Green’s Dictionary of Slang

measure someone for a new overcoat v.

also measure someone for a new suit of clothes
[i.e. a wooden overcoat under wooden adj.]

1. to dispense a beating.

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[UK]G.F. Northall Folk-Phrases of Four Counties 26: To be measured for a new suit of clothes = To have a thrashing.

2. (US) to bury.

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[US]L. Pound ‘American Euphemisms for Dying’ in AS XI:3 200: The tailor (undertaker) measured the man for a new overcoat (casket).