measured, ppl. a.
(ˈmɛʒ(j)ʊəd)
[f. measure n. and v. + -ed.]
† 1. Moderate, temperate. (Also well measured.)
| c 1400 Rule St. Benet 2328 A Priores..Aw to be mesured euermair To bind non als bot þai may bere. 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 300 To be wele mesurit in..eting and drinking. 1483 Caxton Cato F vij b, To be temperate and mesured in alle thynges. |
2. a. Determined, apportioned, or dealt out by measure. measured mile: a distance of one mile carefully measured, esp. such a distance used for determining the speed of a ship; also attrib. measured work, piece-work.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 335/1 Mesuryd wythe mesure, mensuratus. 1608 J. Chamberlain Let. 15 July (1939) I. 262 A gentleman wan a great wager for riding five measured miles..twenty times over in lesse than five howres. 1614 Ravenscroft Brief Discourse 11 The breaking of the Measur'd Notes. 1666 P. Henry in M. Henry Life M. H's Wks. 1853 II. 666/2 The scripture speaks of measured miles in a law-case, Deuteronomy xxi. 2. a 1700 Dryden Cymon & Iph. Fables 553 Scarce the third Glass of measur'd Hours was run. 1720 Britannia Depicta, or Ogilby Improved (title-page), Wherein are..Engraven, All y⊇ Cities..scituate on or near the Roads, with their respective Distances in Measured and Computed Miles. 1784 Cowper Task iii. 424 The rest..he disposes neat At measured distances. 1822 Galt Provost xxxviii. (1868) 110 Two measured glasses of whisky in an old doctor's bottle. 1834–47 J. S. Macaulay Field Fortif. (1851) 57 It is..cheaper to pay a high price for measured work, than to employ them by the day. 1843 Pract. Mechanic June 358/2 The Mermaid then..performed the measured mile at the rate..of above thirteen miles through the water per hour. 1901 Trans. Inst. Naval Archit. XLIII. 23 The whole idea of the design has been, not so much to procure a very high measured-mile speed for a few hours, as to assure a good, continuous ocean speed. 1950 Engineering 10 Feb. 147/1 Measured-mile posts were in existence at Hartley..prior to 1884. |
b. Accurately regulated or proportioned.
| 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. i. To the King §2 This which I shall say is no amplification at all, but a positiue and measured truth. 1748 Gray Alliance Educ. & Govt. 40 Here measured Laws and philosophic Ease Fix and improve the polish'd Arts of Peace. 1901 J. Watson Life of the Master xxi. 198 For their toil and work they will receive a measured wage. |
† c. Limited, finite. Obs. rare—1.
| 1653 Rouse Myst. Marr. 328 As much as a poor measured creature may resemble that which is unmeasurable. |
3. a. Consisting of ‘measures’ or metrical groups; written in metre; metrical. (Cf. F. mesuré.)
| 1581 Sidney Apol. Poetrie (Arb.) 50 In ryme or measured verse. 1682 Soames & Dryden tr. Boileau's Art Poetry ii. 21 Closing the Sence within the measur'd time, 'Tis hard to fit the Reason to the Rhyme. 1704 Prior Let. Boileau 50 That we poetic folks, who must restrain Our measur'd sayings in an equal chain. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. v, For the unquiet heart and brain, A use in measur'd language lies. 1871 Palgrave Lyr. Poems Ded., The sweet propriety of measured phrase. |
b. gen. Of motion, sound, flow of language, etc.: Having a marked rhythm; rhythmical; regular in movement.
| 1633 Milton Arcades 71 And the low world in measur'd motion draw After the heavenly tune. 1725 Pope Odyss. i. 196 They all advance And form to measur'd airs the mazy dance. 1812 Byron Ch. Har. ii. lxxx, Music..timely echo'd back the measured oar. 1837–9 Hallam Hist. Lit. II. ii. vii. §34. 310 It is in many parts very well written, in a measured prose. 1855 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 253, I heard a measured tread; and then..advanced on me eight soldiers. 1891 T. Hardy Tess xliii, It [winter] came on in stealthy and measured glides, like the moves of a chess-player. |
c. Mus. = mensurable.
| 1782 Burney Hist. Mus. II. 180 Franco [in his Ars Cantus Mensurabilis] only intends to treat of Measured Music, of which, he piously observes, plain-chant has the precedence. 1880 Rockstro in Grove Dict. Mus. II. 415 Musica Mensurata or Cantus Mensurabilis. (Measured Music). 1901 H. E. Wooldridge Oxf. Hist. Mus. I. vi. (heading) Discant or Measured Music. The Measured Notation and its Relation to Fixed Rhythms. |
4. Chiefly with reference to language: Carefully weighed or calculated; deliberate and restrained. (Cf. sense 1.)
| 1802 Wordsw. Resol. & Independ. xiv, Choice word and measured phrase. 1847–54 Webster s.v., In no measured terms. 1898 Bodley France II. iii. iii. 140 Men..tell the same story in more measured language. 1903 Morley Gladstone III. viii. x. 176 In the debate, said Mr. Gladstone, Lord Hartington restated with measured force the position of the government. |
Hence ˈmeasuredness.
| 1854 Faber Growth in Holiness xiv. (1872) 201 How the world admires..measuredness of words! |