agreeable to the king. 1839Keightley Hist. Eng. II. 57 The great measure of this parliament was that respecting religious doctrines. 1879McCarthy Own Times II. xviii. 27 This measure was passed rapidly through all its stages.
b. Phrase, measures, not men.
1742Ld. Chesterfield 6 Mar. Lett. (1845) III. 138, I have opposed measures, not men. 1769Junius Lett. xxvi. note (1788) 141 Measures, and not men, is the common cant of affected moderation. 1792Anecd. W. Pitt. (1797) I. x. 224 Some disliked the measures, others disliked the men. 1839Bailey Festus (1852) 113, I care for measures more than men.
V.
23. attrib. and Comb.: measure-filling a., filling up the measure (of iniquity); measure-full, as much as will fill a measure; measure-glass, a graduated glass for measuring drugs, medicine, etc.; † measure-keeping, moderation; † measure line, a measuring line; measure-moth, a geometer moth (Cent. Dict.); † measure-note, a semi-breve; also, the length of note indicated by the lower figure in the rhythmical signature of a piece; † measure pot, a pot used for measuring out liquids; measure-strip, a strip of paper used by tailors in taking measures; † measure time, the slow time of the dances called ‘measures’; measure-work, piece work (cf. measured work).
1713M. Henry Ordin. Serm. Wks. 1857 II. 510/2 Jerusalem's *measure-filling sin.
1851Borrow Lavengro lxviii, ‘The largest *measure-full in your house’, said I...‘This is not the season for half-pint mugs’.
1899tr. R. von Jaksch's Clinical Diagnosis (ed. 4) vii. 36 Ten or twenty cc...each of solutions j and ij are mixed together in a *measure-glass.
1553N. Grimalde Cicero's Offices iii. (1558) 165 b, Semelinesse, *measurekeping [L. moderatio], sobermode, stayednesse.
1535Coverdale Zech. ii. 1 A man with a *measure lyne in his honde.
1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), *Measure-Note..the Semibreve..so call'd because it is of a certain determinate Measure, or Length of Time by itself. 1809J. W. Callcott Mus. Gram. (ed. 2) 36 Compound Triple Time is formed by dividing the Measures of simple Triple into nine parts, and by dotting the Measure Note of the original Time.
1562R. West in Hist. Comp. Pewterers (1903) 1 A ffalse maker of *measure pottes.
1887Halliwell Life Shaks. II. 382 Some deeds had been given to a tailor for conversion into *measure-strips.
1626Bacon Sylva §113 As when Galliard Time, and *Measure Time, are in the Medley of one Dance.
1852C. W. H[oskyns] Talpa 25 Furrows are avoided as a nuisance and a loss, except as a mark for *measure-work.
Add:[2.] g. Math. [ad. F. mesure (E. Borel Leçons sur la Théorie des Fonctions (1898) iii. 46; H. Lebesgue 1902, in Annali di Matematica VII. 236).] A non-negative number assigned to a set of points in a metric space as an evaluation of its content and for comparison with that of other sets, analogous to the area of a plane figure or the volume of a solid figure, and generalized to spaces of any dimension in such a way that the number assigned to the union of disjoint sets is equal to the sum of the numbers assigned to each individual set.
1905Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A. CCIV. 243 Let the fundamental set be divided into measurable components in any conceivable way, and let the content of each component be multiplied by the upper (lower) limit of the values of the function at points of that component, and the sum of all such products be formed; then the outer (inner) measure of the integral is defined to be the lower (upper) limit of all such summations. 1908Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. IX. 237 Lebesgue's theory of integration is based on the notion of the measure of a set of points, a notion introduced by Borel and subsequently refined by Lebesgue himself. 1929Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 117/2 If we are given two intervals which have no point in common, it is not natural to speak of the length of the set of points which they represent... In this case we shall use the word ‘measure’. 1954L. J. Savage Found. Statistics iii. 33 A probability measure on a set S is a function P(B) attaching to each B⊂S a real number such that: 1. P(B) > 0 for every B. 2. If B{intsec}C = 0 , P(B{union}C) = P(B) + P(C) . 3. P(S) = 1 . 1968E. T. Copson Metric Spaces ix. 141 We do not distinguish between two equivalent functions, two functions which differ only on a set of zero measure. 1976Sci. Amer. July 92/2 Similarly, a two-dimensional measure is a function that assigns to each set a number called its area. 1980Y. N. Moschovakis Descriptive Set Theory ii. 111 Prove that the σ-ideal Zµ of sets of measure D is regular from above relative to the Borel sets. 1985Ann. Probability XIII. 1051 Let µ1, µ2 be finitely additive measures on (D, {scrD}) where {scrD} is a field on D. Then µ1 is said to be absolutely continuous wrt [sc. with respect to] µ2 if [etc.].
▪ II. measure, v.|ˈmɛʒ(j)ʊə(r)|
Forms: see prec. n.
[a. F. mesure-r, f. mesure measure n. Cf. L. mēnsūrāre.]
†1.
a. trans. To regulate, moderate, restrain. Obs.
a1300Cursor M. 28918 Þat þou can mesure þe quen þat þou giues þi charite. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints ii. (Paulus) 166 Nero, mesure þi gret foly. c1400Destr. Troy 3928 Troilus..mesuret his maners, þof he þe myrth vsid. c1485Digby Myst. (1882) iv. 264 Gud Mawdleyn, mesure youre distillinge teres! a1500Mankind 227 (Brandl) Mesure yowur sylf: euer be ware of excesse! 1574tr. Marlorat's Apocalips 40 Too measure our sorow, so as wee giue not our selues ouer too it.
†b. To limit or restrict (a person). Obs. rare—1.
1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 149 b, It was lawful neither for him nor no man els to prescribe or measure them in this behalf.
2. a. To ascertain or determine the spatial magnitude or quantity of (something); properly, by the application of some object of known size or capacity. Also, in extended sense, to ascertain the quantity of (e.g. force, heat, time) by comparison with some fixed unit.
a1340Hampole Psalter lix. 6 The dale of tabernacles I sal mesour [L. metibor]. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xxii. (Laurentius) 552 He gert mesoure þe tre sone, & fand It mare be quantyte þane to þe wark nedit be. 1481Caxton Myrr. i. xi. 37 Thus is by geometrye mesured alle thingis. 1530Palsgr. 634/1, I mesure clothe with a yerde. 1535Coverdale Ezek. xlii. 15 When he had measured all the ynnermer house. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 260/2 Some measure..Salmons and Eels by Ale Measure. 1732Pope Ess. Man ii. 20 Go, measure earth, weigh air, and state the tides. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1862) I. xx. 124 Those Instruments called anemometers, which are made to measure the velocity of the wind. 1816Playfair Nat. Phil. II. 41 The angles of these triangles are to be measured. 1844Stephens Bk. Farm II. 276 Corn is measured up direct from the fanners in this way. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xxi. 149, I..endeavoured to measure some of the undulations.
b. With clause as obj.
1611Shakes. Cymb. i. ii. 25 Till you had measur'd how long a Foole you were vpon the ground.
c. To take (a person's) measure for clothes, etc. Also transf. and fig.
1824R. Humphreys Mem. J. Decastro 156 Mr. Cross..when he wrote a character for a person, measured the extent of his genius the same as a tailor does the body for a garment, and was generally very successful in making a good fit. 1836Marryat Japhet xvi, I ordered a suit of the most fashionable clothes,..being very minute in my directions to the foreman, who measured me. 1848Dickens Dombey ii, You have been already measured for your mourning, haven't you? 1859B. Jerrold Life D. Jerrold vi. 94 The pig was to be measured for his part. 1880‘Ouida’ Moths I. 57 Measure me for my clothes. a1890in Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang (1890) II. 49/1 He had been measured for a funeral sermon three times, he said, and had never used either one of them. 1896Farmer & Henley Slang IV. 296 To have been measured for a new umbrella..(American), –(1) To appear in new but ill-fitting clothes; whence (2) to pursue a policy of doubtful wisdom. 1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §117/16 Be buried,..be measured for a new overcoat.
d. fig. To take the measure of (a person); to look (a person) up and down. (Cf. F. mesurer.)
1747Richardson Clarissa (1768) I. viii. 48 My Brother..having measured me, as I may say, with his eyes..from head to foot. 1896A. E. Housman Shropshire Lad xli, In many an eye that measures me.
e. With dimensions or amounts as obj. Also, to mark or lay off (a line of definite length) in a certain direction.
1382Wyclif Ezek. xlviii. 30 Fro the north coost thou shalt mesure fyue hundrid and foure thousandis. 1535Coverdale Num. xxxv. 5 Ye shal measure without the cite on y⊇ East syde, two thousand cubites. 1611Bible Ruth iii. 15 He measured sixe measures of barley, and laide it on her. 1844Mrs. Browning Drama of Exile 10 Whence to mark despair, And measure out the distances from good! 1853Sir H. Douglas Milit. Bridges (ed. 3) 61 Having measured a line, as A E,..in any convenient direction. 1882Minchin Unipl. Kinemat. 210 By measuring from P along the lines PA1, PA2, PA3,..lengths, Pa1, Pa2, Pa3.
f. to measure († out) one's length: to fall prostrate.
Cf.1611Bible 1 Kings xvii. 21 He stretched [margin Hebr. measured] himselfe vpon the childe. [The Vulgate has mensus est, whence Wyclif mesurede.]
1590Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 429 Faintnesse constraineth me, To measure out my length on this cold bed. 1605― Lear i. iv. 100 If you will measure your lubbers length againe, tarry. 1838Dickens Nich. Nick. xix, He lost his balance, and measured his length upon the ground. 1853W. Stirling Cloister Life Chas. V 163 Many of his cedars..measured their length upon the discomfited parterres.
†g. To form of, raise or reduce to, certain dimensions or proportions. Obs.
a1300Cursor M. 22952 [God] mai..Mak a wel fairer licam, And if þar-of was mar or less, To mesure [a 1425 Trin. To mesure hit] als his will es. c1400Destr. Troy 3033 With browes full brent..Full metly made & mesured betwene. 1513Douglas æneis xii. iv. 35 The forrettis of thir beistis toppis baith They clip and missour, as tho was the gys.
h. absol. or intr. To take measurements; to use a measuring instrument.
1611Bible Deut. xxi. 2 They shall measure vnto the cities which are round about him that is slaine. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 36 The young carpenter should be taught to measure and use the rule.
i. intr. (in pass. sense). To admit of measurement.
1765Museum Rust. III. 222 My malt..does not shrink so much when it comes to be laid on the kiln; of course it measures to more advantage.
j. to measure swords: lit. of adversaries in a duel, to ascertain that their swords are of equal length. Hence, to contend in battle, try one's strength with (cf. sense 10).
Cf. F. mesurer les épées, mesurer son épée avec.
1600Shakes. A.Y.L. v. iv. 91 And so wee measur'd swords, and parted. 1852Thackeray Esmond ii. ii, You..wanted to measure swords with Mohun, did you? 1878R. B. Smith Carthage 267 Four times over he had now measured his sword with the future conquerors of the world.
3. trans. Chiefly with out: To mark the boundary or course of; to delimit. poet.
1513Bradshaw St. Werburge i. 200 The..ryuer and water of Mersee..Mesurynge and metynge the bondes.. Bitwene chesshyr & lancashyr. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. vi. 2 Heere lie I downe, And measure out my graue. 1781Cowper Expost. 177 A cloud to measure out their march by day.
4. a. To have a measurement of (so much).
1671Milton P.R. i. 210 E're yet my age Had measur'd twice six years. 1823H. J. Brooke Introd. Crystallogr. 198 The planes M on M′, measure 120°. 1833Loudon Encycl. Cottage Archit. §297 Each shutter measuring four feet six inches superficial. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VII. 540 The circumference of his head measures 22 inches.
b. intr. To vie in measurement with. Also, to be comparable with.
1712Arbuthnot John Bull i. xi, The prodigious dimensions of them. In short, they would have measured with the best bale of cloth in John's shop. 1904G. Parker Ladder of Swords vi. 61 Her words for the great cause had measured well with her deeds. 1907Smart Set Mar. 126/2 The dog moved a cat-like step forward, making up the interval, and the man made a mental note that its single stride measured with his.
c. fig. to measure up to: to be equal (in ability, etc.) to; to match (cf. match up to s.v. match v.1 8 b); to have the necessary qualifications for. orig. U.S.
1910N.Y. Even. Post 16 Dec. 8 A man should be found for Senator who in ability and character will measure up to the just demands of such a situation. 1930J. W. Johnson Black Manhattan xiv. 177 These plays..made a high demand on the versatility of the company... The demand was fully measured up to. 1931G. T. Clark Leland Stanford xii. 405 Stanford..had in mind the problem of selecting some one who measured up to his ideal. 1958Spectator 7 Feb. 181/2 The later period, however, does not measure up to the earlier in the originality or interest of its political literature.
5. trans. To estimate the amount, duration, value, etc. of (an immaterial thing) by comparison with some standard.
1667Milton P.L. xii. 554 How soon hath thy prediction, Seer blest, Measur'd this transient World, the Race of time, Till time stand fixt. 1695Locke Further Consid. Value Money 5 'Tis by the quantity of Silver he gets for it in Exchange..that he measures the value of the Commodity he sells. 1790Cowper Catharina 48 And by Philomel's annual note To measure the life that she leads. 1837Lytton E. Maltrav. (1851) 40 We may measure our road to wisdom by the sorrows we have undergone.
6. To judge or estimate the greatness or value of (a person, a quality, etc.) by a certain standard or rule; to appraise by comparison with something else.
c1374Chaucer Boeth. iii. pr. ii. 51 (Camb. MS.), Many folk mesuren and gessen þat souereyn good by Ioye and gladnesse [L. Plurimi vero boni fructum gaudio lætitiaque metiuntur]. 1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xxi. (1555) 100 Who of this science dooth know the certaynte All maysteries might measure perfytely. 1586B. Young Guazzo's Civ. Conv. iv. 195 b, We ought perfectlie to..understand the sentences of our auncestors, and measure them with their customes. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, v. ii. 65. 1605 ― Macb. v. viii. 45. 1617 Moryson Itin. i. 199 It is great injustice, that our actions should be measured by opinion, and not by reason. 1622Bacon Hen. VII 45 In all which the King measured and valued things amisse. 1651Hobbes Leviath. i. ii. 4 Men measure, not onely other men, but all other things, by themselves. c1655Milton Sonn., to C. Skinner, To measure life, learn thou betimes. 1784Cowper Task i. 396 Measure life By its true worth, the comfort it affords. 1879Froude Cæsar viii. 71 Sylla had measured the difficulty of the task which lay before him. 1884Gilmour Mongols 78 Measuring me by himself he supposed that I was merely telling a lie.
7. a. To be the measure of, or a means of measuring.
1590Shakes. Com. Err. iii. ii. 113 An Ell and three quarters, will not measure her from hip to hip. 1667Milton P.L. v. 581 Time..measures all things durable By present, past, and future. 1775Harris Philos. Arrangem. (1841) 338 note, The measurer and the thing measured should reciprocate; so that while the gallon measures the wine, the wine should measure the gallon. 1821Lamb Elia Ser. i. Old Benchers I.T., The..sun-dials..seeming coevals with that Time which they measured. 1842–59Gwilt Archit. §917 The angle formed by a tangent and chord is measured by half the arc of that chord. 1868Lockyer Elem. Astron. v. (1879) 190 For common purposes, time is measured by the Sun.
absol.1614Ravenscroft Brief Discourse 3 The Minime is the first Note that Measureth (being in it selfe indiuisible) and the Semibreue the first note Measured.
b. Math. Of a quantity: To be a measure or submultiple of (another quantity); † refl. to be exactly divisible by. † Also absol.
1570Billingsley Euclid 126 The other kinde of a part, is any lesse quantitie in comparison of a greater, whether it be in number or magnitude, and whether it measure or no. Ibid. 234 If a magnitude measure two magnitudes, it shall also measure their greatest common measure. 1709–29V. Mandey Syst. Math., Arith. 6 Every number measures it self by unity; so 7 measures it self by 1.
8. a. To apportion by measure; to mete or deal out. (Also absol. or intr., and in indirect pass.) arch.
a1300Cursor M. 27159 Preist..þat mesurs oft-sithes vr penances. 1452in Gross Gild Merch. (1890) II. 67 The sayde..wardens shall mesure & devyde trulye to ewry of theme after harr degree. 1530Palsgr. 635/1 By the same mesure that you mesure to other men wyll men mesure by to you. 1579Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 92 That thou maist be mesured vnto, with the lyke measure that thou hast meaten vnto others. 1674Brevint Saul at Endor 241 If you be not pleased with this Mesuring Indulgences. 1790Gouv. Morris in Sparks Life & Writ. (1832) II. 117 Each district measures out its obedience by its wishes. 1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) VI. 165 To measure out the quantity of estate that the devisee was to take. 1876L. Stephen Eng. Th. in 18th C. II. xii. vi. 429 Sermons were measured out with no grudging hand.
†b. To deal blows upon, to strike. (Cf. F. mesurer un coup.)
1652J. Wright tr. Camus' Nat. Paradox vi. 132 Hee had his Arm already up to measure Pisides o're the Shoulders.
9. a. To proportion, adjust (something) to an object, or by a standard.
1590Spenser F.Q. ii. xii. 33 On the rocke the waves breaking aloft A solemne Meane unto them measured. 1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iii. i. 153 Measure not thy entertainment of a guest by his estate, but thine own. 1650Jer. Taylor Holy Living ii. §7 (1686) 117 If you will secure a contented spirit, you must measure your desires by your fortune,..not your fortunes by your desires. 1732Pope Ess. Man i. 71 His knowledge measur'd to his state and place.
†b. To be commensurate with. Obs.
1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 43 Your promise was, that your dealing shoulde measure their deseruing. 1633G. Herbert Temple, 23rd Psalm, Thy sweet and wondrous love Shall measure all my days.
10. To bring into competition, opposition, or comparison with. Also refl. to try one's strength against.
1715–20Pope Iliad xxiii. 888 All start at once; Oïleus led the race; The next Ulysses, measuring pace with pace. 1784Cowper Task iv. 337 To measure lots With less distinguish'd than ourselves. 1817Jas. Mill Brit. India II. iv. v. 187 He was pleased to measure dignities with his king. 1838Prescott Ferd. & Is. ii. xiv. III. 181 He was compelled to measure his genius with that of the greatest captain of the age. 1869Freeman Norm. Conq. (1875) III. xii. 192 Herbert was not afraid to measure himself against a much more dangerous enemy.
11. a. To travel over, traverse (a certain distance, a tract of country); also, † to peruse or read through. Chiefly poet.
After uses of L. metiri, emetiri.
c1374Chaucer Boeth. v. pr. i. 116 (Camb. MS.), So þat þou ne mayst nat suffice to mesuren the ryht wey [L. ad emetiendum rectum iter]. 1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. Sept. 21 Since when thou hast measured much ground. 1590― F.Q. i. i. 32 The Sunne, that measures heaven all day long. Ibid. iii. xii. 36 Full dreadfull thinges out of that balefull booke He red, and measur'd many a sad verse. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. iii. iv. 84 For we must measure twentie miles to day. 1682N. O. Boileau's Lutrin iii. 25 With equal pace the Temples Nave they measure! 1725Pope Odyss. i. 339 He..measur'd a length of seas, a toilsome length, in vain. 1835Wordsw. Extemp. Eff. Death J. Hogg 13 Nor has the rolling year twice measured, From sign to sign, its steadfast course, Since [etc.].
b. to measure back: to retrace (one's steps, the road). ? Obs.
1595Shakes. John v. v. 3 When English measure backward their owne ground In faint Retire. 1610― Temp. ii. i. 259 A space, whose eu'ry cubit Seemes to cry out, how shall that Claribell Measure vs backe to Naples? 1697Dryden æneid x. 932 The Vessel..measures back with speed her former Way. 1758Smollett Hist. Eng. III. 150 They measured back their ground with some disorder. 1797Burke Regic. Peace iii. (1st par.), With a sort of plodding perseverance, we resolve to measure back again the very same joyless, hopeless,..track. 1809Malkin Gil Blas x. ix. (Rtldg.) 360 Measure back your steps..to Lirias, and stay quietly there.
†12. To turn into metre. Obs.
c1586C'tess Pembroke Ps. xlix. i, Wordes shall from my mouth proceed, Which I will measure by melodious eare. a1774Goldsm. tr. Scarron's Com. Romance (1775) I. 278 All nature lay hushed in sleep..except some poets, who had cramp verses to measure [F. des vers difficiles à tourner].
†13. To encircle, encompass. Obs.
c1425Found. St. Bartholomew's (E.E.T.S.) 63 She beganne..with a long threid to compasse the howse... And..the howse that was mesurid with the threid, hit [the fire] myght nat hurte. 1680Moxon Mech. Exerc. 210 The String that comes down every Tread, measures a small Circumference oftner than it does a greater Circumference. |