1. (noun)measure, step any maneuver made as part of progress toward a goal
"the situation called for strong measures"; "the police took steps to reduce crime"
2. (noun)measure, quantity, amount how much there is or how many there are of something that you can quantify
3. (noun)bill, measure a statute in draft before it becomes law
"they held a public hearing on the bill"
4. (noun)measurement, measuring, measure, mensuration the act or process of assigning numbers to phenomena according to a rule
"the measurements were carefully done"; "his mental measurings proved remarkably accurate"
5. (noun)standard, criterion, measure, touchstone a basis for comparison; a reference point against which other things can be evaluated
"the schools comply with federal standards"; "they set the measure for all subsequent work"
6. (noun)meter, metre, measure, beat, cadence (prosody) the accent in a metrical foot of verse
7. (noun)measure, bar musical notation for a repeating pattern of musical beats
"the orchestra omitted the last twelve bars of the song"
8. (noun)measuring stick, measure, measuring rod measuring instrument having a sequence of marks at regular intervals; used as a reference in making measurements
9. (noun)measure a container of some standard capacity that is used to obtain fixed amounts of a substance
10. (verb)measure, mensurate, measure out determine the measurements of something or somebody, take measurements of
"Measure the length of the wall"
11. (verb)quantify, measure express as a number or measure or quantity
"Can you quantify your results?"
12. (verb)measure have certain dimensions
"This table surfaces measures 20inches by 36 inches"
13. (verb)measure, evaluate, valuate, assess, appraise, value evaluate or estimate the nature, quality, ability, extent, or significance of
"I will have the family jewels appraised by a professional"; "access all the factors when taking a risk"