size up - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (2024)

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Size up - Wiktionary, the free dictionary? ›

To wear a larger size of clothing.

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size up something

to examine something in order to make a judgment or form an opinion: After sizing up the opposition, Abe suggested a strategy. (Definition of size something/someone up from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

To size up is to evaluate or critically assess something or someone. When a chess player sizes up her competition, she makes a judgment about what kind of player she might be facing.

size somebody/something up. ​(informal) to form a judgement or an opinion about somebody/something synonym sum somebody/something up. She knew that he was looking at her, sizing her up.

For general purpose word reference, it's quite good. But if you need a set of reference works that's far more in depth and scope, then the paid version, Dictionary! , will probably fit your needs better.

Sir James Murray (born February 7, 1837, Denholm, Roxburghshire [now Scottish Borders], Scotland—died July 26, 1915, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England) was a Scottish lexicographer and the first editor (from 1879) of A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, now known as The Oxford English Dictionary.

If you size up a person or situation, you carefully look at the person or think about the situation, so that you can decide how to act. [informal] Some U.S. manufacturers have been sizing up the UK as a possible market for their clothes.

Size-up is defined in most fire service texts as the on-going evaluation of problems confronted within a fire situation. Size-up starts with the receipt of an alarm and continues until the fire is under control. This process is carried out many times and by many different individuals at each fire or emergency event.

Idioms and Phrases

Make an estimate, opinion, or judgment of, as in She sized up her opponent and decided to withdraw from the election . This usage transfers measuring the size of something to broader meaning. [ Late 1800s]

What is size me up in slang? ›

A term used mainly in the figurative sense. Sizing someone up means that you make a decision about someone's character based on very little - first impression, the way you dress, walk, speak; your interests, activities etc., This idea can only ever be a rough impression of a person.

informal. /ˈaɪ.bɔːl/ us. /ˈaɪ.bɑːl/ to look closely at someone: He eyeballed me across the bar.

Guys typically scan your body if they think you're attractive or they're trying to flirt with you. He might also be checking you out because he's too shy to approach you. Watch for other flirtatious body language signals, like prolonged eye contact or leaning in toward you.

A Dictionary of the English Language, sometimes published as Johnson's Dictionary, was published on 15 April 1755 and written by Samuel Johnson.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. In 1831, George and Charles Merriam founded the company as G & C Merriam Co. in Springfield, Massachusetts. In 1843, after Noah Webster died, the company bought the rights to An American Dictionary of the English Language from Webster's estate.

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house.