ˈyard-wand
[f. yard n.2 + wand n.]
A three-foot rod for measuring. Also fig.
| 14.. Customs of Malton in Surtees Misc. (1890) 61, j ȝerde wande, and weghttes. 1586 Durham Depos. (Surtees) 321 The yerdwand was not a lawfull yerdwand. 1614 Cornwallis in Gutch Coll. Cur. I. 165 Whom [sc. his daughter] had he measured by the yard-wand of the world he might perhaps have bestowed upon one of the greatest Monarchs in Christendom. 1651 Cleveland Poems 26 And were 't not pity But both should serve the yardwand of the city? 1774 Westm. Mag. II. 453 He is sure to be..a mere yard-wand of Nature, and marked with as much brass as the implement he uses to measure frippery with. 1850 Denison Clock & Watch-m. 7 If all our yard-wands and other measures were burnt. 1855 Tennyson Maud i. i. xiii, That the smooth-faced snubnosed rogue would leap from his counter and till, And strike, if he could, were it but with his cheating yardwand, home. |