mensura

mensūra. ae, f. [metior], a measuring, measure (class.).

I.

Lit.:

mensuram facere alicujus, Ov A. A. 3, 265: agere,

to measure, survey, Plin. Ep. 10, 28, 5:

inire. Col 5, 3: res (quae) pondere numero mensura constant,

Gai. Inst. 2, 196.—

II.

Transf., a measure, by which any thing is measured:

majore mensurā reddere,

Cic. Off. 1, 15, 48:

qui modus mensurae medimnus appellatur,

kind of measure, Nep. Att. 2, 6:

mensuras et pondera invenit Phidon Argivus, aut Palamedes,

Plin. 7, 56, 57, § 198:

ex aquā, i. e. clepsydra,

Caes. B. G. 5, 13:

quicquid sub aurium mensuram aliquam cadit, numerus vocatur,

Cic. Or 20, 67:

de mensura jus dicere,

Juv. 10, 101. —

B.

Trop., measure, quantity, proportion, capacity, power, extent, degree, etc.:

dare alicui mensuram bibendi,

to prescribe how much one may drink, Ov. A. A. 1, 589:

nostri orbis,

Tac. Agr. 12:

beneficii,

Plin. Ep. 10, 12, 2:

qui tanti mensuram nominis imples,

i. e. who answerest to its meaning, art worthy of it, Ov. P. 1, 2, 1:

ficti crescit,

measure, size, id. M. 12, 57: sui, one's own measure, i. e. capacity, Juv. 11, 35:

sed deerat pisci patinae mensura,

was too small, Juv. 4, 72: nuribus Argolicis fui Mensura voti, I was the measure of their wishes, i. e. they desired to have as much as I possessed, Sen. Herc. Oet. 400:

submittere se ad mensuram discentis,

to accommodate one's self to the capacity of the learner, Quint. 2, 3, 7: legati, character, standing. Tac. H. 1, 52:

mensura tamen quae sufficiat census,

how large a fortune, Juv. 14. 316.—In painting:

Apelles cedebat Asclepiodoro de mensuris, hoc est quanto quid a quoque distare deberet,

the degree of prominence, and relative distances, of parts of a picture, Plin. 35, 10, 36, § 80.—In gram.:

mensurae verborum,

the quantities of their syllables, Quint. 10, 1, 10.