measuring

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of measure.

   The tailor is measuring the customer for a new suit.

   Researchers are measuring rainfall across the entire region.

   Note

   One spelling doing two grammatical jobs. After a form of be it builds the progressive (she is measuring the doorway), and on its own it acts as a verbal noun (measuring takes patience). Most meanings of measure move into the progressive easily, but the stative one, 'to be of a certain size', resists it: a board measures six feet, not is measuring six feet.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The act of determining the size, amount, or extent of something.

   Accurate measuring of the plot prevented a boundary dispute between the neighbors.

   The experiment depended on precise measuring at every stage.

   Similarmeasurement, gauging, quantification

   Note

   Here the -ing form has become a true noun, one you can count. Its plural, measurings, treats each act as a separate trial. In Self Culture (1899), the repeated measurings of one monument are averaged toward a single figure. In the singular and without an article, it is hard to tell apart from the verbal gerund. A plural or an adjective such as repeated or careful marks the noun.

Showing meanings only. Show all 2