As a Noun: 1. A strip of plastic or cloth with centimetres or inches marked on it. You use it for measuring things. English = tape measure. As a Verb or Adjective: 1. To find out how big, long, wide or high something is using a tape-measure or other measuring device. English = measure. Note: 1. The variant sign was created for the Australasian Signed English in the 1980s. It uses the letter M in the one-handed fingerspelling alphabet. It has been accepted and used as an Auslan sign by some deaf people, especially in education by teachers of the deaf, their students, and interpreters. The main sign and another sign listed in this dictionary are more commonly used for ‘measure’ in Auslan.