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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

2 entries under this word

Meter

Mē'ter, n.

noun

n. [Eng. mete.] One who, or that which, metes or measures; specifically, (a.) An instrument for measuring the consumption of gas; a gas-meter. Two kinds are used, the water, or wet meter, and the dry meter; the former measuring the gas by the revolution of a chambered wheel partly immersed in water, the latter by the alternate filling and emptying of two cavities formed by circular disks and flexible bands connecting them, somewhat like double bellows. The amount of flow in each case is indicated on dials. (b.) An instrument for measuring the consumption of water; a water-meter. (c.) A licensed measurer of coals before they are delivered out for sale; a coal-meter. Crabb.

Mē'ter or Mē'tre, n.

noun

n. [A-S. meter, Fr. mètre, It. & Sp. metro, Lat. metrum, Gr. μέτρον, from the Lat. root met in metiri, to measure; Skr. mā.]

Sense 1. Rhythmical arrangement of syllables into verses, stanzas, strophes, &c.; poetical measure, depending on number, quantity, and accent of syllables; rhythm; measure; verse.

The only strict antithesis to prose is meter. Wordsworth.

Sense 2. (Fr. pron. mē'tr.) A French measure of length, equal to 39.370 English inches, or 39.368 American inches, the standard of linear measure, intended to be the ten millionth part of the distance from the equator to the north pole, as ascertained by actual measurement of an arc of the meridian.

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