footrule

Of those familiar friends of his, we can say that "no man's thought keeps the roadway better than theirs," and all to show how futile is the attempt to measure such a man with the footrule of the conventions.

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 06, No. 33, July, 1860 Various

He didn't serve the Lord with a footrule in his hand, measuring and marking off to the eighth of an inch.

Little Abe Or, The Bishop of Berry Brow F. Jewell

The fixing of these strips will entail a certain amount of carpentry, and in addition to bradawl, screwdriver, and footrule you will need a hard pencil and a carpenter's square, as well as some stout iron screws one inch long.

The Book-Hunter at Home P. B. M. Allan

Your cut-and-dried critic, who insists on measuring a mountain with a footrule and quarrels with it for daring to be out of line, insists also on labelling a certain character hero and another heroine.

Representative English Story Tellers. I -- Joseph Conrad 1912

A Gorcum friend extricated him; and, disguised as a carpenter armed with a footrule, he set forth on his travels to Antwerp.

A Wanderer in Holland 1903

Then he looked me up and down as if it wouldn't work a footrule hard to measure me.

Before the Dawn A Story of the Fall of Richmond 1890

With a footrule he demonstrated to him what was meant.

James Watt Andrew Carnegie 1877

Presently, drawing out a footrule from his pocket, he actually began to measure it!

Sally Dows Bret Harte 1869

They chew hasheesh; cut themselves with poisoned creases; swing their hammock in the boughs of the Bohon Upas; taste every poison; buy every secret; at Naples, they put St. Januarius’ blood in an alembic; they saw a hole into the head of the “winking Virgin, ” to know why she winks; measure with an English footrule every cell of the Inquisition, every Turkish caaba, every Holy of holies; translate and send to Bentley the arcanum bribed and bullied away from shuddering Bramins; and measure their own strength by the terror they cause.

VIII. English Traits. Character 1909

They chew hasheesh; cut themselves with poisoned creases; swing their hammock in the boughs of the Bohon Upas; taste every poison; buy every secret; at Naples, they put St. Januarius's blood in an alembic; they saw a hole into the head of the "winking Virgin," to know why she winks; measure with an English footrule every cell of the Inquisition, every Turkish caaba, every Holy of holies; translate and send to Bentley the arcanum bribed and bullied away from shuddering Bramins; and measure their own strength by the terror they cause.

English Traits (1856) 1856