Definition: Meter
Alternative forms
- metre (British English for noun senses 2 and 3, rare for other senses)
Etymology
Senses 1.1, 2, and 3 were borrowed from French mètre and Latin metrum; from Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron, “measure, rule, length, size, poetic metre”).
Sense 1.2 is a noun derived from mete, from Old English metan (“to measure, mark off”), possibly influencing the other meanings.
Noun
meter (plural meters)
- A device that measures things.
- A parking meter or similar device for collecting payment.
- (mostly Template:Context 1) (elsewhere metre) The base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), equal to the distance light will travel in a vacuum in 1/299792458 second.
- (music) an increment of music; the overall rhythm; particularly, the number of beats in a measure.
- (prosody) The rhythm pattern in a poem.
Related terms
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Credits
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