There was a time that night when fire crews thought Notre Dame was lost

[rezaaa]

What does "measure" mean in the sentence below?

"There was a time that night when fire crews thought Notre Dame was lost, its survival measured in minutes. Today, it’s measured in tree trunks, manpower, scaffolding." Source:https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/lingohack/ep-210428

 

[GoesStation]

Fire crews thought the cathedral's remaining life was so short you could use minutes to measure it, rather than years or centuries.

 

[rezaaa]

What do you mean by "cathedral's short life"?

 

[GoesStation]

What do you mean by "cathedral's [STRIKE]short[/STRIKE] remaining life"?

What do you find when you look up "remaining" (not short) in a dictionary?

 

[5jj]

GS did not say "cathedral's short life". He said that they thought the cathedral's remaining life was so short that you could use minutes to measure it, rather than years or centuries, i.e., the cathredal was only minutes away from death (ceasing to exist as a cathedral).