mensuration

Noun

mensuration (countable and uncountable, plural mensurations)

1. The act or process of measuring; measurement.
   • Having accomplished the firſt part called Longimetra, contayning ſundrie rules to meaſure lẽgthes, breadthes, heigths, depthes, and diſtances: I thinke it meete novv to proceede to the ſeconde kynde named Planimetra, vvherein ye shall haue rules for the menſuration of all manner playne Figures, to...[a. 1560?], Leonard Digges, “The Second Kynde of Geometrie Called Planimetra”, in Leonard Digges, Thomas Digges, A Geometrical Practise, Named Pantometria, Diuided into Three Bookes, Longimetra...
   • Of this ridge Soutra hill is supposed to be the highest; but hitherto no actual mensuration is known to have been taken of it : but, in judging by the view, from its elevated top, of the neighbouring hills and country, it must be upwards of 1500 feet high.1805, Robert Forsyth, The beauties of Scotland - Volume 1, page 512

   Synonyms:

   measurement, measuring

2. The study of measurement, especially the derivation and use of algebraic formulae to measure the areas, volumes and different parameters of geometric figures.
   • With the passage of time I have realized that the illustrations can also serve, to some extent, to make mensuration more readily possible.1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page ix
3. A 13th century system for governing rhythmic relationships in music that was a precursor to the modern use of time signatures; The use of mensural notation.
   • Different levels of mensuration have different roles in the musical structure. The most prominent one is the one corresponding to the compositional tactus. Rhythmic groups may contradict the mensuration temporarily, but in the examples in this book, they never do so throughout an entire piece.2015, Ruth I. DeFord, Tactus, Mensuration and Rhythm in Renaissance Music, →ISBN, page 470
4. The use of quantitative measurements of forest stand to determine stand timber volume, productivity, and health.
   • Forest mensuration, in many respects the most important branch of forestry, was nicely defined by Professor Henry S. Graves (1906) in the first complete volume on forest mensuration to appear in the Americas.1973, Thomas W. Beers, Charles I. Miller, Manual of Forest Mensuration