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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.]

Definition 2024

size

size

See also: siže

English

Noun

size ‎(plural sizes)

  1. (obsolete outside dialects) An assize. [from 14th c.]
    • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, page 560:
      I know you would have women above the law, but it is all a lye; I heard his lordship say at size, that no one is above the law.
  2. (obsolete) A regulation determining the amount of money paid in fees, taxes etc. [14th-18th c.]
  3. (obsolete) A fixed standard for the magnitude, quality, quantity etc. of goods, especially food and drink. [15th-17th c.]
    • Shakespeare
      to scant my sizes
  4. The dimensions or magnitude of a thing; how big something is. [from 15th c.]
    • 2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
      [The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across. Such pits are about the size of a bacterial cell. Closer examination showed that some of these pits did, indeed, contain bacteria, […].
    The size of the building seemed to have increased since I was last there.‎
  5. (obsolete) A regulation, piece of ordinance. [15th c.]
  6. A specific set of dimensions for a manufactured article, especially clothing. [from 16th c.]
    I don't think we have the red one in your size.‎
  7. (graph theory) A number of edges in a graph. [from 20th c.]
  8. (figuratively, dated) Degree of rank, ability, character, etc.
    • L'Estrange
      men of a less size and quality
    • Jonathan Swift
      the middling or lower size of people
  9. An instrument consisting of a number of perforated gauges fastened together at one end by a rivet, used for measuring the size of pearls.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)
Synonyms
  • See also Wikisaurus:size
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
Descendants
  • Chinese:
    • Cantonese: size ‎(saai1 si2)
  • Japanese: サイズ ‎(saizu)

Verb

size ‎(third-person singular simple present sizes, present participle sizing, simple past and past participle sized)

  1. (transitive) To adjust the size of; to make a certain size.
    • Francis Bacon
      a statute […] to size weights, and measures
  2. (transitive) To classify or arrange by size.
    1. (military) To take the height of men, in order to place them in the ranks according to their stature.
    2. (mining) To sift (pieces of ore or metal) in order to separate the finer from the coarser parts.
  3. (transitive, colloquial) To approximate the dimensions, estimate the size of.
  4. (intransitive) To take a greater size; to increase in size.
    • John Donne
      Our desires give them fashion, and so, / As they wax lesser, fall, as they size, grow.
  5. (Britain, Cambridge University, obsolete) To order food or drink from the buttery; hence, to enter a score, as upon the buttery book.
  6. (transitive, obsolete) To swell; to increase the bulk of.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Beaumont and Fletcher to this entry?)
Translations

Etymology 2

Old Italian sisa, a glue used by painters, shortened from assisa, from assiso, to make to sit, to seat, to place.

Noun

size ‎(plural sizes)

  1. A thin, weak glue used as primer for paper or canvas intended to be painted upon.
  2. Wallpaper paste.
  3. The thickened crust on coagulated blood.
  4. Any viscous substance, such as gilder's varnish.
Translations

Verb

size ‎(third-person singular simple present sizes, present participle sizing, simple past and past participle sized)

  1. (transitive) To apply glue or other primer to a surface which is to be painted.
Translations

See also

Chinese

Alternative forms

  • 晒士, 嘥士

Etymology

Borrowing from English size.

Pronunciation

Noun

size

  1. (Cantonese) size

Synonyms

Etymology

From Middle English sise, syse ‎(“regulation, control, limit”), from Old French cise, sise, aphetism of assise "assize". Displaced native Middle English grete, grette ‎(“size”) (from Old English grīetu, grȳtu ‎(“size, greatness”)).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /saɪz/
  • Rhymes: -aɪz
  • Homophone: sighs

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