the spatial dimensions, proportions, magnitude, or bulk of anything: the size of a farm; the size of the fish you caught.
2.
considerable or great magnitude: to seek size rather than quality.
3.
one of a series of graduated measures for articles of manufacture or trade: children's sizes of shoes.
4.
extent; amount; range: a fortune of great size.
5.
actual condition, circumstance, or state of affairs: That's about the size of it.
6.
a number of population or contents: What size is Springfield, Illinois? The size of that last shipment was only a dozen.
7.
Obsolete. a fixed standard of quality or quantity, as for food or drink.
–verb (used with object)
8.
to separate or sort according to size.
9.
to make of a certain size.
10.
Metallurgy. to press (a sintered compact) to close tolerances.
11.
Obsolete. to regulate or control according to a fixed standard.
—Verb phrase
12.
size up, Informal.
a.
to form an estimate of (a situation, person, etc.); judge: They sized him up with a look.
b.
to meet a certain standard: He doesn't size up to my expectations.
—Idioms
13.
of a size, of the same or similar size: The two poodles are of a size.
14.
try on for size,
a.
to put on briefly in order to test the fit of, as a garment or shoes.
b.
to consider, evaluate, do, or use before taking further action: We'll try the plan on for size to see whether it's practical.
[Origin: 1250–1300; (n.) ME syse orig., control, regulation, limit < OF sise, aph. var. of assiseassize; (v.) in part repr. late ME sisen to regulate (itself partly deriv. of the n., partly aph. var. of assisen to fix, ordain, assess < OF assiser, deriv. of assiseassize), in part deriv. of the n. in later senses]
—Synonyms 1.Size,volume,mass,bulk are terms referring to the extent or dimensions of that which has magnitude and occupies space. Size is the general word: of great size; small in size. Volume often applies to something that has no fixed shape: Smoke has volume. Mass, also, does not suggest shape, but suggests a quantity of matter in a solid body: a mass of concrete. Bulk suggests weight, and often a recognizable, though perhaps unwieldy, shape: the huge bulk of an elephant.
any of various gelatinous or glutinous preparations made from glue, starch, etc., used for filling the pores of cloth, paper, etc., or as an adhesive ground for gold leaf on books.
–verb (used with object)
2.
to coat or treat with size.
[Origin: 1400–50; late ME sise, syse (n.); perh. special use of size1]
size 2Audio Help (sīz) Pronunciation Key
n.
Any of several gelatinous or glutinous substances usually made from glue, wax, or clay and used as a glaze or filler for porous materials such as paper, cloth, or wall surfaces.
tr.v.
sized, siz·ing, siz·es
To treat or coat with size or a similar substance.
[Middle English sise, probably from Old French, a setting; see size1.]
c.1300, "an ordinance to fix the amount of a payment or tax," from O.Fr. sise, shortened form of assise "session, assessment, regulation, manner" (see assize), probably a misdivision of l'assise as la sise. The sense of "extent, amount, magnitude" (c.1400) is from the notion of regulating something by fixing the amount of it (weights, food portions, etc.). Specific sense of "set of dimensions of an article of clothing or shoe" is attested from 1591. Sizeable "fairly large" is recorded from 1613.
c.1400, "to regulate," from size (n.). Meaning "to make of a certain size" is from 1609; that of "to classify according to size" is first attested 1635. Verbal phrase size up "estimate, assess" is from 1847 and retains the root sense of size (n.).
The market for a security in which a relatively large volume is being offered for sale or in which a large volume can be absorbed. Size in a security is more important for
institutional investors than it is for individuals, because most individuals usually do not trade in sufficiently high volume to warrant concern about the size of the market.
The number of
units bid for and offered in the current quote, usually expressed in abbreviated form, such as, BP 5.10-.15, 2,000 by 1,000.
As*size"\, n. [OE. assise, asise, OF. assise, F. assises, assembly of judges, the decree pronounced by them, tax, impost, fr. assis, assise, p. p. of asseoir, fr. L. assid?re to sit by; ad + sed[=e]re to sit. See Sit, Size, and cf. Excise, Assess.]1. An assembly of knights and other substantial men, with a bailiff or justice, in a certain place and at a certain time, for public business. [Obs.] 2. (Law) (a) A special kind of jury or inquest. (b) A kind of writ or real action. (c) A verdict or finding of a jury upon such writ. (d) A statute or ordinance in general. Specifically: (1) A statute regulating the weight, measure, and proportions of ingredients and the price of articles sold in the market; as, the assize of bread and other provisions; (2) A statute fixing the standard of weights and measures. (e) Anything fixed or reduced to a certainty in point of time, number, quantity, quality, weight, measure, etc.; as, rent of assize. --Glanvill. --Spelman. --Cowell. --Blackstone. --Tomlins. --Burrill. Note: [This term is not now used in England in the sense of a writ or real action, and seldom of a jury of any kind, but in Scotch practice it is still technically applied to the jury in criminal cases. --Stephen. --Burrill. --Erskine.] (f) A court, the sitting or session of a court, for the trial of processes, whether civil or criminal, by a judge and jury. --Blackstone. --Wharton. --Encyc. Brit. (g) The periodical sessions of the judges of the superior courts in every county of England for the purpose of administering justice in the trial and determination of civil and criminal cases; -- usually in the plural. --Brande. --Wharton. --Craig. --Burrill. (h) The time or place of holding the court of assize; -- generally in the plural, assizes. 3. Measure; dimension; size. [In this sense now corrupted into size.] An hundred cubits high by just assize. --Spenser. [Formerly written, as in French, assise.]
As*size"\, n. [OE. assise, asise, OF. assise, F. assises, assembly of judges, the decree pronounced by them, tax, impost, fr. assis, assise, p. p. of asseoir, fr. L. assid?re to sit by; ad + sed[=e]re to sit. See Sit, Size, and cf. Excise, Assess.]1. An assembly of knights and other substantial men, with a bailiff or justice, in a certain place and at a certain time, for public business. [Obs.] 2. (Law) (a) A special kind of jury or inquest. (b) A kind of writ or real action. (c) A verdict or finding of a jury upon such writ. (d) A statute or ordinance in general. Specifically: (1) A statute regulating the weight, measure, and proportions of ingredients and the price of articles sold in the market; as, the assize of bread and other provisions; (2) A statute fixing the standard of weights and measures. (e) Anything fixed or reduced to a certainty in point of time, number, quantity, quality, weight, measure, etc.; as, rent of assize. --Glanvill. --Spelman. --Cowell. --Blackstone. --Tomlins. --Burrill. Note: [This term is not now used in England in the sense of a writ or real action, and seldom of a jury of any kind, but in Scotch practice it is still technically applied to the jury in criminal cases. --Stephen. --Burrill. --Erskine.] (f) A court, the sitting or session of a court, for the trial of processes, whether civil or criminal, by a judge and jury. --Blackstone. --Wharton. --Encyc. Brit. (g) The periodical sessions of the judges of the superior courts in every county of England for the purpose of administering justice in the trial and determination of civil and criminal cases; -- usually in the plural. --Brande. --Wharton. --Craig. --Burrill. (h) The time or place of holding the court of assize; -- generally in the plural, assizes. 3. Measure; dimension; size. [In this sense now corrupted into size.] An hundred cubits high by just assize. --Spenser. [Formerly written, as in French, assise.]
Sit\, v. i. [imp. Sat(Sate, archaic); p. p. Sat (Sitten, obs.); p. pr. & vb. n. Sitting.] [OE. sitten, AS. sittan; akin to OS. sittian, OFries. sitta, D. zitten, G. sitzen, OHG. sizzen, Icel. sitja, SW. sitta, Dan. sidde, Goth. sitan, Russ. sidiete, L. sedere, Gr. ???, Skr. sad. [root]154. Cf. Assess,Assize, Cathedral, Chair, Dissident, Excise, Insidious, Possess, Reside, Sanhedrim, Seance, Seat, n., Sedate, 4th Sell, Siege, Session, Set, v. t., Sizar, Size, Subsidy.]1. To rest upon the haunches, or the lower extremity of the trunk of the body; -- said of human beings, and sometimes of other animals; as, to sit on a sofa, on a chair, or on the ground. And he came and took the book put of the right hand of him that sate upon the seat. --Bible (1551) (Rev. v. 7.) I pray you, jest, sir, as you sit at dinner. --Shak. 2. To perch; to rest with the feet drawn up, as birds do on a branch, pole, etc. 3. To remain in a state of repose; to rest; to abide; to rest in any position or condition. And Moses said to . . . the children of Reuben, Shall your brothren go to war, and shall ye sit here? --Num. xxxii. 6. Like a demigod here sit I in the sky. --Shak. 4. To lie, rest, or bear; to press or weigh; -- with on; as, a weight or burden sits lightly upon him. The calamity sits heavy on us. --Jer. Taylor. 5. To be adjusted; to fit; as, a coat sts well or ill. This new and gorgeous garment, majesty, Sits not so easy on me as you think. --Shak. 6. To suit one well or ill, as an act; to become; to befit; -- used impersonally. [Obs.] --Chaucer. 7. To cover and warm eggs for hatching, as a fowl; to brood; to incubate. As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not. --Jer. xvii. 11. 8. To have position, as at the point blown from; to hold a relative position; to have direction. Like a good miller that knows how to grind, which way soever the wind sits. --Selden. Sits the wind in that quarter? --Sir W. Scott. 9. To occupy a place or seat as a member of an official body; as, to sit in Congress. 10. To hold a session; to be in session for official business; -- said of legislative assemblies, courts, etc.; as, the court sits in January; the aldermen sit to-night. 11. To take a position for the purpose of having some artistic representation of one's self made, as a picture or a bust; as, to sit to a painter. To sit at, to rest under; to be subject to. [Obs.] "A farmer can not husband his ground so well if he sit at a great rent". --Bacon. To sit at meat or at table, to be at table for eating. To sit down. (a) To place one's self on a chair or other seat; as, to sit down when tired. (b) To begin a siege; as, the enemy sat down before the town. (c) To settle; to fix a permanent abode. --Spenser. (d) To rest; to cease as satisfied. "Here we can not sit down, but still proceed in our search." --Rogers. To sit for a fellowship, to offer one's self for examination with a view to obtaining a fellowship. [Eng. Univ.] To sit out. (a) To be without engagement or employment. [Obs.] --Bp. Sanderson. (b) To outstay. To sit under, to be under the instruction or ministrations of; as, to sit under a preacher; to sit under good preaching. To sit up, to rise from, or refrain from, a recumbent posture or from sleep; to sit with the body upright; as, to sit up late at night; also, to watch; as, to sit up with a sick person. "He that was dead sat up, and began to speak." --Luke vii. 15.
Si"zar\, n. One of a body of students in the universities of Cambridge (Eng.) and Dublin, who, having passed a certain examination, are exempted from paying college fees and charges. A sizar corresponded to a servitor at Oxford. The sizar paid nothing for food and tuition, and very little for lodging. --Macaulay. Note: They formerly waited on the table at meals; but this is done away with. They were probably so called from being thus employed in distributing the size, or provisions. See 4th Size, 2.
Size\, n. [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, v. 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\, n. [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, v. 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\, 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\, 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. 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\, 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. 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\, v. 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.
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Audio Help [sahyz] Pronunciation Key noun, verb, sized, siz·ing. 
