from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Meter \Me"ter\, Metre \Me"tre\, n. [OE. metre, F. m[`e]tre, L.
metrum, fr. Gr. ?; akin to Skr. m[=a] to measure. See {Mete}
to measure.]
1. Rhythmical arrangement of syllables or words into verses,
stanzas, strophes, etc.; poetical measure, depending on
number, quantity, and accent of syllables; rhythm;
measure; verse; also, any specific rhythmical
arrangements; as, the Horatian meters; a dactylic meter.
[1913 Webster]
The only strict antithesis to prose is meter.
--Wordsworth.
[1913 Webster]
2. A poem. [Obs.] --Robynson (More's Utopia).
[1913 Webster]
3. A measure of length, equal to 39.37 English inches, the
standard of linear measure in the metric system of weights
and measures. It was intended to be, and is very nearly,
the ten millionth part of the distance from the equator to
the north pole, as ascertained by actual measurement of an
arc of a meridian. See {Metric system}, under {Metric}.
[1913 Webster]
{Common meter} (Hymnol.), four iambic verses, or lines,
making a stanza, the first and third having each four
feet, and the second and fourth each three feet; --
usually indicated by the initials C. M.
{Long meter} (Hymnol.), iambic verses or lines of four feet
each, four verses usually making a stanza; -- commonly
indicated by the initials L. M.
{Short meter} (Hymnol.), iambic verses or lines, the first,
second, and fourth having each three feet, and the third
four feet. The stanza usually consists of four lines, but
is sometimes doubled. Short meter is indicated by the
initials S. M.
[1913 Webster]
from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
metre
<unit> (US "meter") The fundamental {SI} unit of length.
From 1889 to 1960, the metre was defined to be the distance
between two scratches in a platinum-iridium bar kept in the
vault beside the Standard Kilogram at the International Bureau
of Weights and Measures near Paris.
This replaced an earlier definition as 10^-7 times the
distance between the North Pole and the Equator along a
meridian through Paris; unfortunately, this had been based on
an inexact value of the circumference of the Earth.
From 1960 to 1984 it was defined to be 1650763.73 wavelengths
of the orange-red line of krypton-86 propagating in a vacuum.
It is now defined as the length of the path traveled by light
in a vacuum in the time interval of 1/299,792,458 of a second.
(1998-02-07)
from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
METRE or METER. This word is derived from the Greek, and signifies a
measure.
2. This is the standard of French measure.
3. The fundamental base of the metre is the quarter of the terrestrial
meridian, or the distance from the pole to equator, which has been divided
into ten millions of equal parts, one of which is of the length of the
metre. The metre is equal to 3.28 feet, or 39.371 inches. Vide Measure.