measure
pronunciation
How to pronounce measure in British English:
UK [ˈmeʒə(r)]
How to pronounce measure in American English:
US [ˈmeʒər]
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- Noun:
- the act or process of measuring
- a basis for comparison; a reference point against which other things can be evaluated
- how much there is of something that you can quantify
- any maneuver made as part of progress toward a goal
- a statute in draft before it becomes law
- (prosody) the accent in a metrical foot of verse
- musical notation for a repeating pattern of musical beats
- measuring instrument having a sequence of marks at regular intervals; used as a reference in making measurements
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- Verb:
- determine the measurements of something or somebody, take measurements of
- express as a number or measure or quantity
- have certain dimensions
- place a value on; judge the worth of something
Word Origin
- measure
- measure: [13] The distant ancestor of English measure was the Indo-European base *ma-, *me- ‘measure’. This has generated a wide range of often unexpected English progeny, including meal ‘repast’, month, and moon. Measure itself comes from an extension of the base, *mat-, *met-, from which was derived the Latin verb mētīrī ‘measure’.Its past participial stem mēnsformed the basis of the noun mēnsūra ‘measure’, which passed into English via Old French mesure as measure. From the same Latin stem come commensurate [17], dimension [14], and immense [15] (literally ‘unmeasurable’); and other related forms that go back to the base *mat-, *met- (or *med-) include mate ‘friend’, meat, meditate, meet ‘suitable’, mete, mode, moderate, modest, and modify.=> commensurate, dimension, immense, mate, meal, meat, meditate, meet, mete, metre, mode, moderate, modest, month, moon
- measure (v.)
- c. 1300, "to deal out by measure," from Old French mesurer "measure; moderate, curb" (12c.), from Late Latin mensurare "to measure," from Latin mensura "a measuring, a measurement; thing to measure by," from mensus, past participle of metiri "to measure," from PIE *me- (2) "to measure" (see meter (n.2)). Replaced Old English cognate mæð "measure." Meaning "to ascertain spatial dimensions of" is mid-14c. To measure up "have the necessary abilities" is 1910, American English. Related: Measured; measuring.
- measure (n.)
- c. 1200, "moderation, temperance, abstemiousness;" c. 1300, "instrument for measuring," from Old French mesure "limit, boundary; quantity, dimension; occasion, time" (12c.), from Latin mensura "measure" (see measure (v.)). Meaning "size or quantity as ascertained by measuring" is from early 14c. Meaning "action of measuring; standard measure of quantity; system of measuring; appointed or alloted amount of anything" is late 14c. Also from late 14c. are senses "proper proportion, balance." Sense of "that to which something is compared to determine its quantity" is from 1570s. Meaning "rhythmic pattern in music" is late 14c.; from mid-15c. in poetry, c. 1500 in dance. Meaning "treatment 'meted out' to someone" is from 1590s; that of "plan or course of action intended to obtain some goal" is from 1690s; sense of "legislative enactment" is from 1759. Phrase for good measure (late 14c.) is literally "ample in quantity, in goods sold by measure."
Example
- 1. Manage ( and measure ) performance by results .
- 2. Measure the levels of gases the drywall releases , and their ability to corrode metals such as copper .
- 3. But this confidence building measure seems to have backfired .
- 4. Personalize pairings , measure outcomes , and increase access
- 5. Many find it hard even to measure .