meter

• metre (Commonwealth English for noun senses 4 to 7, rare for other senses)

Borrowed from French mètre, from Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron, “measure”).

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmitəɹ/, [ˈmiɾɚ]

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmiːtə/
• Rhymes: -iːtə(r)

meter (plural meters)

1. (always meter) A device that measures things.
2. (always meter) A parking meter or similar device for collecting payment.

   gas meter (also falls under sense 1)

3. (always meter) (dated) One who metes or measures.

   a labouring coal-meter

4. (chiefly US, elsewhere metre) The base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), conceived of as 1/10000000 of the distance from the North Pole to the Equator, and now defined as the distance light will travel in a vacuum in 1/299792458 second.
   • 2013 May-June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 206-7:

     Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.

5. (chiefly US, elsewhere metre) (music) An increment of music; the overall rhythm; particularly, the number of beats in a measure.
6. (chiefly US, elsewhere metre, prosody) The rhythm pattern in a poem.
7. (chiefly US, elsewhere metre) A line above or below a hanging net, to which the net is attached in order to strengthen it.
8. (obsolete) A poem.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Robynson (More's Utopia) to this entry?)

meter (third-person singular simple present meters, present participle metering, simple past and past participle metered)

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)

• -metre, -treme, Emert, metre, remet, retem

From Latin mittere, present active infinitive of mittō.

meter

1. to put

meter c (singular definite meteren, plural indefinite meter)

1. a metre, or meter (US) (SI unit of measurement)

• centimeter
• kilometer
• kvadratmeter
• millimeter
• sekundmeter

• “meter” in Den Danske Ordbog

• IPA^(key): /ˈmeːtər/

• Audio

  (file)

From meten +‎ -er.

meter m (plural meters, diminutive metertje n)

1. measurer (person who measures something)
2. meter (device that measures things or indicates a physical quantity)

• stroommeter / ampèremeter
• energiemeter
• krachtmeter
• landmeter
• snelheidsmeter
• spanningsmeter / voltmeter
• thermometer

From French mètre.

meter m (plural meters, diminutive metertje n)

1. meter, metre (unit of distance)

meter f (plural meters, diminutive metertje n)

1. godmother

From Old Portuguese meter, from Latin mittō, mittēre (“to send, put”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂-, *mith₂- (“to exchange, remove”).

• IPA^(key): /meˈteɾ/

meter (first-person singular present meto, first-person singular preterite metín, past participle metido)

1. (transitive) to put
2. (transitive) to insert
3. (takes a reflexive pronoun) to meddle, interfere

• “meter” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006-2012.
• “meter” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006-2013.
• “meter” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “meter” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

From Latin mittere, present active infinitive of mittō.

meter

1. to put, place

• Ladin conjugation varies from one region to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

mēter

1. first-person singular present active subjunctive of mētor

meter m (definite singular meteren, indefinite plural meter, definite plural meterne)

1. a metre, or meter (US) (SI unit of length)

meter m (definite singular meteren, indefinite plural meter, definite plural meterane or metrane)

1. a metre, or meter (US) (SI unit of length)

• metter (obsolete)

From Old Portuguese meter, from Latin mittere, present active infinitive of mittō (“I send, I put”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂-, *mith₂- (“to exchange, remove”).

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /mɨˈteɾ/
• Hyphenation: me‧ter

meter (first-person singular present indicative meto, past participle metido)

1. to put
2. to insert
3. (reflexive) to meddle, interfere

• cometer
• prometer

For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:meter.

From Old Spanish meter, from Latin mittere, present active infinitive of mittō (“I send, I put”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂-, *mith₂- (“to exchange, remove”). Cognate with English mess.

• IPA^(key): /meˈteɾ/, [meˈt̪eɾ]

meter (first-person singular present meto, first-person singular preterite metí, past participle metido)

1. to put, to insert
2. to score (sports)

   meter un goal ― to score a goal

3. to make (noise)
4. (reflexive) to meddle, interfere

• (to meddle, interfere) inmiscuirse
• (to meddle, interfere) meter la nariz

• meter la cuchara
• meter la nariz
• meter la pata

• IPA^(key): /ˈmeːtɛr/

• audio

  (file)

meter c

1. a metre; the SI-unit
2. (music) Rhythm or measure in verse
3. a meter; a device that measures things.

Indefinite form plural could also be metrar/metrars

meter

1. meter