Measure

Out of all measure. “Outre mesure.” Beyond all reasonable degree, “Præter (or supra) modum.”

“Thus out of measure sad.”—Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing, i.3.

To take the measure of one’s foot. To ascertain how far a person will venture; to make a shrewd guess of another’s character. The allusion is to “Ex pede Herculem.”

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.