Size

Pronunciation

• IPA: /saɪz/
• Rhymes: -aɪz
• Homophones: sighs

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")).

Full definition of size

Noun

1. (obsolete except dialectal) An assize. from 14th c.
• 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, p. 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.
• Shakespeareto scant my sizes
4. The dimensions or magnitude of a thing; how big something is. from 15th c.
• 2013-07-20, Welcome to the plastisphere, researchers noticed many of their pieces of 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, ….
5. The size of the building seemed to have increased since I was last there.
6. (obsolete) A regulation, piece of ordinance. 15th c.
7. 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.
8. (graph theory) A number of edges in a graph. from 20th c.
9. (figurative, dated) Degree of rank, ability, character, etc.
• L'Estrangemen of a less size and quality
• Jonathan Swiftthe middling or lower size of people
10. An instrument consisting of a number of perforated gauges fastened together at one end by a rivet, used for measuring the size of pearls.

Synonyms

Verb

1. (transitive) To adjust the size of; to make a certain size.
• Francis Bacona 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 DonneOur desires give them fashion, and so,
  As they wax lesser, fall, as they size, grow.
5. (UK, 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.

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

Noun

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.

Verb

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