A quantity or portion of bread, ale, etc.; spec. in Cambridge use (see quot. 1617); an allowance.

In University use: The action or practice of procuring ‘sizes’ from the buttery or kitchen; a portion or quantity so obtained; a size.

transferred. A term formerly current in the Universities for a certain small quantity of bread; also extended by some writers to beer: cf. cee, n.

With singular agreement. At Oxford University: a portion of food supplied by a college kitchen at a set price. Cf. sense 5b.