different between token vs measure

English

Etymology

From Middle English token, taken, from Old English t?cn (“sign”), from Proto-West Germanic *taikn, from Proto-Germanic *taikn?, from Proto-Indo-European *dey?- (“to show, instruct, teach”) with Germanic *k rather than *h by Kluge's law.

The verb is from Middle English toknen, from Old English t?cnian. Cognate with German Zeichen.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?t??k?n/
• (US) enPR: t?k??n IPA^(key): /?to?k?n/
• Rhymes: -??k?n

Noun

token (plural tokens)

1. Something serving as an expression of something else.

   Synonyms: sign, symbol

2. A keepsake.

   Synonyms: memento, souvenir

3. A piece of stamped metal or plastic, etc., used as a substitute for money; a voucher that can be exchanged for goods or services.

4. A small physical object, often designed to give the appearance of a common thing, used to represent a person or character in a board game or other situation.

5. A minor attempt for appearance's sake, or to minimally comply with a requirement.

   His apology was no more than a token.

   1. A member of a group of people that is included within a larger group to comply with a legal or social requirement.
6. (obsolete, sometimes figuratively) Evidence, proof; a confirming detail; physical trace, mark, footprint.
7. Support for a belief; grounds for an opinion.

   Synonyms: reason, reasoning

8. An extraordinary event serving as evidence of supernatural power.

   Synonym: miracle

9. An object or disclosure to attest or authenticate the bearer or an instruction.

   Synonym: password

10. A seal guaranteeing the quality of an item.
11. Something given or shown as a symbol or guarantee of authority or right; a sign of authenticity, of power, good faith.
    • ca. 1605, William Shakespeare, Measure fir Measure, Act IV, sc. 3:

      Say, by this token, I desire his company.

    • 1611, King James Version, Exodus 3:12:

      And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.

12. A tally.
13. (philosophy) A particular thing to which a concept applies.
14. (computing) An atomic piece of data, such as a word, for which a meaning may be inferred during parsing.

    Synonym: symbol

    Coordinate term: placeholder

    • 2004, Randall Hyde, Write Great Code: Understanding the Machine, page 68

      For each lexeme, the scanner creates a small data package known as a token and passes this data package on to the parser.

15. (computing) A conceptual object that can be possessed by a computer, process, etc. in order to regulate a turn-taking system such as a token ring network.
16. (computing) A meaningless placeholder used as a substitute for sensitive data.
17. (grammar) A lexeme; a basic, grammatically indivisible unit of a language such as a keyword, operator or identifier.
18. (corpus linguistics) A single example of a certain word in a text or corpus.
    • 2007, Khurshid Ahmad, "Artificial Ontologies and Real Thoughts: Populating the Semantic Web?", Roberto Basili, Maria Teresa Pazienza (eds.), AI*IA 2007: Artificial Intelligence and Human-Oriented Computing, Springer-Verlag, page 10.

    Antonym: type

19. (medicine) A characteristic sign of a disease or of a bodily disorder, a symptom; a sign of a bodily condition, recovery, or health.
20. (medicine, obsolete) A livid spot upon the body, indicating, or supposed to indicate, the approach of death.

    • Like the fearful tokens of the plague, Are mere fore-runners of their ends.

21. (printing) Ten and a half quires, or, commonly, 250 sheets, of paper printed on both sides; also, in some cases, the same number of sheets printed on one side, or half the number printed on both sides.
22. (mining) A bit of leather having a peculiar mark designating a particular miner. Each hewer sends one of these with each corf or tub he has hewn.
    • 1864 August 6, "Miners and Their Grievances", The Spectator, vol. 37, No. 1884, page 902.

    • 1873, Richard Fynes, The Miners of Northumberland and Durham, page 110.

    • 1877, "Northern Industries", The Primitive Methodist Magazine, page 172.

23. (mining) A thin bed of coal indicating the existence of a thicker seam at no great distance.
24. (rail transport) A physical object used for exchange between drivers and signalmen on single track lines.
25. (weaving) In a loom, a colored signal to show the weaver which shuttle to use.
26. (Church of Scotland) A piece of metal given beforehand to each person in the congregation who is permitted to partake of the Lord's Supper.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• (philosophy): particular, universal, type

References

Adjective

token (comparative more token, superlative most token)

1. Done as an indication or a pledge.
2. Perfunctory or merely symbolic; done or existing for appearance's sake, or to minimally comply with a requirement.

   He made a token tap on the brake pedal at the stop sign.

   • 1927, Arthur Robert Burns, Money and Monetary Policy in Early Times, page 393

     If the as had been reduced to a token in 240 BC, it was now a little more token than before.

   • 2000, Cheris Kramarae, Dale Spender, Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women, Page 176

     There are still many churches where the participation of women is token.

3. (of people) Included in minimal numbers in order to create an impression or illusion of diversity, especially ethnic or gender diversity.

   He was hired as the company's token black person.

   The television show was primarily directed toward a black audience, but it did have a few token white people as performers.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

token (third-person singular simple present tokens, present participle tokening, simple past and past participle tokened)

1. To betoken, indicate, portend, designate, denote
   • 1398, in Hans Kurath & Sherman M. Kuhn, eds., Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press 1962, [[Special:BookSources/978-0-472-01044-8|?ISBN]], page 1242:

     dorr??, d?r? adj. & n. […] Golden or reddish-yellow […] (a. 1398) *Trev. Barth. 59b/a: ?elou? colour [of urine] […] tokeneþ febleness of hete […] dorrey & citrine & li?t red tokeneþ mene.

   • 1928, Edmund Blunden, Undertones of War, Penguin 2010, p. 149:

     The instinct revolted against the inevitable punishment to come, already tokened by those big holes now met in walls and crossings.
2. To betroth
3. (philosophy) To symbolize, instantiate

Derived terms

• betoken
• foretoken

References

• Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

Dutch

Etymology

From English token.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?to?k?(n)/

Noun

token m or n (plural tokens, diminutive tokentje n)

1. (computing) token, an atomic piece of data.

Usage notes

There is no general agreement about the gender. In the south, people tend to use neuter, whereas in the north, masculine is preferred.

Anagrams

• knoet

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English t?cn, from Proto-Germanic *taikn? (“sign, token, symbol”).

Noun

token (plural tokenes)

1. token (a physical object representing an action, concept, etc.)
2. omen, portent
3. token (support for a belief)
4. prearranged signal
5. token (momento, keepsake)
6. A flag, banner, standard associated with a person or event.
7. model, example
8. guarantee
9. (astronomy) celestial body
10. (astrology) astrological sign

Alternative forms

• tokene, tokin, tokine, tokon, tokne, tocne, toquen
• taken, takein, takin, takine (Northern)
• taken, takein, takin, takine, tacn, tacne, tacnæ, tockne (early)

Descendants

• English: token
• Scots: taiken

References

• “t?ken, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

Noun

token (uncountable)

1. (before g-) Alternative form of tukinge

Etymology 3

Verb

token

1. simple past plural of taken

Alternative forms

• toke, tok, tokon, teken, takede
• tocken (early southwest Midlands)
• tocan (early)

Verb

token

1. Alternative form of taken: past participle of taken

Swedish

Noun

token

1. definite singular of tok

Anagrams

• keton

English

Etymology

From Middle English mesure, from Old French mesure, from Latin m?ns?ra (“a measuring, rule, something to measure by”), from m?nsus, past participle of m?t?r? (“to measure, mete”). Displaced native Middle English m?te, mete (“measure”) (from Old English met (“measure”), compare Old English mitta (“a measure”)), Middle English ameten, imeten (“to measure”) (from Old English ?metan, ?emetan (“to mete, measure”)), Middle English hof, hoof (“measure, reason”) (from Old Norse h?f (“measure, reason”)), Old English m?þ (“measure, degree”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m???/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?m???/
• (regional US) IPA^(key): /?me???/
• Rhymes: -???(?)
• Hyphenation: meas?ure; mea?sure

Noun

measure (plural measures)

1. A prescribed quantity or extent.
   1. (obsolete) Moderation, temperance. [13th-19th c.]
      • c. 1390, William Langland, Piers Plowman, I:

        Mesure is medcynee · þou? þow moche ?erne.

      • 1611, Bible, Authorized Version, Jer. XXX:

        I will correct thee in measure, and will not leaue thee altogether vnpunished.

   2. A limit that cannot be exceeded; a bound. (Now chiefly in set phrases.) [from 14th c.]
      • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, V:

        Full to the utmost measure of what bliss Human desires can seek or apprehend.

      • 2009, Mike Selvey, The Guardian, 25 Aug 2009:

        They have gloried to this day, the tedious interminable big-screen replays of that golden summer irritating beyond measure.

   3. An (unspecified) portion or quantity. [from 16th c.]
      • 2013, Daniel Taylor, Danny Welbeck leads England's rout of Moldova but hit by Ukraine ban (in The Guardian, 6 September 2013)[1]:

        It ended up being a bittersweet night for England, full of goals to send the crowd home happy, buoyed by the news that Montenegro and Poland had drawn elsewhere in Group H but also with a measure of regret about what happened to Danny Welbeck and what it means for Roy Hodgson's team going into a much more difficult assignment against Ukraine.

2. The act or result of measuring.
   1. (now chiefly cooking) A receptacle or vessel of a standard size, capacity etc. as used to deal out specific quantities of some substance. [from 14th c.]

   2. A standard against which something can be judged; a criterion. [from 14th c.]

   3. Any of various standard units of capacity. [from 14th c.]

   4. A unit of measurement. [from 14th c.]
      • 1993, Scientific American February 33.3:

        The fragments shrank by increments of about three kilodaltons (a measure of molecular weight).

   5. The size of someone or something, as ascertained by measuring. (Now chiefly in make to measure.) [from 14th c.]

      • The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.

   6. (now rare) The act or process of measuring. [from 14th c.]

      (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

   7. A ruler, measuring stick, or graduated tape used to take measurements. [from 16th c.]
   8. (mathematics, now rare) A number which is contained in a given number a number of times without a remainder; a divisor or factor. [from 16th c.]

      the greatest common measure of two or more numbers

   9. (geology) A bed or stratum. [from 17th c.]

      coal measures; lead measures

   10. (mathematics) A function that assigns a non-negative number to a given set following the mathematical nature that is common among length, volume, probability and the like. [from 20th c.]
3. Metrical rhythm.
   1. (now archaic) A melody. [from 14th c.]
   2. (now archaic) A dance. [from 15th c.]
   3. (poetry) The manner of ordering and combining the quantities, or long and short syllables; meter; rhythm; hence, a metrical foot. [from 15th c.]

      a poem in iambic measure

   4. (music) A musical designation consisting of all notes and or rests delineated by two vertical bars; an equal and regular division of the whole of a composition; a bar. [from 17th c.]
4. A course of action.
   1. (in the plural) Actions designed to achieve some purpose; plans. [from 17th c.]
   2. A piece of legislation. [from 18th c.]

Synonyms

• (musical designation): bar
• (unit of measurement): metric

Hyponyms

• (mathematics): positive measure, signed measure, complex measure, Borel measure, ?-finite measure, complete measure, Lebesgue measure

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

measure (third-person singular simple present measures, present participle measuring, simple past and past participle measured)

1. To ascertain the quantity of a unit of material via calculated comparison with respect to a standard.

2. To be of (a certain size), to have (a certain measurement)

3. To estimate the unit size of something.

4. To judge, value, or appraise.
5. To obtain or set apart; to mark in even increments.
6. (rare) To traverse, cross, pass along; to travel over.
   • 1859, Ferna Vale, Natalie; or, A Gem Among the Sea-Weeds

     "And for a very sensible reason; there never was but one like her; or, that is, I have always thought so until to-day," replied the tar, glancing toward Natalie; "for my old eyes have seen pretty much everything they have got in this little world. Ha! I should like to see the inch of land or water that my foot hasn't measured."

7. To adjust by a rule or standard.
   • 1650, Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living

     To secure a contented spirit, you must measure your desires by your fortune and condition, not your fortunes by your desires

8. To allot or distribute by measure; to set off or apart by measure; often with out or off.

   • With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

   • That portion of eternity which is called time, measured out by the sun.

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• “measure”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
• measure in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• measure in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• measure at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• Reaumes