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Size vs Seize - What's the difference?

size | seize |

In transitive terms the difference between size and seize

is that size is to apply glue or other primer to a surface which is to be painted while seize is to have a sudden and powerful effect upon.

In intransitive terms the difference between size and seize

is that size is to take a greater size; to increase in size while seize is to bind or lock in position immovably; see also seize up

In transitive obsolete terms the difference between size and seize

is that size is to swell; to increase the bulk of while seize is to fasten, fix.

As a noun size

is an assize.

size

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) ).

Noun

(en noun)
  • (obsolete, outside, dialects) An assize.
  • * 1749 , Henry Fielding, Tom Jones , Folio Society 1973, page 560:
  • I know you would have women above the law, but it is all a lye; I heard his lordship say at size , that no one is above the law.
  • (obsolete) A regulation determining the amount of money paid in fees, taxes etc.
  • (obsolete) A fixed standard for the magnitude, quality, quantity etc. of goods, especially food and drink.
  • * Shakespeare
  • to scant my sizes
  • The dimensions or magnitude of a thing; how big something is.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Welcome to the plastisphere , passage=[The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across. Such pits are about the size of a bacterial cell. Closer examination showed that some of these pits did, indeed, contain bacteria, […].}}
  • (obsolete) A regulation, piece of ordinance.
  • A specific set of dimensions for a manufactured article, especially clothing.
  • (graph theory) A number of edges in a graph.
  • (figurative, dated) Degree of rank, ability, character, etc.
  • * L'Estrange
  • men of a less size and quality
  • * Jonathan Swift
  • the middling or lower size of people
  • An instrument consisting of a number of perforated gauges fastened together at one end by a rivet, used for measuring the size of pearls.
  • (Knight)
    Synonyms
    * See also

    Verb

    (siz)
  • To adjust the size of; to make a certain size.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • a statute to size weights, and measures
  • To classify or arrange by size.
  • # (military) To take the height of men, in order to place them in the ranks according to their stature.
  • # (mining) To sift (pieces of ore or metal) in order to separate the finer from the coarser parts.
  • (colloquial) To approximate the dimensions, estimate the size of.
  • To take a greater size; to increase in size.
  • * John Donne
  • Our desires give them fashion, and so, / As they wax lesser, fall, as they size , grow.
  • (UK, Cambridge University, obsolete) To order food or drink from the buttery; hence, to enter a score, as upon the buttery book.
  • (obsolete) To swell; to increase the bulk of.
  • (Beaumont and Fletcher)

    Etymology 2

    Old Italian , a glue used by painters, shortened from (assisa), from (assiso), to make to sit, to seat, to place.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A thin, weak glue used as primer for paper or canvas intended to be painted upon.
  • Wallpaper paste.
  • The thickened crust on coagulated blood.
  • Any viscous substance, such as gilder's varnish.
  • Verb

    (siz)
  • To apply glue or other primer to a surface which is to be painted.
  • seize

    English

    Verb

    (seiz)
  • to deliberately take hold of; to grab or capture
  • to take advantage of (an opportunity or circumstance)
  • to take possession of (by force, law etc.)
  • to seize smuggled goods
    to seize a ship after libeling
  • to have a sudden and powerful effect upon
  • a panic seized the crowd
    a fever seized him
  • (nautical) to bind, lash or make fast, with several turns of small rope, cord, or small line
  • to seize two fish-hooks back to back
    to seize or stop one rope on to another
  • (obsolete) to fasten, fix
  • to lay hold in seizure, by hands or claws (+ on or upon)
  • to seize on the neck of a horse
    The text which had seized upon his heart with such comfort and strength abode upon him for more than a year.'' (''Southey , Bunyan, p. 21)
  • to have a seizure
  • * 2012 , Daniel M. Avery, Tales of a Country Obstetrician
  • Nearing what she thought was a climax, he started seizing and fell off her. Later, realizing he was dead, she became alarmed and dragged the body to his vehicle to make it look like he had died in his truck.
  • to bind or lock in position immovably; see also seize up
  • Rust caused the engine to seize , never to run again.
  • (UK) to submit for consideration to a deliberative body.
  • Derived terms

    * be seized of, be seized with * seizable * seize the day * seize on, seize upon * seize up * seizer * seizor