size Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the physical magnitude of something (how big it is)
    • a wolf is about the size of a large dog
  2. noun the property resulting from being one of a series of graduated measurements (as of clothing)
    • he wears a size 13 shoe
  3. noun any glutinous material used to fill pores in surfaces or to stiffen fabrics
    sizing.
    • size gives body to a fabric
  4. noun the actual state of affairs
    size of it.
    • that's the size of the situation
    • she hates me, that's about the size of it
  5. noun a large magnitude
    • he blanched when he saw the size of the bill
    • the only city of any size in that area
  6. verb cover or stiffen or glaze a porous material with size or sizing (a glutinous substance)
  7. verb sort according to size
  8. verb make to a size; bring to a suitable size
  9. adjective satellite (used in combination) sized
    • the economy-size package
    • average-size house

WordNet

Size noun
Etymology
See Sice, and Sise.
Definitions
  1. Six.
Size noun
Etymology
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.
Definitions
  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 transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Sized ; present participle & verbal noun Sizing
Definitions
  1. To cover with size; to prepare with size.
Size noun
Etymology
Abbrev. from assize. See Assize, and cf. Size glue.
Definitions
  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. Syn. -- Dimension; bigness; largeness; greatness; magnitude.
Size transitive verb
Definitions
  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.
Size intransitive verb
Definitions
  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.

Webster 1913