meter

pronunciation

How to pronounce meter in British English: UK [ˈmiːtə(r)] word uk audio image

How to pronounce meter in American English: US [ˈmiːtər] word us audio image

Noun:

the basic unit of length adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites (approximately 094 yards)
any of various measuring instruments for measuring a quantity
(prosody) the accent in a metrical foot of verse
rhythm as given by division into parts of equal time
Verb:

measure with a meter
stamp with a meter indicating the postage

Word Origin

meter (n.1): also metre, "poetic measure," Old English meter "meter, versification," from Latin metrum, from Greek metron "meter, a verse; that by which anything is measured; measure, length, size, limit, proportion," from PIE root *me- (2) "to measure" (see meter (n.2)). Possibly reborrowed early 14c. (after a 300-year gap in recorded use) from Old French metre, with specific sense of "metrical scheme in verse," from Latin metrum.

meter (n.2): also metre, unit of length, 1797, from French mètre (18c.), from Greek metron "measure," from PIE root *me- (2) "to measure" (cognates: Greek metra "lot, portion," Sanskrit mati "measures," matra "measure," Avestan, Old Persian ma-, Latin metri "to measure"). Developed by French Academy of Sciences for system of weights and measures based on a decimal system originated 1670 by French clergyman Gabriel Mouton. Originally intended to be one ten-millionth of the length of a quadrant of the meridian.

meter (n.3): "device for measuring," abstracted 1832 from gas-meter, etc., from French -mètre, used in combinations (in English from 1790), from Latin metrum "measure" or cognate Greek metron "measure" (see meter (n.2)). Influenced by English meter "person who measures" (late 14c., agent noun from mete (v.)). As short for parking meter from 1960. Meter maid first recorded 1957; meter reader 1963.

meter (v.): "to measure by means of a meter," 1884, from meter (n.3). Meaning "install parking meters" is from 1957.