English Explanatory Dictionary

size

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The dimensions or magnitude of a thing; how big something is.
  2. A specific set of dimensions for a manufactured article, especially clothing.
  3. The number of edges in a graph.
  4. Degree of rank, ability, character, etc.
  5. An instrument consisting of a number of perforated gauges fastened together at one end by a rivet, used for measuring the size of pearls
  6. Ellipsis of chili size (“hamburger served with chili con carne”).
  7. An assize.
  8. A regulation, piece of ordinance.
  9. A regulation determining the amount of money paid in fees, taxes etc.
  10. A fixed standard for the magnitude, quality, quantity etc. of goods, especially food and drink.
verb
  1. To adjust the size of; to make a certain size.
  2. To classify or arrange by size.
  3. To take the height of men, in order to place them in the ranks according to their stature.
  4. To sift (pieces of ore or metal) in order to separate the finer from the coarser parts.
  5. To separate different proteins by molecular weight.
  6. To approximate the dimensions, estimate the size of.
  7. To take a greater size; to increase in size.
  8. To order food or drink from the buttery; hence, to enter a score, as upon the buttery book.
  9. To swell; to increase the bulk of.
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. To apply glue or other primer to a surface which is to be painted.
  2. To apply a thickening agent (such as cornstarch or gelatin) to warp threads to prevent abrasion or unraveling during weaving.
noun
  1. Alternative form of sice (“number six in dice games”).

Pronunciation

/saɪz/ en-us-size.ogg LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-size.wav

Word forms

size sizes sizing sized

Etymology

Attested since the 14th century, originally meant a “law or regulation that determines the amount to be paid”, from Middle English syse, sise (“regulation, control, limit”), from Old French cise, sise, aphetism of assise (“assize”), from the verb asseoir (“to sit down”), from Latin assidēre, composed of ad- (“to, towards, at”) + sedeō (“sit; settle down”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sed-. Displaced native Old English miċelnes (literally “bigness”).

Synonyms

size bigness bulk largeness magnitude scale

Related words

size up size-up big-ass big old gigantic gigantesque ginormous behemothic bulky colossal enormous gargantuan giant great great big hulking huge mammoth mastodonic monstrous mountainous large motivated outsized oversize oversized sizable sizeable staggering stupendous supersized titanic tremendous vast elephantine immense pantagruelian Brobdingnagian humongous humungous massive big little little old small tiny bitty diminutive dinky lilliputian micro microscopic mini miniature minuscule minute nano slight undersized puny

Derived words

batchsize bite-size blocksize bring down to size brood size Capesize chili size cut down to size desize downsize effective stack size fist-size full-size fun size fun-size fun-sized genome size gold size good-size good-sized grain size is there a smaller size king-size king size king-sized knock down to size legal-size letter-size life-size life-sized man-size medium-sized microsize middle-sized mid-size millimetre-sized multisize nanosize nanosized near-Earth-size near-Earth-sized nodesize one-size diaper one-size-fits-all one-size-fits-most one-size nappy outsize oversize pick on someone your own size pint-size plus-size plus size pocket-size queen-size right-size rightsize sizable sizecode size difference size down

Translations

Bulgarian: сортирам по размер Finnish: luokitella koon mukaan Finnish: lajitella koon mukaan Japanese: 大きさ順に選別する Japanese: 大きさ順に並べる Spanish: formar por tamaño Spanish: ordenar por tamaño
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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