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What is "to size up"

The Collaborative International Dictionary
To size up

Size \Size\, v. t.

  1. To fix the standard of. ``To size weights and measures.'' [R.]
    --Bacon.

  2. To adjust or arrange according to size or bulk. Specifically:

    1. (Mil.) To take the height of men, in order to place them in the ranks according to their stature.

    2. (Mining) To sift, as pieces of ore or metal, in order to separate the finer from the coarser parts.

  3. To swell; to increase the bulk of.
    --Beau. & Fl.

  4. (Mech.) To bring or adjust anything exactly to a required dimension, as by cutting.

    To size up, to estimate or ascertain the character and ability of. See 4th Size, 4. [Slang, U.S.]

    We had to size up our fellow legislators.
    --The Century.

Usage examples of "to size up".

Now that she had been able to size up the tactical situation concretely, she'd decided speed was the key.

It may have been that other mysterious power, the ability of a man to size up a man.

The situation would also give him a chance to size up the natives before Greenleaf gathered him in and gave him Greenleaf's own, possibly biased, point of view about them.