a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 328^v Gemetri is a science of mesurynge and metynge.

a1425 (a1400) Prick of Conscience (Galba & Harl.) (1863) 7692 (MED) Bot swa sutelle and wise may na man be, Þat þat mesuryng knawes swa wele als he.

1461–2 in Hist. MSS Comm.: 10th Rep.: App. Pt. V: MSS Marquis of Ormonde &c. (1885) 301 in Parl. Papers (C. 4576-I) XLII. 1 The wakman of the saide citie..shall have the mesuring of salte and corne.

1602 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor ii. i. 194 My merrie Host hath had the measuring Of their weapons.

1667 H. Phillippes Purchasers Pattern (ed. 5) To Rdr. sig. B2 This measuring by the Pole..is very inconvenient.

1707 J. Ward Young Mathematician's Guide i. ii. 21 Division is by Euclid fitly termed the measuring of one Number by another.

1844 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm II. 275 The measuring up of grain.

1893 Athenæum 23 Sept. 423/3 The yearly measurings and observations.

1915 W. S. Maugham Of Human Bondage cxix. 630 Generally the last measuring of the day began at five. As each company had its bin measured it gathered up its things.

1985 D. Johnson Fiskadoro i. 7 Their faces told how they'd been made fools of again by the counting and measuring of things.

1529 T. More Dialogue Heresyes ii, in Wks. 188/1 Thei be not cyrcumscribed in place, for lack of bodily dymencion and measuring.

1598 A. M. tr. J. Guillemeau Frenche Chirurg. 2/1 Shee hath a threefoulde measuringe, in length, bredthe, and debthe.

1598 J. Marston Scourge of Villanie i. i. sig. B7^v Hath beene at feasts, and led the measuring At Court.

1804 in M. Spurrell Brightwell Parish Diaries (1998) 29 Three young Men went the whole Circuit of the Parish..with a measuring Chain, & the whole Circuit according to their Measurement. is very near 13½ miles.

1843 Penny Cycl. XXV. 217/2 In the actual measurement the measuring chain was not supported on coffers, or stretched by a constant weight.

1966 G. E. Evans Pattern under Plough x. 113 There is also a tradition..that the perambulation party used to confirm the boundary where a paid [= path] lay right across it: they took a farmer's twenty-two-yard measuring chain and dragged it through the water at this point.

1859 R. B. Sage Rocky Mountain Life 121 Sometimes the measuring-cup is not more than half full.

1951 Festival of Brit.: Catal. Exhibits: South Bank Exhib. (H.M.S.O.) 131/2 Set of measuring cups.

1992 Pract. Fishkeeping Nov. 85 Usefully packaged in a re-sealable bucket..with a measuring cup which holds exactly the salt for a gallon mix.

1854 Sci. Amer. 4 Mar. 196/3 This rod passes through a stuffing-box, G, in each end of the measuring cylinder.

1938 R. Hum Chem. for Engin. Students vii. 121 The hydrogen..passes into the Winchester Quart and displaces its own volume of water, which flows into the measuring cylinder, C, where its volume can be read.

1990 Marine Biol. 104 16/2 The faecal pellets produced were..allowed to settle in a 1-litre measuring cylinder.

1858 Sci. Amer. 20 Jan. 164/3 The straws are delivered from the band in sheaves by the measuring device.

1915 St. Nicholas June 700/1 The new measuring device..consists of a wheel, with a circumference of just two feet, mounted at the end of a long stick and equipped with a cyclometer.

1991 T. Pratchett Reaper Man 66 ‘What the hell is it?’ said Ridcully. ‘Amazingly sensitive magical measuring device,’ said the Dean. ‘Measures the density of a magical field.’

1665 J. Webb Vindic. Stone-Heng (1725) 24 The Difference between our measuring Foot, and the Vicentine.

1954 Jrnl. Philos. 51 341 A man who laid linoleum... would get up from the floor, his measuring foot in his hand, and stare at the clock.

1842 G. W. Francis Dict. Arts Measuring Glass.

1860 F. Nightingale Notes on Nursing (rev. ed.) xiii. 161 Several..hospital ‘sisters’,..could, as accurately as a measuring glass, measure out all their patients' wine and medicine by the eye.

1870 C. Dickens Edwin Drood xiii. 97 The small squat measuring glass in which little Rickitts..took her steel drops daily.

1914 F. E. Fritsch & E. J. Salisbury Introd. Study Plants vi. 61 By adding water from a measuring-glass until the marked level is reached.

1960 Jrnl. Royal Statist. Soc. 123 23 Equipment: measuring glass or syringe; glass plate scratched in squares [etc.].

1675 J. Ogilby Britannia Pref. 3 Dimensurators or Measuring Instruments.

1855 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 145 226 This arose from a slight wearing of the working parts of the measuring instrument.

1991 N.Y. Times 8 Dec. ii. 35/1 Virtually any attractive or weird-looking tool, utensil, measuring instrument or useful thingamajig qualifies as a design object worth collecting.

1956 Times 10 Sept. 11/3 A useful glass measuring jug..is clearly scaled in capacities of two, three, and four cups [etc.].

1971 P. D. James Shroud for Nightingale i. 28 We..didn't pour it into the measuring jug until just before the demonstration.

1991 Curiosity Shop Summer 29/1 Gravy Separator has a non-drip spout, and can also be used as a 1 litre measuring jug.

1611 Bible (King James) Zech. ii. 1 A man with a measuring line in his hand. View more context for this quotation

1859 D. Wise Pleasant Pathways 148 Forever... Did you ever try to run a measuring line along the limitless ages contained in this mighty term?

1987 Monumenta Nipponica 42 145 Surveyors created an isosceles triangle and laid the measuring line from the midpoint of the base through the apex of the triangle.

1850 H. Mayhew in Morning Chron. 16 May 5/6 Weighing, lifting, and measuring machines.

1944 Trade Marks Jrnl. 20 Sept. 455/1 Projectors, synchronizing apparatus, film measuring machines,..and re-winding apparatus.

1992 S. P. Maran Astron. & Astrophysics Encycl. 731/2 The vast majority of the parallax measures are photographic determinations made before the development of measuring machines capable of automatic, impersonal image centroiding.

1774 M. Mackenzie Treat. Maritim Surv. 104 At the End of each Chain, or Measuring-pole.

1872 Appletons' Jrnl. 30 Mar. 351/2 That the carpenter, by frequent use of his ruler or measuring pole, will cultivate to a morbid degree his sense of dimension.

1992 Ecol. Monogr. 62 319/2 Tree height was measured annually with a metric tape or a telescopic measuring pole.

1611 Bible (King James) Ezek. xlii. 17 Hee measured the North side fiue hundreth reedes, with a measuring reed round about.

1740 W. Stukeley Stonehenge ii. 12 The angel that laid out the temple of Solomon, is described, as having a reed of 6 cubits (a measuring reed or cane) in his hand.

1822 T. Carlyle Let. 19 May in Coll. Lett. T. & J. W. Carlyle (1970) II. 112 Measuring their length with a measuring-reed.

1546 J. Bale Acts Eng. Votaries Pref. f. 6^v Ye noble gouerners and lerned lawers, vnto whom God hath in thys age delyuered the measurynge rodde of hys worde,..that ye shuld measure all thynges ryghtlye.

1667 H. Phillippes Purchasers Pattern (ed. 5) ii. 197 Your measuring Rod.

1727 J. Arbuthnot Tables Anc. Coins viii. 58 Decempeda was a sort of measuring Rod for taking the dimensions of Buildings.

1870 J. H. Newman Ess. Gram. Assent ii. 476 Does Gibbon think to sound the depths of the eternal ocean with the tape and measuring-rod of his merely literary philosophy?

1989 Independent 2 May 6/2 Ancient Egyptian stonemasons appear to have used measuring rods capable of detecting unevennesses of up to one-hundredth of an inch.

1894 T. W. Fox Mechanism Weaving 377 After warp leaves the beam it passes..under and nearly round a measuring roller.

1663 S. Pepys Diary 7 Aug. (1971) IV. 266 Then to Browns for my Measuring Rule, which is made, and is certainly the best and the most commodious for carrying in one's pocket.

1842 J. Gwilt Encycl. Archit. ii. iii. 582 The plumber's measuring rule is 2 feet long.

1983 Ethics 93 400 If ‘happiness’ just names a plurality of goods..then there is no measuring rule and the good is not calculable.

1852 Sci. Amer. 28 Feb. 190/2 I do not claim that my spoon should be a graduating or measuring spoon, but merely for administering medicines already graduated.

1926–7 Army & Navy Stores Catal. 157/1 The handy measuring spoons..made from stout Aluminium sheets.

1985 A la Carte Apr. 39/3 You'll need..some kitchen gadgets: wire whisk, grater, ladle, measuring spoons and cup.

1884 Athenæum 8 Nov. 586/3 The theodolites, measuring-staves, and plane-tables.

1974 Jrnl. Ecol. 62 116 Heights of ground surface above an arbitrary level were measured with a theodolite and measuring staff.

1805 Trans. Soc. Arts 23 119 A measuring tape..having inches on one side.

1986 R. K. Narayan Talkative Man 45 I forget to take a measuring tape.

1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Measuring-Money, a certain Duty formerly laid upon Cloth besides Alnage.

1702 A. Sharp Let. 2 Feb. in J. Flamsteed Corr. (1997) II. 909 Have lately made a measuring Wheel or Odometer of a peculiar contrivance, which without wheels or Pinions keeps an exact account of its way, both in Miles and Chains and parts.

1728 R. Morris Ess. Anc. Archit. Advt. Plane-Tables, Water-Levels, Measuring-Wheels.

1842 G. W. Francis Dict. Arts Perambulator, or Measuring Wheel, an instrument which being run along a road or other level surface indicates and registers the exact distance it passes over.

a1877 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. II. 1415/2 Measuring-wheel, one for measuring the circumference of a carriage-wheel, in order to find the length of tire required.

1984 A. C. Duxbury & A. Duxbury Introd. World's Oceans xv. 495 It is possible to attach a measuring wheel..so that..the wheel measures the distance over which it is dragged.

1769 H. Brooke Fool of Quality IV. xvii. 67 She whipt up the measuring yard, and..flew to the door.

1952 Polit. Sci. Q. 67 274 We are certainly not comparing equal values by using as a measuring yard our currency at its nominal or face value.

1570 H. Billingsley in tr. Euclid Elements Geom. v. f. 126 The number 5. is a part of the number 15... And this kynde of part is called commonly pars metiens or mensurans, that is, a measuryng part.

1600 T. Nashe Summers Last Will 1492 Skie-measuring Mathematicians.

1866 D. Wingate Annie Weir & Other Poems 111 Wi' a measuring stare at me, ‘Read ye the papers, sir?’ quoth she.

1876 ‘G. Eliot’ Daniel Deronda (1984) i. 9 This stranger, under whose measuring gaze she was still wincing.

1906 J. London All Gold Canyon in Moon-face & Other Stories 161 He turned and flung a measuring glance at the sun.

1985 R. E. Duncan Illustrative Lines in Paris Visit This pen is where the writing flows in sight the measuring eye follows line by line.

1991 J. Peck Poems & Transl. Hi-Lö 71 Wagnerian businessman..gets a measuring sidelong glance From the Kabbalistic gardener in Compact blue tam.