measure

English Online Dictionary. What means measure‎? What does measure mean?

English

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”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛʒ.ə/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛʒ.ɚ/
• (regional US) IPA^(key): /ˈmeɪ.ʒɚ/, /ˈmɪ.ʒɚ/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈmeʒ.ə/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈmeɪ.ʒə/
• (Philippines) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛʃʊɹ/
• Rhymes: -ɛʒə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: meas‧ure; mea‧sure

Noun

measure (plural measures)

1. A prescribed quantity or extent.
   1. (obsolete) Moderation, temperance. [13th–19th c.]
   2. A limit that cannot be exceeded; a bound. (Now chiefly in set phrases.) [from 14th c.]
   3. An (unspecified) portion or quantity. [from 16th c.]
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. [from 14th c.]

   2. A standard against which something can be judged; a criterion. [from 14th c.]

   3. Any of various standard units of capacity. [from 14th c.]

   4. A unit of measurement. [from 14th c.]
   5. The size of someone or something, as ascertained by measuring. (Now chiefly in make to measure.) [from 14th c.]
   6. (now rare) The act or process of measuring. [from 14th c.]
   7. A ruler, measuring stick, or graduated tape used to take measurements. [from 16th c.]
   8. (geology) A bed or stratum. [from 17th c.]
   9. (mathematics, now rare) A number which is contained in a given number a number of times without a remainder; a divisor or factor. [from 16th c.]

      the greatest common measure of two or more numbers

   10. (mathematics, measure theory) A 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.Wikipedia . [from 20th c.]
3. Metrical rhythm.
   1. (now archaic) A melody. [from 14th c.]
   2. (now archaic) A dance. [from 15th c.]
   3. (poetry) The manner of ordering and combining the quantities, or long and short syllables; meter; rhythm; hence, a metrical foot. [from 15th c.]

      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. [from 17th c.]
4. A course of action.
   1. (in the plural) Actions designed to achieve some purpose; plans. [from 17th c.]
   2. A piece of legislation. [from 18th c.]

Synonyms

• (musical designation): bar
• (unit of measurement): metric

Hyponyms

• (mathematics):

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Japanese: メジャー (mejā)

Translations

Verb

measure (third-person singular simple present measures, present participle measuring, simple past and past participle measured)

1. To ascertain the quantity of a unit of material via calculated comparison with respect to a standard.
2. (stative) To be of (a certain size), to have (a certain measurement)

3. To estimate the unit size of something.

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.
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.

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• “measure”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “measure”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “measure”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “measure”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• Reaumes