1614. Beaumont and Fletcher, Wit at Several Weapons, ii. To be so strict A niggard to your commons, that you’re fain To SIZE your belly out with shoulder fees, With kidnies, rumps, &c.
1620. Minsheu, Dict., s.v. Size. A farthing which schollers in Cambridge have at the buttery, noted with the letter S.
1632. Shirley, Witty Fair One, iv. 2. College! I have had a head in most of the butteries of Cambridge, and it has been sconced to purpose. I know what belongs to SIZING, and have answered to my cue in my days.
1656. BLOUNT, Glossographia, ... Size.—A farthing’s worth of bread or drink which scholars at Cambridge had at the buttery.
1773. Hawkins, Origin of the Drama, iii. 271. You are still at Cambridge with your SIZE cue.
1795. Gent. Mag., p. 21. In general, a SIZE is a small plateful of any eatable; and at dinner, TO SIZE is to order for yourself any little luxury that may chance to tempt you, in addition to the general fare, for which you are expected to pay the cook at the end of the term.
1823. Nares, Glossary, s.v. Size. To feed with SIZES, or small scraps.
1853. Bristed, Five Years, 20. Go through a regular second course instead of the SIZINGS.
1864. Hotten, Slang Dict., s.v.
Verb (Cambridge).—To order extras over and above the usual commons at the dinner in College hall. Soup, pastry, &c., are SIZINGS, and are paid for at a certain specified rate per SIZE, or portion, to the college cook. Whence, to pay one’s share of the expense: as at a supper-party. Sizing-party = a number of students who contribute each his own part towards a supper, &c.