toise

American  

[toiz] / tɔɪz /

noun

1. an old French unit of length equivalent to 6.395 feet (1.949 meters).

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Etymology

Origin of toise

1590–1600; < Middle French < Vulgar Latin *tēsa, (feminine singular), Latin tēnsa ( bracchia ) outstretched (arms), neuter plural taken as feminine singular See tense ¹

Example Sentences

These towers are said to be about one toise higher than those of Notre Dame.

From A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour in France and Germany, Volume Two by Dibdin, Thomas Frognall

Some are at the water's edge, others one-fourth or one-fifth of a toise above the surface of the sea.

From Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, During the Year 1799-1804 — Volume 3 by Humboldt, Alexander von

The canal of Languedoc, along which I now travel, is six toises wide at bottom, and ten toises at the surface of the water, which is one toise deep.

From Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 2 by Randolph, Thomas Jefferson

"Well pitched, Hugh of Clatford," cried the old knight; "well pitched; a toise beyond Sir Simeon."

From Agincourt The Works of G. P. R. James, Volume XX by James, G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford)

Subsequently, he investigated the expansion of a toise of iron from the variation in the period of his pendulum.

From Development of Gravity Pendulums in the 19th Century Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology, Papers 34-44 On Science and Technology, Smithsonian Institution, 1966 by Lenzen, Victor Fritz