yard-wandn.
/ˈjɑːdwɒnd/, U.S. /ˈjɑrdˌwɑnd/ A three-foot rod for measuring. Also figurative.
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the world > relative properties > measurement > measuring instrument > [noun] > for measuring length > measuring rod or stick
yardc1000
meteyardOE
reedc1350
ell-yardc1400
yard-wand14..
scantillona1425
gad1440
metewand1440
meterod1473
rod1473
ell1474
gad-wand1487
ell-wand?a1500
measuring rod1546
scantling1556
metepole1571
meting pole1606
wand1614
yardstick1797
yard-measure1838
gad-stick1866
meting-rod1881
14.. Customs of Malton in Surtees Misc. (1890) 61 j ȝerde wande, and weghttes.
1586 in J. Raine Depositions Courts Durham (1845) 321 The yerdwand was not a lawfull yerdwand.
1614 C. Cornwallis in J. Gutch Collectanea Curiosa (1781) I. 165 Whom [sc. his daughter] had he measured by the yard-wand of the world he might perhaps have bestowed upon one of the greatest Monarchs in Christendom.
1647 J. Cleveland Poems in Char. London-diurnall (Wing C4662) 29 And were't not pity But both should serve the yardwand of the City?
1774 Westm. Mag. 2 453 He is sure to be..a mere yard-wand of Nature, and marked with as much brass as the implement he uses to measure frippery with.
1850 E. B. Denison Rudimentary Treat. Clock & Watch Making Introd. i. 7 If all our yard-wands and other measures were burnt.
1855 Ld. Tennyson Maud i. xiii, in Maud & Other Poems 7 That the smoothfaced snubnosed rogue would leap from his counter and till, And strike, if he could, were it but with his cheating yardwand, home.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1921; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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