meter
nounverbnounnouncommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//ˈmiːtə//
- United States/[ˈmiɾɚ]/
- //ˈmitəɹ//
- //ˈmiːʈəʳ//
A device that measures things.
noun
- 1
A device that measures things.
- 2
A device that measures things. A parking meter or similar device for collecting payment.
gas meter
- 3
datedOne who metes or measures.
a labouring coal-meter
- 4
A line above or below a hanging net, to which the net is attached in order to strengthen it.
Etymology
From Middle English metere (“one who measures, measurer”), perhaps (with change in suffix) from Old English metend (“one who measures or metes”), equivalent to mete (“to measure”) + -er. The transference from "person who measures" to "device that measures" was probably assisted by association with -meter, as in barometer, etc. Cognate with Scots mettar, metter (“meter, measurer”), Saterland Frisian Meter, Meeter (“measurer, measuring device, gauge”), West Frisian mjitter (“measurer”), Dutch meter (“measurer, gauge”), German Low German Meter (“measuring device, gauge”), German Messer (“measurer, measuring device, gauge”), Swedish mätare (“measurer”).
verb
- 1
To measure with a metering device.
- 2
To imprint a postage mark with a postage meter.
- 3
To regulate the flow of or to deliver in regulated amounts (usually of fluids but sometimes of other things such as anticipation or breath).
noun
- 1
Variant of metreUS standard spelling of metre (“a unit of measure”).
No trees have grown on the windswept Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean for tens of thousands of years — just shrubs and other low-lying vegetation. That’s why a recent arboreal discovery nearly 20 feet (6 meters) beneath the ground caught researchers’ attention.
Etymology
Borrowed from French mètre, itself borrowed from Latin metrum, borrowed from Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron).
noun
- 1
obsoleteA poem.
A meter of […]berses in the Utopian tongue
- 2
Variant of metreUS standard spelling of metre (“the rhythm or measure”).
Etymology
From Middle English meter, metre, from Old English meter and Old French metre; both from Latin metrum, from Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron).
Forms
- plural
- meters
- past tense
- metered
- past participle
- metered
- present participle
- metering
- third person singular
- meters