Size, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Sized (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Sizing.] To cover
with size; to prepare with size.
Size, n. [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, v. 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.