† metern.1
Obsolete. rare.
A dreamer.
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the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [noun] > one who dreams
meter?a1300
swevenera1382
dreamera1400
?a1300 Iacob & Iosep (Bodl.) (1916) 88 (MED) Hi siggeþ hem bitwene, ‘Her comeþ þe metere.’
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 32 Þe meteres þet habbeþ drede of hare metinges.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2001; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
metern.2
/ˈmiːtə/, U.S. /ˈmidər/ Now rare.
A person who or (occasionally) thing which measures, a measurer; esp. one responsible for seeing that commodities are traded according to the proper measure. Also figurative.Recorded earliest in coal meter n.
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the world > relative properties > measurement > [noun] > a measurer
meter1336
measurer1552
metster1582
rater1823
quantifier1941
1336 in R. R. Sharpe Cal. Wills Court of Husting (1889) I. 410 (MED) Geoffrey Swele, colmetere.
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) Zech. ii. 1 In his hond a litil coorde of meters [a1425 L.V. meteris; Latin funiculus mensorum].
1454 Perth Guildry 14 Dec. in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue (1973) IV. 243/2 That thare be a mettare of al colis cumand be fer to met thaim in the batis.
1468 Maldon (Essex) Liber B f. 15 And the metere shall stryke the busshell & make the hepe trewely betwixe party and party. And the comounn meter shall mete trewely the corne to be delyuered atte hythe.
1480 Table Prouffytable Lernynge (Caxton) (1964) 41 Paulyn the metar of corne.
1519 in J. D. Marwick Extracts Rec. Burgh Edinb. (1869) I. 190 And at na metter mett the said meill bot the bringare thairof to the merkat vnder the payne of banesing.
1542–3 Act 34 & 35 Hen. VIII c. 9 §5 The said common meater to haue for the measuring of euery way of corne .ii.d.
1577 W. Harrison Hist. Descr. Islande Brit. iii. iv. f. 105/2, in R. Holinshed Chron. I A very sharpe imprecation..promyseth lyke measure to the meater, as he doth meat to others.
1666 Act 18 & 19 Chas. II c. 8 §34 Before they shall breake Bulke or have a Meter assigned for the measureing or weighing of any Coales..to be delivered from on board any such Shipp.
1681 MS Indenture Finkill Street, Hull William Haward metter.
1751 in W. Macgill Old Ross-shire & Scotl. (1909) I. 192 John Douglas who recd the oats is a very honest man, the metter who measured, suerne and the Firlott sealed.
1796 E. Burke Let. to Noble Lord in Wks. (1808) VIII. 38 But the aulnager, the weigher, the meter of grants, will not suffer us to acquiesce in the judgement of the prince reigning at the time when they were made.
1800 P. Colquhoun Treat. Commerce & Police R. Thames xi. 331 To appoint sworn Meters, for measuring Coals in the Port of London.
1825 W. Hazlitt Spirit of Age 44 Reason is the meter and alnager in civil intercourse, by which each person's..pretensions are weighed.
1881 Times 11 Apr. 4/5 When a barge with the plaintiff's corn in it arrived in the creek..the creek men were to hand over the meter's ticket of the corn to the plaintiff's foreman.
1930 Lynn News & County Press 23 Sept. 7 Mr. Akers was a licensed meter..licensed to weigh and meter goods discharged from ships in port.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
metern.3
/ˈmiːtə/, U.S. /ˈmidər/ 1.
a. An apparatus for automatically measuring the volume of gas that passes through a pipe, esp. one for measuring the gas supplied to a building for heating or lighting.In Clegg's original gas meter (see quot. 1815), later called the wet meter, the gas entered a drum mounted with its axis horizontal and half filled with water; as the gas passed through the water on its way to the exit, it exerted pressure on a set of curved partitions fixed to the interior of the drum, causing it to turn. This was followed by the dry meter, in which the gas passes through two receptacles in turn that work on the principle of the bellows, each filling and emptying of which is counted.
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1815 Clegg Specif. Patent 3968 Another part of my invention is a gauge or rotative gas-meter.
1830 in Fifesh. Advert. 21 Sept. (1888) 4/3 To limit the price of gas by meter to 12s. nett per 1000 cubic feet.
1853 A. Ure Dict. Arts (ed. 4) I. 876 By the use of the meter, gas companies are enabled to reduce the price of gas.
c1865 H. Letheby in Circ. Sc. I. 127/2 The first dry-meter was patented by Mr. Malam in 1820.
1874 J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Parish Churches 195 After turning all off at the meter.
1879 Encycl. Brit. X. 97/1 The dry meter is free from the defects just mentioned, but does not pass the gas with such steadiness as the wet meter.
a1902 F. Norris Pit (1903) ii. 51 While she was gone the man from the gas company called to turn on the meter.
1938 R. Hum Chem. for Engin. Students xvi. 387 After purification the gas passes through a meter to the familiar gas-holder.
1986 D. Madden Hidden Symptoms (1988) 49 People..were..fumbling with change for the gas meter.
1992 J. Torrington Swing Hammer Swing! xx. 176 Contacting the Gas Board to have the meter emptied.
b. More generally: any apparatus for automatically measuring the quantity of something passing through it. In extended use: a device for automatically measuring the amount or intensity of something (as distance travelled, speed, brightness, or sound intensity), or the amount or cost of a commodity or service used.Originally in gas-meter (see sense 1a), and still frequently preceded by a word denoting the thing measured (electricity, flux, light, moisture, noise, smoke, water meter, etc.: see the first element), or by the unit of measurement involved, as in the names of electrical measuring instruments, where meter is usually present as a suffix as in voltmeter n. (see -meter comb. form2).Meters have been developed that work on a variety of principles, such as the venturi effect, the frequency shift of sound waves sent through the flow, and the effect of the flow on a heating coil.
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the world > relative properties > measurement > measuring instrument > [noun] > instrument measuring or recording automatically
meter1832
indicator1839
society > communication > record > recording or reproducing sound or visual material > [noun] > devices for > specific
meter1832
time stamp1855
telemeter1877
tape recorder1892
slot-meter1899
motor meter1903
check meter1909
Recordak1928
Thermo-Fax1953
ultramicrofiche1967
ultrafiche1971
electronic tag1980
1832 C. Babbage Econ. Machinery & Manuf. viii. 42 The sale of water, by the different companies in London, might also, with advantage, be regulated by a different kind of meter.
1858 W. Greener Gunnery in 1858 52 This machine I termed an explosion metre... In each of these experiments the greatest accuracy was observed, in preparing the metre as well as in weighing the charge.
1868 W. D. Haskoll Land & Marine Surv. xi. 170 The current meter is useful also to ascertain the velocity of under currents.
1903 Trans. Amer. Soc. Mech. Engin. 24 983 Wherever water-power is sold it is customary to use the turbines as meters.
1933 A. M. Lindbergh Let. 4 Aug. in Locked Rooms & Open Doors (1974) 73 Then approach the icecap, still working hard to climb... I try the drift meter. It works over ice but not over snow—too much glare.
1951 G. H. Sewell Amateur Film-making (ed. 2) ii. 20 The high-light meter reads the intensity of the light falling upon the subject, instead of the light reflected from it.
1961 J. H. Goodier Dict. Painting & Decorating 118 The gloss meter works on the principle of directing a beam of light on to a painted panel and allowing the reflected beam to excite a galvanometer.
1976 Canad. Jrnl. Linguistics 21 70 The speaker made every attempt to maintain equal intensity across syllables by monitoring his output on a VU meter.
1991 Whole Earth Rev. Summer 73/3 For recording most sounds or voices you want the meter peaking a little above zero, never pegging at the limit.
c. A taximeter. Also figurative.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > vehicles (plying) for hire > [noun] > taxi > instrument indicating fare
tell-fare1865
taximeter1894
clock1906
meter1911
Mary Ann1939
1911 Standard 12 July 10 He denied that he had ever been asked by a driver to ‘fake’ a meter although he had heard banter in the garage about the ‘wangling’ of meters.
1937 V. Woolf Years 363 She began to fumble in her purse. She looked at the metre [sic] which had mounted rather high.
1955 W. Gaddis Recognitions i. vii. 263 He read the meter as they got out, and was reaching deep into his change pocket when the cab roared away.
1969 ‘J. Morris’ Fever Grass i. 5 The driver..did not lean across to lift the little red metal flag of the meter mounted on the dashboard by the left front window.
1988 Crain's Chicago Business 10 Oct. 3 Mr. Farley insists he won't be rushed, even though the meter is running on his war chest.
1992 Holiday Which? May 149/3 Bright yellow taksi (taxis) are plentiful. Check the meter is turned on.
d. Photography. = exposure meter n. at exposure n. 1e.
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1920 Sat. Westm. Gaz. 22 May 16/2 The golden rule is to expose by meter on the holiday, and leave all else to the return home.
1997 Photo Answers Mar. 23/4 Although the camera's built-in meter will allow for any light loss, you need to be aware that using long extensions can cause camera shake.
e. = parking meter n. at parking n. Compounds 2.
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society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > vehicular traffic > [noun] > traffic control > parking meter
parking meter1936
meter1960
1960 Daily Tel. 31 Mar. 15/1 What promises to be the most important experiment in traffic control starts next Monday, when car parking over the whole of Mayfair becomes subject to meters.
1973 Weekly News (Glasgow) 11 Aug. 2/2 After a search, I found a parking place in Glasgow on a Saturday afternoon. I was standing next to the meter..when a man who'd been standing on the opposite pavement came over.
1999 BBC Top Gear Mag. June 175/2 I am just a regular driver, who parks considerately. When I was done for a meter running out, I accepted it and paid up.
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the world > action or operation > endeavour > trial or experiment > trial, test, or testing > [noun] > criterion
rulec1384
meteyard?1531
touchstone?1531
plumb line1551
plummet1553
metewanda1568
touch1581
stone of touch1604
criterion1622
scale1626
criteriuma1631
measure1641
judge1642
criterie1660
foot-rule1662
mark1765
point of reference1772
metera1825
reference point1849
yardstick1869
benchmark1884
a1825 A. L. Barbauld Legacy for Young Ladies (1826) 161 It may be desirable to keep one kingdom as a meter for the rest. Take for this purpose first the Jews, then the Greeks, the Romans, and..our own country: then harmonize and connect all the other dates with these.
1860 R. W. Emerson Wealth in Conduct of Life (London ed.) 89 The coin is a delicate meter of civil, social, and moral changes.
3. U.S. slang. A quarter, twenty-five cents.
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society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > coins collective > foreign coins > [noun] > North American coins > U.S.
quarter dollar1615
bit1683
quarter1776
cent1782
dollar1785
dime1786
eagle1786
half-dollar1786
half-eagle1786
sharpshin1804
picayune1805
caser1825
pic1839
double eagle1849
slug1851
hog1859
pine tree money1859
martin bita1884
meter1940
1940 Music Makers May 37/2 Meter, quarter, twenty-five cents.
1960 H. Wentworth & S. B. Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang 337/2 Meter, a quarter... From the coin which often is needed to operate a gas meter. Orig. Negro use. Never common.
1970 C. Major Dict. Afro-Amer. Slang 81 Meter, twenty-five cent coin.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.† meter chamber n. Obsolete rare† meter house n. Obsolete rare
meter box n.
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1882 Worcs. Exhib. Catal. iii. 16 Mr. Palmer's Patent Meter Boxes.
1982 Giant Bk. Electronics Projects xi. 481 The sloped meter box is ideal.
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1889 Pall Mall Gaz. 1 July 6/3 The pumps discharge into a meter chamber, where the sewage is measured.
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1897 Daily News 1 June 3/3 Land for meter houses and other works.
meter inspector n.
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1895 Daily News 10 Oct. 6/4 The meter inspectors.
1911 Jrnl. Royal Statist. Soc. 74 696 The details of occupation included under this head show gasman, fireman,..meter-inspector [etc.].
1966 ‘L. Lane’ ABZ of Scouse ii. 67 Meter inspector, sardonic name for a sneak-thief who tries to gain entrance to houses by pretending that he is an official.
meter rent n.
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1895 Westm. Gaz. 17 Apr. 3/3 It is fairer to charge a meter rent than to charge a higher price for the gas.
1973 Gloss. Electrotechnical, Power Terms (B.S.I.) ii. vii. 7 Meter rent, an amount to be paid for a specified period for metering and allied equipment installed.
meter wheel n.
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1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. II. 1427/2 Meter-wheel, one used in connection with gas and liquid meters and air-carbureting machines.
1953 Jrnl. Animal Ecol. 22 291 The winch and meter-wheel were mounted on a light dog sledge.
1984 A. C. Duxbury & A. Duxbury Introd. World's Oceans vi. 192 The spacing between the water bottles and the amount of hydrowire let out is measured by a meter wheel.
C2.
meter-feeder n. a motorist who illicitly extends his or her parking time by putting more money in the parking meter instead of moving away.
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society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > driving or operating a vehicle > driver or operator of vehicle > [noun] > driver of motor vehicle > parking
parker1930
meter-feeder1965
1965 Guardian 5 Apr. 8/2 The would-be meter feeder is tipped off if a hostile scout appears.
1972 Guardian 8 May 9/6 Scotland Yard..was setting up a special vigilante squad whose job was to keep tabs on meter feeders in Central London.
meter-feeding n. the illicit extending of parking time by putting more money into the meter instead of leaving the parking space.
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society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > vehicular traffic > [noun] > traffic control > parking meter > putting money in meter
meter-feeding1966
1966 Punch 5 Jan. 15/1 Driving dangerously, you may think, is obviously much more criminal than meter-feeding. But meter-feeding is a deliberately calculated breach of the law, whereas dangerous driving may be accidental.
1969 Guardian 28 Mar. 22/4 We realize councils must do something to stop meter feeding.
1974 J. Ratcliffe Introd. Town & Country Planning xx. 286 Meters..present problems of enforcement, and associated costs, due to ‘meter feeding’.
meter maid n. originally U.S. a female traffic warden.
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society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > vehicular traffic > [noun] > traffic control > person who controls traffic > traffic warden > women
meter maid1957
1957 Times (Seattle) 12 Sept. 38 The City Council today authorized the Police Department to hire ten ‘meter maids’, uniformed women who will patrol the streets and write tickets for overparking.
1968 Harper's Mag. Feb. 41 A Meter Maid was soon watching me censoriously.
1970 Sunday Times 3 May 28/7 Why do meter maids..never look glamorous at all?
1988 Sun (Brisbane) 28 July 13/6 Britain's pert, uniformed meter maids are being upstaged by the dreaded Denver Boot.
meter-park v. transitive to park (a vehicle) at a parking meter.
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society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > driving or operating a vehicle > drive a vehicle [verb (transitive)] > drive a motor vehicle > park
park1846
double-park1936
meter-park1971
1971 H. C. Rae Marksman iii. iii. 212 The Mark 10 was meter-parked close to the side entrance.
meter-parking n. the use of parking meters; a place at a parking meter.
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society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > vehicular traffic > [noun] > traffic control > parking meter > use of
meter-parking1959
1959 Daily Tel. 15 Dec. 1/7 In the past month, 81 motorists were convicted of contravening the existing meter parking scheme.
1963 D. B. Hughes Expendable Man iv. 109 There were no meter parkings open near the courthouse.
meter-reader n. a person responsible for reading gas, electricity, or other meters.
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society > communication > record > recording or reproducing sound or visual material > [noun] > devices for > specific > person responsible for reading
meter-reader1892
1892 W. G. Kent Water Meter i. 28 So many varieties of registers are very puzzling to the inexperienced meter-reader.
1963 Times 8 Jan. 9/3 In an ideal world, everyone in uniform, from guardsmen to meter readers, would be immaculately turned out and dressed in strict conformity with the rules of their service.
1992 J. Torrington Swing Hammer Swing! v. 129 ‘Donald's dropped in,’ Phyllis told her brother as we followed her like a pair of greasy meter-readers down the hall.
meter-reading n. the reading of a meter or meters; an instance of this; (also) a reading displayed on or recorded by a meter.
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the world > relative properties > measurement > measuring instrument > [noun] > instrument measuring or recording automatically > indication on meter
meter-reading1908
1908 Chem. Abstr. 2492 (title) A binant electrometer for pointer and meter reading... Description of a new form of electrometer which has many advantages over the quadrant form.
1932 Discovery Oct. 330/2 The meter reading is recorded by observations carried out with powerful field glasses.
1991 What's New in Design Sept. 57/4 Useful features include..display of meter readings and input waveforms on the same LCD screen.
meter zone n. a delimited area where the parking of vehicles is controlled by meters.
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society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > vehicular traffic > [noun] > traffic control > parking meter > zone where there are meters
meter zone1959
1959 Daily Tel. 15 Dec. 1/7 Larger meter zone by April.
1963 Sunday Express 3 Mar. 4/4 I had paid out over £220 in parking fines in the past 21 months because I lived in a ‘meter zone’.
1994 Which? Feb. 31/3 On all other public roads, implementation of parking schemes, meter zones, residents' only areas, road markings and timed restrictions are the responsibility of County, Metropolitan Borough, or London Borough Councils.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
† metern.4
Obsolete. rare.
Either of two lines reinforcing a seine or gill net (see quot. a1884).
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a1884 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Suppl. 596/2 Meter, The strengthening line of a seine or gill net, to the upper one of which the floats, and to the lower the weights, are attached. The seaming is the marginal line of the net, to which it is seized by meshes, and the meter is an outside line seized at intervals of a yard.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2001; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
meterv.1
/ˈmiːtə/, U.S. /ˈmidər/ rare.
transitive. To measure out (a commodity or goods).
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1765 London Chron. 16 May 470 The action was for not delivering to the buyers the ingrain of two fives, as metered from on board ship, but took three sacks out of each five.
1930 Lynn News & County Press 23 Sept. 7 Mr. Akers was a licensed meter..licensed to weigh and meter goods discharged from ships in port.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, December 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
meterv.2
/ˈmiːtə/, U.S. /ˈmidər/ 1.
a. transitive. To measure by means of a meter. Also: to supply through a meter.
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the world > relative properties > measurement > measuring instrument > measure by or as an instrument [verb (transitive)] > measure by means of instruments > using a meter
meter1878
1878 T. D. English Gasology 27 The gas now metered through our burners, Is greeted all too oft with wicked murmurs.
1884 Science 3 497 The real proportions of air and gas were not determinable, except by metering both.
1894 Times 14 Aug. 11/4 The oil, waste, water, and general engine-room stores work out to ·0657 penny per unit metered.
1934 Jrnl. Inst. Electr. Engineers 75 594/1 Is it proposed to meter the 3-minute charge as soon as the called subscriber answers?
1968 Brit. Med. Bull. 24 192/2 It is meaningful to envisage computer power being metered to separate offices.
1987 K. Vonnegut Bluebeard (1988) ii. 19 Nuclear energy was going to make electricity so cheap that it might not even be metered.
b. transitive. To regulate the flow of; to deliver in regulated amounts.
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the world > matter > liquid > liquid flow > action or process of flowing > flow [verb (transitive)] > regulate flow or deliver amounts of fluid
meter1932
1932 Compression Ignition Engines xi. 132 Injection Pump.—A mechanical device which meters the liquid fuel in controllable quantities and delivers it at a set pressure to the working cylinders.
1963 Adv. Space Sci. & Technol. Suppl. I. 173 In addition to atomizing and mixing the liquids, it meters the flow to the combustion chamber.
1977 Sci. Amer. Nov. 65/2 Once the water needs of a crop have been determined the water is metered to each plant through the drip-irrigation installation.
1986 C. Culpin Farm Machinery (ed. 11) xvii. 289/1 It is usually best with either a mill or a crusher to meter the grain before processing.
2. transitive. To provide or equip with a meter in order to measure flow or consumption.
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1883 N.Y. Times 1 Feb. 8/4 This could be done by metering every house.
1892 W. G. Kent Water Meter ix. 108 Meters.., although it might be as long or even longer before every house could be metered, would exercise a beneficial effect from the very commencement of the application of the system.
1927 F. J. Taylor Mod. Waterworks Pract. ii. 66 The practice in British countries is generally only to meter relatively large consumers.
1945 C. Jaques Meters for measuring Water & Industrial Fluids vii. 45 With a battery of boilers being metered under these conditions, it is desirable to have a meter fitted at each boiler.
3. transitive. To measure or regulate (the parking time) of motorists by means of parking meters; to provide (a street, etc.) with parking meters.
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society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > vehicular traffic > [verb (transitive)] > measure parking time with meter
meter1957
1957 [implied in: New Yorker 26 Oct. 36/1 You can park scooters almost anywhere without getting a ticket. In a metered area, the usual thing is to park them sidewise, between two parked cars. (at metered adj. 2)].
1962 Times 16 Apr. 11/3 Brighton has proposed to meter the sea-front motorists' parking-time.
1963 ‘W. Haggard’ High Wire iii. 24 The comfortable little street..had recently been metered.
1974 J. Ratcliffe Introd. Town & Country Planning xx. 286 On-street parking is often metered.
2013 Herald-Times (Bloomington, Indiana) 2 Jan. a4/3 The Walker study drew up a plan that meters most on-street spots.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
> see also
also refers to : -metercomb. form1
also refers to : -metercomb. form2
also refers to : metremetern.1
also refers to : metremetern.2
also refers to : metremeterv.
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n.1?a1300
n.21336
n.31815
n.4a1884
v.11765v.21878see also