meet1
/miːt
/verb (past and past participle met /mɛt/) [with object]
1Arrange or happen to come into the presence or company of (someone): a week later I met him in the street [no object]: we met for lunch they arranged to meet up that afternoon...
- The student had tapped her name and mobile phone number into his phone and arranged to meet him for lunch before she left.
- I'd arranged to meet my partner Nick for lunch to get his verdict on the new me.
- I arranged to meet Andrew in a pub in Hampstead called the Holly Bush.
Synonyms
encounter, meet up with, come face to face with, make contact with, run into/across, come across/upon, chance on, happen on, light on, stumble across/on
informal bump into
1.1Make the acquaintance of (someone) for the first time: she took Paul to meet her parents [no object]: we met at an office party...
- I understand now, that we have to go through several acquaintances before we meet true friends.
- He is also an acquaintance of Raj, having met him in mid 2002.
- The sky shifted in colors as she thought back to the duration of time about eleven years ago when she met her foster parents.
Synonyms
get to know, be introduced to, make the acquaintance of
1.2 [no object] (Of a group of people) assemble for a purpose: the committee meets once a fortnight...
- The group met for an assembly dedicated to the celebration, a tour of the school and a 1950s-style school dinner.
- The group meets once a month and is particularly keen to hear from residents with an interest in local history, architecture and open spaces.
- The group meets once a month to discuss ways of combating city centre crime.
Synonyms
gather, assemble, come together, get together, congregate, convene, muster, rally
rare foregather
1.3 [no object] (meet with) Have a meeting with (someone): he met with the president on September 16...
- He meets with the President every day, he's meeting with him now.
- Later this hour, President Bush meets with emergency officials in Mississippi.
- The consultants were very deeply concerned when I was invited to meet with them recently.
1.4Go to a place and wait there for (a person or their means of transport) to arrive: Stuart met us off the boat...
- Also, a similar service was proposed to run to Cheddington Station to meet hotel guests arriving by train.
- We drove into the main bazaar, fully expecting some of these functionaries to be waiting to meet us.
- When I travel to Crewe to meet the Tommys, an as-yet unsigned all-girl pop-punk quartet, their manager Paul meets me off the train.
1.5Come together as opponents in a competition: in the final group match, England will meet the Australians [no object]: the teams will meet in the European Cup final at Wembley...
- The Springboks would have an easier route through the competition, probably meeting France in the semis.
- Five years ago when these two teams met it was a victory to Cranleigh by 39-10.
- The men's second team met Leigh first who were just above them in the league.
1.6Encounter or experience (a particular situation or attitude): he met his death in 1946 [no object]: we met with a slight setback...
- In all the time we have been booking courses we have not met this attitude before.
- Our children don't need to meet those selfish attitudes behind a steering wheel.
- It becomes particularly important when the relationship meets an impasse.
Synonyms
face, encounter, undergo, experience, go through, bear, suffer, endure
1.7 (meet something with) Have (a particular reaction) to: the announcement was met with widespread protests...
- But perhaps just as telling was the widespread cynicism the scandal was met with.
- Gillespie's comments were met with mixed reactions at the Scottish Open, finishing today at Loch Lomond.
- But the findings were met with a mixed reaction from lunchtime drinkers in the pavement bars and cafes of Manchester yesterday.
Synonyms
greet, receive, answer, deal with, handle, treat, face, cope with, approach
1.8 [no object] (meet with) Receive (a particular reaction): I’m sorry if it doesn’t meet with your approval...
- These developments have met with a mixed reaction in the respective countries.
- Plans to move a drug addiction clinic near a city centre shopping area have met with a mixed reaction.
- The recent rise in the number of debt collection agencies has met with a mixed reaction.
2Touch; join: icebergs are created when glaciers meet the sea [no object]: the curtains failed to meet in the middle figurative our eyes met across the table...
- She reached up, and his lips met hers, softly, like the petals of a rose, their touch was warm like a fire.
- Turning to see what he wanted she was surprised when his lips met hers.
- Then, with agonizing slowness, his head bent to hers and his lips met hers passionately.
Synonyms
come together, converge, connect, touch, link up, reach, abut, butt, adjoin, join, unite, intersect, cross
3Fulfil or satisfy (a need, requirement, or condition): this policy is doing nothing to meet the needs of women...
- If something doesn't meet your needs and requirements then there will be another tradition around the next corner.
- Anaemia is a condition in which the blood cannot carry enough oxygen to meet the body's needs.
- St David's Cathedral already meets the requirements of health and safety regulations but many other churches don't.
Synonyms
fulfil, satisfy, fill, measure up to, match (up to), conform to, come up to, perform, comply with, answer
3.1Pay (a financial claim or obligation): all your household expenses will still have to be met...
- Port charges were generally revised upward to meet debt obligations.
- The spokesperson said it could not afford to meet the claim as FLS was still losing money in Ireland.
- This is to ensure that there is sufficient money to meet its obligations.
Synonyms
pay, settle, clear, honour, liquidate, satisfy, discharge, pay off, square, account for
noun
1British A gathering of riders and hounds before a hunt begins: she fell from her horse during a weekend meet...
- These groups however are discredited by the outrageous actions they take to disrupt hunt meets.
- The meets for the foxhounds in the areas that I hunt are pretty near to where the horses are kept.
- Last Friday was one of the biggest Boxing Day meets of the Tedworth Hunt for years and it attracted a larger than usual number of anti-hunt protestors.
2An organized event at which a number of races or other athletic contests are held: major meets such as national championships...
- The second begins when Del Mar and Saratoga open their gates in July to conduct the last two great race meets in the United States.
- There's the Shrum Bowl, basketball and volleyball tournaments and swim meets, to name just a few.
- Worrell feels it's important for youngsters to take advantage of locally organized swim meets.
Synonyms
event, tournament, game, match, contest, competition;
bout, fight, encounter, engagement;
hunt;
gathering, convention, conclave, rally, congress, convocation, muster, quiz
3 informal A meeting, typically one with an illicit purpose: the meet with Frank is on for 10 o’clock
Phrases
make ends meet
meet the case
meet someone's eye (or eyes)
meet someone halfway
meet one's Maker
meet one's match
there's more to someone (or something) than meets the eye
Origin
Old English mētan 'come upon', of Germanic origin; related to Dutch moeten, also to moot.
moot from Old English:
Groups of law students are sometimes given the exercise of discussing an imaginary doubtful law case for practice. This is an old training method, which died out in the 19th century but has since been reintroduced into university law courses. A discussion of this kind is a moot, and in the USA a moot court is a mock court at which law students argue imaginary cases. These legal assemblies are behind a moot point, one which is subject to debate or is no longer of any practical purpose. Originally moot was used more widely, of any meeting or assembly. The word derives from the same root as meet (Old English).
Rhymes
meet2
/miːt/adjective archaic
Suitable or proper: it was not meet for us to see the king’s dishonour
Derivatives
meetly
meetness
Origin
Middle English (in the sense 'made to fit'): shortening of Old English gemǣte, of Germanic origin; related to mete1.