yardstick

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a straight measuring stick one yard, or thirty-six inches, long

   The carpenter used a yardstick to mark a straight three-foot line.

2. 2
   noun

   a standard used to judge, measure, or compare quality, value, or success

   Test scores are only one yardstick for measuring a student's progress.

A compound of yard + stick, first naming a rigid rod one yard long. By metaphor, it came to mean any standard against which other things are measured or judged.

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