meter

• metre (Commonwealth English for noun senses 2 and 3, rare for other senses)

Senses 1.1, 2, and 3 were borrowed from French mètre and Latin metrum; see metre for more.

Sense 1.2 is a noun derived from mete, from Old English metan (“to measure, mark off”), possibly influencing the other meanings.

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

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

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

meter (plural meters)

1. A device that measures things.
   1. A parking meter or similar device for collecting payment.

      gas meter

   2. (dated) One who metes or measures.

      a labouring coal-meter

2. (American spelling) The base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), conceived as 1/10,000,000 of the distance from the North Pole to the Equator, and now defined as the distance light will travel in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 seconds.
   • 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.

   Synonym: metre

3. (American spelling) The overall rhythm of a song or poem; particularly, the number of beats in a measure or syllables in a line.
   1. (obsolete) A poem.
      • 1551, Thomas More, “(please specify the Internet Archive page)”, in Raphe Robynson [i.e., Ralph Robinson], transl., A Fruteful, and Pleasaunt Worke of the Best State of a Publyque Weale, and of the Newe Yle Called Utopia: […], London: […] [Steven Mierdman for] Abraham Vele, […], OCLC 1180784885:

        A meter of […] berses in the Utopian tongue

4. (American spelling) A line above or below a hanging net, to which the net is attached in order to strengthen it.

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)

• “meter” in Den Danske Ordbog

• IPA^(key): /ˈmeːtər/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: me‧ter
• Rhymes: -eːtər

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)

Borrowed from French mètre.

meter m (plural meters, diminutive metertje n)

1. meter, metre (unit of distance)

• Afrikaans: meter
• → Aukan: meiti
• → Caribbean Javanese: mèter
• → Indonesian: meter
• → Papiamentu: meter

From Middle Dutch meter, from metrijn, from Latin matrīna.

meter f (plural meters, diminutive metertje n, masculine peter)

1. godmother

   Synonyms: peettante, petemoei

From Old Galician and Old Portuguese meter, from Latin mittō, mittēre (“to send, put”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- (“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. (transitive) to bring in
4. (takes a reflexive pronoun) to meddle, interfere
5. (transitive) to deliver

   Meteulle unha patada. ― He delivered him a kick.

• “meter” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
• “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.

• IPA^(key): [ˈmɛ.tər]
• Hyphenation: mè‧têr

• From Dutch meter, meten, from Middle Dutch mēten, from Old Dutch metan, from Proto-Germanic *metaną, from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to measure”).
• From Dutch meter, from French mètre, from Latin metrum, from Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron, “measure”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- (“to measure”).

Doublet of metrum.

mètêr (first-person possessive meterku, second-person possessive metermu, third-person possessive meternya)

1. meter, a device that measures things.
2. meter, metre, the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI).

From Dutch meter, from Middle Dutch meter, from metrijn, from Latin matrīna.

mètêr (first-person possessive meterku, second-person possessive metermu, third-person possessive meternya)

1. godmother.

• “meter” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Language Development and Fostering Agency — Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic Indonesia, 2016.

From Sanskrit मूत्र (mūtrá).

meter ?

1. urine

• Eric Anonby; Hassan Mohebi Bahmani (2014), “Shipwrecked and Landlocked: Kholosi, an Indo-Aryan Language in South-west Iran”, in Cahier de Studia Iranica xx‎, pages 13-36

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.

meter

1. to put

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈmeː.ter/, [ˈmeːt̪ɛr]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈme.ter/, [ˈmɛːt̪er]

mēter

1. first-person singular present active subjunctive of mētor

• IPA^(key): (Malaya) /ˈmitə/, (Indonesian) /ˈmɛtər/

meter (Jawi spelling ميتر‎, plural meter-meter, informal 1st possessive meterku, 2nd possessive metermu, 3rd possessive meternya)

1. meter (all senses)

• “meter” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

From French mètre, from Latin metrum (“a measure”), from Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron).

meter m (plural meter)

1. meter (unit of measure)

• “meter” in Cimbrian, Ladin, Mòcheno: Getting to know 3 peoples. 2015. Servizio minoranze linguistiche locali della Provincia autonoma di Trento, Trento, Italy.

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 (“to send, to put”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- (“to exchange, remove”).

• Hyphenation: me‧ter

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

1. (transitive) to put
2. (transitive) to insert
3. (reflexive) to meddle, interfere
4. (transitive, vulgar) to fuck, screw
5. inflection of meter:
   1. first/third-person singular future subjunctive
   2. first/third-person singular personal infinitive

For quotations using this term, see Citations:meter.

• cometer
• prometer

• “meter” in iDicionário Aulete.
• “meter” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913
• “meter” in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa. Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2023.
• “meter” in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa.
• “meter” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

• IPA^(key): [ˈmeter]

meter m

1. meter, metre (unit of length)

• meter in Slovak dictionaries at slovnik.juls.savba.sk

meter m

1. meter, metre (unit of length)

• “meter”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran

From Old Spanish meter, from Latin mittō (“to send”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *mey-th₂- (“to exchange, remove”). Cognate with English mess (sense 2) and also mission, message. Compare also French mettre, Friulian meti, Portuguese meter, and Italian mettere. The semantic shift from "send" to "put" probably occurred in Vulgar Latin.

• IPA^(key): /meˈteɾ/ [meˈt̪eɾ]

• Audio (Colombia)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɾ
• Syllabification: me‧ter

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

1. to put in, insert

   Synonym: poner

2. (sports) to score

   meter un gol ― to score a goal

3. to make (noise)
4. to cram, to stuff, to stick, to shove
5. (reflexive) to meddle, interfere, to get into

   ¡No te metas en lo que no te importa!

   Don't get involved in other people's business!/ Don't meddle in others' affairs!

   Synonyms: inmiscuirse, meter la nariz

6. (reflexive) to get into (a small space)
7. (reflexive) to get into, to get in

   meterse en problemas ― to get in trouble.

   Está tratando de meterse en tu cabeza.

   He's trying to get into your head.

• “meter”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

Borrowed from English meter.

• 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.

Borrowed from English meter.

meter

1. meter