/ˈmitəɹ/, [ˈmiɾɚ], /ˈmiːtə/
OriginFrom 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”).
- countable, uncountableA device that measures things.
- countable, uncountableA parking meter or similar device for collecting payment.
- countable, dated, uncountableOne who metes or measures.
- US, countable, uncountableA line above or below a hanging net, to which the net is attached in order to strengthen it.
- US, alt-of, countable, standard, uncountableUS standard spelling of metre (“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 ne”
- US, alt-of, countable, standard, uncountableUS standard spelling of metre (“the rhythm or measure in language”).
- countable, obsolete, uncountableA poem.
“A meter of […]berses in the Utopian tongue”
- To measure with a metering device.
- To imprint a postage mark with a postage meter.
- To regulate the flow of or to deliver in regulated amounts (usually of fluids but sometimes of other things such as anticipation or breath).
Formsmeters(plural) · meters(present, singular, third-person) · metering(participle, present) · metered(participle, past) · metered(past)