n. [ From Mete to measure. ] 1. One who, or that which, metes or measures. See Coal-meter. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An instrument for measuring, and usually for recording automatically, the quantity measured. [ 1913 Webster ]

Dry meter, a gas meter having measuring chambers, with flexible walls, which expand and contract like bellows and measure the gas by filling and emptying. --
Wet meter, a gas meter in which the revolution of a chambered drum in water measures the gas passing through it. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A line above or below a hanging net, to which the net is attached in order to strengthen it. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See 1st Meter. ] The act of measuring, or the cost of measuring. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Mech.) A measure of energy or work done; the power exerted in raising one gram through the distance of one meter against gravitation; 100 gram-centimeters. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ OE. metre, F. mètre, L. metrum, fr. Gr. &unr_;; akin to Skr. mā 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 ]