A measure you can get by the kilo (5)
I believe the answer is:
metre
'a measure' is the definition.
(metre is a kind of measure)
I don't understand how the remainder of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for metre that I've seen before include "Beat pattern (mus.)" , "Poetic rhythm" , "Moisture remover" , "determined by scanning" , "measure of length" .)