Definition of "measure"

A prescribed quantity or extent.

1. (obsolete) Moderation, temperance.  quotations

   Quotations

   • I will correct thee in measure, and will not leaue thee altogether vnpunished.

     1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Jeremiah 30:

2. A limit that cannot be exceeded; a bound. (Now chiefly in set phrases.)  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Full to the utmost measure of what bliss Human desires can seek or apprehend.

     1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873,

   • but there is never found a foolish man who knows the measure of his stomach

     2005, J Coarguo, Hávamál: The Words of the High One a Personal Interpretation

   • They have gloried to this day, the tedious interminable big-screen replays of that golden summer irritating beyond measure.

     25 August 2009, Mike Selvey, The Guardian

3. An (unspecified) portion or quantity.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • It ended up being a bittersweet night for England, full of goals to send the crowd home happy, buoyed by the news that Montenegro and Poland had drawn elsewhere in Group H but also with a measure of regret about what happened to Danny Welbeck and what it means for Roy Hodgson's team going into a much more difficult assignment against Ukraine.

     6 September 2013, Daniel Taylor, “Danny Welbeck leads England's rout of Moldova but hit by Ukraine ban”, in The Guardian‎

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.  examples

2. A standard against which something can be judged; a criterion.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • City were also the victors on that occasion 56 years ago, winning 5-0, but this visit was portrayed as a measure of their progress against the 19-time champions.

     2011 October 23, Phil McNulty, “Man Utd 1-6 Man City”, in BBC Sport

3. Any of various standard units of capacity.  examples

4. A unit of measurement.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • The fragments shrank by increments of about three kilodaltons (a measure of molecular weight).

     1993, Scientific American, February 33.3

5. The size of someone or something, as ascertained by measuring. (Now chiefly in make to measure.)  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.

     1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Job 11:9

6. (now rare) The act or process of measuring.

7. A ruler, measuring stick, or graduated tape used to take measurements.  examples

8. (mathematics, now rare) A number which is contained in a given number a number of times without a remainder; a divisor or factor.

9. (geology) A bed or stratum.

10. (mathematics) A function that assigns a non-negative number to a given set following the mathematical nature that is common among length, volume, probability and the like.  examples

Metrical rhythm.

1. (now archaic) A melody.

2. (now archaic) A dance.  quotations

   Quotations

   • He took her soft hand, ere her mother could bar,— / "Now tread we a measure!" said young Lochinvar.

     1808 February 22, Walter Scott, “Canto Fifth. The Court.”, in Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field, Edinburgh: […] J[ames] Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, […]; London: William Miller, and John Murray, stanza XII (Lochinvar. Lady Heron’s Song.), page 259

   • 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.

     1922, Michael Arlen, “2/2/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days‎

3. (poetry) The manner of ordering and combining the quantities, or long and short syllables; meter; rhythm; hence, a metrical foot.  examples

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.  examples

A course of action.

1. (in the plural) Actions designed to achieve some purpose; plans.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • The president said the measures involve a ban on all visitors to the country via all ports of entry who aren't residents or diplomats. El Salvadorans or residents who return to El Salvador will be quarantined for 30 days..

     2020 March 12, “It's coronavirus-free, but El Salvador is banning all foreign travellers”, in The Straits Times

2. A piece of legislation.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology would sometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight. Barack Obama is hoping that several measures announced on June 4th will have a similarly paralysing effect on their modern incarnation, the patent troll.

     2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55

To ascertain the quantity of a unit of material via calculated comparison with respect to a standard.  quotations  examples

(stative) To be of (a certain size), to have (a certain measurement)  examples

To estimate the unit size of something.  examples

To judge, value, or appraise.  quotations  examples

To obtain or set apart; to mark in even increments.  examples

(rare) To traverse, cross, pass along; to travel over.  quotations

To adjust by a rule or standard.  quotations  examples

(often with out or off) To allot or distribute by measure; to set off or apart by measure; often with.  quotations  examples

(transitive) To regulate or control (one's actions, speech, etc.), as if one were carefully measuring their length or quantity.  quotations  examples