The Collaborative International Dictionary
Measuring \Meas"ur*ing\, a. Used in, or adapted for, ascertaining measurements, or dividing by measure.
Measuring faucet, a faucet which permits only a given quantity of liquid to pass each time it is opened, or one by means of which the liquid which passes can be measured.
Measuring worm (Zo["o]l.), the larva of any geometrid moth. They are so called because they move by a process in which they first pull the rear legs forward toward their front legs, forming a loop which resembles the process of measuring with a tape measure. The motion is completed by subsequently moving the front legs forward to an advanced position. See Geometrid.
Wiktionary
n. The larva of a moth of the family Geometridae.
WordNet
Usage examples of "measuring worm".
It was a measuring worm's crawl, partly, and it was fast, and I knew it was impossible.
The rooms and stairs and walls formed a complex mosaic, so that it was almost impossible to tell what added up to what, but the measuring worm found the difference.
But it moved, humping and then flattening out, the way a measuring worm moves.
These cups enable it to creep, something like a measuring worm, and to cling, and to feel out the places where the song of Mercury is best.