measurer
(ˈmɛʒ(j)ʊərə(r))
[f. measure v. + -er1.]
1. a. One who measures or takes measurements; esp. one whose duty or office it is to see that goods or commodities are of the proper measure.
| 1552 Huloet, Measurer, dimensor. 1570 Dee Math. Pref. a iij b, To vnderstand..how Farre, a thing seene..is from the measurer. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farm 519 The second instrument verie necessarily required for the Measurer to measure assuredly withall..is the Richards chayne. 1636 Early Rec. Dedham, Mass. (1892) III. 36 We doe order yt all high wayes..he orderly set out by our Measurer. 1641 Rec. Colony & Plantation New Haven (1857) I. 51 Bro: Pecke chosen measurer for the towne to fill and strike all the corne. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey) s.v. Alnager, There are three distinct Officers, known by the Names of Searcher, Measurer and Alnager. 1706 Rec. Early Hist. Boston (1882) VIII. 37 Allexander Seers, Samuell Bridge,..to serve as Measurers of board, Timber, and Plank. 1827 Drake & Mansfield Cincinnati in 1826 vi. 51 The council have power to appoint..Measurers of wood and coal. 1841 in C. Cist Cincinnati in 1841 (Advt.), George Warren, Measurer of Stone-work, Birch-work, and Plastering. 1875 Proctor Expanse Heav. 241 The measurer of the moon's distance. 1916 Blunden Harbingers 24 The binman found the measurer pleased, For hops were clean and work was through. 1972 Classification of Occupations (Dept. of Employment) III. 408/2 Workers in this group weigh and otherwise measure materials, goods and products,..for example:..Measurers. |
b. fig. (Said esp. of the sun, as measuring time.)
| 1556 J. Heywood Spider & F. xcii. 76 This mayde right mesurer to me is, As I to other haue mesurde wrong. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 352 The foure quarters [of the year]..whiche we knowe to be the measurer and meater of our life. 1641 Howell Vote, Poem to Chas. I 1 The world's bright Ey, Time's measurer. 1874 Sayce Compar. Philol. viii. 333 When we call the moon ‘the measurer’ we at once personify it. |
c. That which is the measure of (something).
| 1775 [see measure v. 7]. |
2. An instrument used for measuring, as a rain-gauge, an hour-glass.
| 1764 Harmer Observ. i. 2 The flat-roof of any building that hath but one spout for carrying off the water, might be a measurer of the different quantities of the fallen rain. 1771 Barker in Phil. Trans. LXI. 227 The height my rain measurer stands above the ground. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. II. 162 [An hour-glass] Old-fashioned uncouth measurer of the day. 1877 Heat-Measurer [see heat n. 14 b]. |
3. A measuring-worm; = geometer 4.
(Cf. land-measurer 2.)