measures

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of measure.

   Lawmakers debated a package of emergency measures late into the night.

   The conductor counted the opening measures before raising the baton.

   Note

   The plural takes on whichever meaning of measure the context calls for: vessels of standard size for dealing out a substance, units of capacity, or criteria a thing is judged against. Not every meaning pluralizes with equal ease. The meaning of 'a bound' now survives mostly in set phrases, and 'moderation, temperance' is obsolete, so reading measures as restraint belongs to older prose.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of measure.

   The surveyor measures each plot before the new road is laid.

   A good editor measures every claim against the available evidence.

   Note

   The present-tense form for a singular subject does two quite different jobs. A surveyor who measures a plot is doing something, but a plot that measures forty yards is simply that size. The second use is stative: the size is its complement, and it does not normally take the progressive, so 'the room measures ten feet' is idiomatic and 'the room is measuring ten feet' is not.

   The hallway measures just under three meters across.

   Each panel measures two feet by four.

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