meter
noun
• US spelling of metre1.
meter
noun
• a device that measures and records the quantity, degree, or rate of something.
• "an electricity meter"
meter
verb
• measure or regulate by means of a meter.
• "the huge capital outlay required to meter every household is not available"
Origin:
Middle English (in the sense ‘person who measures’): from mete1 + -er1. The current sense dates from the 19th century.
meter
noun
• US spelling of metre2.
-meter
combining form
• in names of measuring instruments.
• "thermometer"
• in nouns denoting lines of poetry with a specified number of measures.
• "hexameter"
Origin:
from Greek metron ‘measure’.
metre
noun
• the SI base unit of length (equivalent to approximately 39.37 inches), first introduced as a unit of length in the metric system.
• "sit two metres away from the TV screen"
Origin:
late 18th century: from French mètre, from Greek metron ‘measure’.
metre
noun
• the rhythm of a piece of poetry, determined by the number and length of feet in a line.
• "the Horatian ode has an intricate governing metre"
Origin:
Old English, reinforced in Middle English by Old French metre, from Latin metrum, from Greek metron ‘measure’.
