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Webster 1913 Edition

Size

Size

,
Noun.
[See
Sice
, and
Sise
.]
Six.

Size

,
Noun.
[OIt.
sisa
glue used by painters, shortened fr.
assisa
, fr.
assidere
, p. p.
assiso
, to make to sit, to seat, to place, L.
assidere
to sit down;
ad
+
sidere
to sit down, akin to
sedere
to sit. See
Sit
,
Verb.
I.
, and cf.
Assize
,
Size
bulk.]
1.
A thin, weak glue used in various trades, as in painting, bookbinding, paper making, etc.
2.
Any viscous substance, as gilder’s varnish.

Size

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Sized
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Sizing
.]
To cover with size; to prepare with size.

Size

,
Noun.
[Abbrev. from
assize
. See
Assize
, and cf.
Size
glue.]
1.
A settled quantity or allowance. See
Assize
.
[Obs.]
“To scant my sizes.”
Shak.
2.
(Univ. of Cambridge, Eng.)
An allowance of food and drink from the buttery, aside from the regular dinner at commons; – corresponding to battel at Oxford.
3.
Extent of superficies or volume; bulk; bigness; magnitude;
as, the
size
of a tree or of a mast; the
size
of a ship or of a rock
.
4.
Figurative bulk; condition as to rank, ability, character, etc.;
as, the office demands a man of larger
size
.
Men of a less
size
and quality.
L'Estrange.
The middling or lower
size
of people.
Swift.
5.
A conventional relative measure of dimension, as for shoes, gloves, and other articles made up for sale.
6.
An instrument consisting of a number of perforated gauges fastened together at one end by a rivet, – used for ascertaining the size of pearls.
Knight.
Size roll
,
a small piese of parchment added to a roll.
–
Size stick
,
a measuring stick used by shoemakers for ascertaining the size of the foot.
Syn. – Dimension; bigness; largeness; greatness; magnitude.

Size

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To fix the standard of.
“To size weights and measures.”
[R.]
Bacon.
2.
To adjust or arrange according to size or bulk.
Specifically:
(a)
(Mil.)
To take the height of men, in order to place them in the ranks according to their stature.
(b)
(Mining)
To sift, as pieces of ore or metal, in order to separate the finer from the coarser parts.
3.
To swell; to increase the bulk of.
Beau. & Fl.
4.
(Mech.)
To bring or adjust anything exactly to a required dimension, as by cutting.
To size up
,
to estimate or ascertain the character and ability of. See 4th
Size
, 4.
[Slang, U.S.]

We had
to size up
our fellow legislators.
The Century.

Size

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To take greater size; to increase in size.
Our desires give them fashion, and so,
As they wax lesser, fall, as they
size
, grow.
Donne.
2.
(Univ. of Cambridge, Eng.)
To order food or drink from the buttery; hence, to enter a score, as upon the buttery book.

Webster 1828 Edition

Size

SIZE

,
Noun.
[either contracted from assize, or from the L. scissus. I take it to be from the former, and from the sense of setting, as we apply the word to the assize of bread.]
1.
Bulk; bigness; magnitude; extent of superficies. Size particularly expresses thickness; as the size of a tree or of a mast; the size of a ship or of a rock. A man may be tall, with little size of body.
2.
A settled quantity of allowance. [contracted from assize.]
3.
Figurative bulk; condition as to rank and character; as men of less size and quality. [Not much used.]

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