▪ I. metre, n.1
(ˈmiːtə(r))
Forms: 1 meter, 4 metur, 4–5 metir(e, 5–6 meetre, metyr, 5–8 meeter, 6 myter, mytre, 6–7 miter, 7 metar, 8 meteer, 6–8 (9 U.S.) meter, 4– metre.
[OE. meter (? méter) was ad. L. metrum, a. Gr. µέτρον, f. Indogermanic root *mē̆- to measure; in the 14th c. the word was adopted afresh from OF. metre (mod.F. mètre); cf. Sp., Pg., It. metro, G. meter.]
1. Any specific form of poetic rhythm, its kind being determined by the character and number of the feet or groups of syllables of which it consists.
| a 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. v. Concl., Ymenbec misenlice metre [v.r. metere]. Boc epigrammatum eroico metre [v.r. metere]. c 1050 Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia (1885) VIII. 314 Þæt þæt riht meter vers sceal habban. c 1386 Chaucer Man of Law's Prol. 48 Chaucer thogh he kan but lewedly On metres and on rymyng craftily. 1450–1530 Myrr. our Ladye 91 Whyche thre [verses] ar of dyuerse meter from the tother. a 1568 R. Ascham Scholem. ii. (Arb.) 144 For the meter sake, some wordes in him [Terence], somtyme, be driuen awrie. 1599 Thynne Animadv. 6 Bothe in matter, myter, and meaninge, yt must needes gather corruptione, passinge throughe so manye handes. 1657 Sparrow Bk. Com. Prayer (1661) 361 They used all decent and grave variety of rhymes and Meeters in their Hymns and Psalms. 1749 Power Pros. Numbers 74 To one or other of which [three Measures] (however various be the Metre) almost all kinds of English Verse may be reduced. 1864 Tennyson Hendecasyllabics 4 All composed in a metre of Catullus. 1874 Symonds Sk. Italy & Greece (1898) I. xii. 250 Poetry employs words in fixed rhythms, which we call metres. |
b. In the names of certain forms of verse used in English hymns, as
common metre,
long metre,
particular metre,
short metre: see these words. Also,
peculiar metre,
proper metre (abbreviated P.M.): a metre used only in a particular hymn, or at least not identical with any of the metres having recognized names.
| 1798 Select. Psalms & Hymns, Hymn vii. Pec. M. Ibid., Hymn x. Prop. M. Ibid., Hymn xxii. Pecul. Metre. Ibid., Hymn xxxvi. P.M. |
2. Metrical arrangement or method.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 196 After þe Inglis kynges he [Langtoft] says þer pris þat all in metir fulle wele lys. c 1386 Chaucer Monk's Prol. 93 In prose eek been endyted many oon, And eek in metre, in many a sondry wyse. c 1450 Holland Howlat 35, I haue mekle matir in metir to gloss Of ane nothir sentence. a 1568 R. Ascham Scholem. i. (Arb.) 77, I will recite the very wordes of Homere and also turne them into rude English metre. 1667 Milton P.L. Pref., Rime being..the Invention of a barbarous Age, to set off wretched matter and lame Meeter. 1779–81 Johnson L.P., Milton Wks. II. 174 It is..by the musick of metre that poetry has been discriminated in all languages. 1828 Whately Rhet. in Encycl. Metrop. I. 290 Then arrange this [prose] again into metre. 1858 Marsh Eng. Lang. xxv. 544 Metre may be defined to be a succession of poetical feet arranged in regular order, according to certain types recognized as standards, in verses of a determinate length. 1905 W. H. Cobb (title) A Criticism of Systems of Hebrew Metre. |
3. a. Composition ‘in metre’; verse.
† b. In particularized sense: A piece of metrical composition; a verse or poem;
occas. a metrical version.
| 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 489 Þis vers of metre þat es wreten here: Dicentes E. vel A. quot-quot nascuntur ab Eva. c 1350 Will. Palerne 5524 Þouȝh þe metur be nouȝt mad at eche mannes paye. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. Prol. 562 Here byn twenty thousand mo [ladies] syttyng..Make the metres of theym as the lest. 1423 Jas. I Kingis Q. iv, His metir suete, full of moralitee. 1475 Bk. Noblesse (Roxb.) 21 The vijthe metre of the .v. booke of Boecius. a 1533 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) I ij, To wryte workes, to make metres, to studie antiquitees. 1556 Robinson tr. More's Utop. (1895) p. xciv, A meter of iiii verses in the Utopian tongue. 1577 Hellowes Gueuara's Chron. 31 Traiane..persuaded the Oratours to compounde many meetres to his praise. 1584 Cogan Haven Health (1636) 195 According to that old meeter, Distentus venter vellet dormire libenter. 1631 Weever Anc. Funeral Mon. 140 A certaine Lollard..composed certaine virulent meeters against this and other of the Religious orders. 1662 Playford Skill Mus. i. i. (1674) 5 There is an old Metre..it contains a true Rule of the Theorick part of Musick—, It begins thus, ‘To attain the Skill of Musicks Art Learn Gam-Ut up and down by heart.’ 1679 T. Puller Moder. Ch. Eng. (1843) 43 The english metre of the Psalms. 1794 Blake Songs Exper., Clod & Pebble 8 A pebble of the brook Warbled out these metres meet. a 1800 Cowper Ode to Apollo 3 Those luckless brains That..Indite much metre with much pains. |
4. A metrical group or ‘measure’;
spec. a dipody in iambic, trochaic, and anapæstic rhythms.
| 1880 W. S. Rockstro in Grove Dict. Mus. II. 317/1 Two feet usually constitute a Metre (or Dipodia). But in Dactylic Verse, each foot is regarded as a complete Metre in itself. 1903 W. R. Hardie Lect. 210 Metres..are ‘lengths’ or ‘sections’ of rhythm, beginning in a certain way, either with ἅρσις or θέσις, and of a fixed length. |
5. Gr. Mus. = metric n. rare—0.
| 1811 Busby Mus. Dict., Metre, that part of the ancient music which consulted the measure of the verses. |
6. attrib., as
metre ballad,
metre-maker,
metre-making (
n. and
adj.),
metre-monger;
metre psalm, a Bible psalm translated in verse.
| 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. i. 130, I had rather be a Kitten, and cry mew, Then one of these same *Meeter Ballad-mongers. |
| 1611 Cotgr., Rimoyeur, a rimer, a *meeter-maker. 1789 T. Twining Aristotle's Treat. Poetry (1812) I. 253 A versifier—a meter-maker. |
| 1841–4 Emerson Ess., Poet Wks (Bohn) I. 157 It is not metres, but a *metre-making argument, that makes a poem. |
| 1880 Swinburne Stud. Shaks. i. (ed. 2) 9 The guidance which can be given by no *metre-monger or colour-grinder. |
| 1655 Sanderson Serm. (1681) II. Pref. 7 Where your *metre-psalms? 1863 J. L. W. By-gone Days 102 Those beautiful Metre Psalms first versified by Francis Rous, an Englishman. |
Sense 6 in
Dict. becomes 7. Add:
6. Mus. The basic rhythmic pattern of beats in a piece of music (or part thereof),
usu. denoted at the beginning by a time signature;
= measure n. 18 a.
| 1873 H. C. Banister Text-bk. Mus. xxxiv. 170 Rhythm..or metre has to do with the symmetrical arrangement of music, with regard to time and accent. 1888 Bookseller 5 Sept. 920 Two-timed metre is identified with the octave or root, three-timed metre with the fifth, and four-timed metre—the last of the uncompounded metres..—is identified with the third. 1947 A. Einstein Mus. Romantic Era xvii. 320 Many of these dances show evidence of great age and uninterrupted tradition—the leaping dance (springar) in 3/4 meter and the halling in duple meter. 1969 Rolling Stone 28 June 17/3 In those days country music was very loose in both meter and lyrics... No one had ever heard of a ninth chord. 1990 Opera Now May 83/4 Her obviously thorough preparation on more than one occasion helped singers less at home with Prokofiev's complex metres. |
▪ II. metre, n.2 (
ˈmiːtə(r))
Also
U.S. meter, 9
mètre.
[ad. F. mètre (mɛtr), ad. Gr. µέτρον measure.] a. The fundamental unit of length of the metric system, approximately equal to 39·37 English inches. Now one of the base units of the International System of Units, and redefined in terms of the wavelength of a spectral line (at 605·8 nanometres) of an isotope of krypton (see
quot. 1970).
It was intended to represent one ten-millionth of the length of a quadrant of the meridian; the standard metre kept at Paris nearly corresponds to this theoretical value.
| 1797 Monthly Mag. III. 434 The measures of length above the metre are ten times [etc.]..greater than the metre. 1831 Jrnl. Roy. Instit. I. 599 M. Francœur..has found that the mètre is equal to 39·37079 English inches. 1869 Roscoe Elem. Chem. (1871) 24 This metre, like all other standards of length, is an arbitrary length. 1877 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 442 We may assume..that it would fall through 10 meters in .3·63 seconds. 1885 Times (weekly ed.) 2 Oct. 17/7 Houses, costing..only {pstlg}10 per cubic mètre. 1961 Nature 21 Jan. 195/1 The eleventh General Conference of Weights and Measures was held in Paris during October 11–20... One epoch-making scientific decision was taken, namely, to redefine the metre in terms of a natural atomic standard, the wave⁓length of light, thus deposing the platinum–iridium bar—the International Prototype Metre—from the supremacy it has held in the field of length measurements since 1889. Ibid. 196/2 The specification of the conditions of excitation and observation [of the radiation] ensures a reproducibility of the new optical metre to about 1 part in 100 millions. 1970 Internat. System of Units (B.S.I.) 5 The metre is the length equal to 1 650 763·73 wavelengths in vacuum of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the levels 2p10 and 5d5 of the krypton-86 atom. (11th CGPM (1960), Resolution 6). 1971 Physics Bull. July 397/1 The definition of the metre in terms of the wave⁓length of the orange spectral line of a krypton discharge was internationally accepted in 1960 and brought about a new interest in interferometry for length measurement. |
b. attrib., as
metre gauge;
metre-angle Ophthalm. [
tr. G.
meter-winkel (A. Nagel, in Graefe & Saemisch
Handbuch der gesammten Augenheilkunde (1880) VI. x. 479)], a unit of convergence equal to the angle between the line of sight of either eye and the median line passing between them when the eyes are fixating a point on that line one metre away;
metre-candle = lux n.;
metre-gram(me),
-ton, etc., the amount of work required to raise a gramme, a ton, etc. one metre in one second;
metre-kilogram(me)-second, used
attrib. to designate a system of units in which the basic units of length, mass, and time are respectively the metre, the kilogram, and the second, and which was taken as the basis of the International System of Units; commonly abbreviated
M.K.S., m.k.s;
metre-seven, the name recommended by a committee of the British Association for the quantity 10
7 (ten million) metres.
| 1886 C. M. Culver tr. Landolt's Refraction & Accommodation of Eye ii. 187 We are indebted to Nagel for the ingenious idea of rendering the mensuration of convergence so simple and..so practical. He calls this unit-angle the ‘Meterwinkel’ *metre-angle. 1949 H. C. Weston Sight, Light & Efficiency i. 27 The value of the metre-angle depends on the distance apart of the two eyes, but is commonly equal to about 1·75°. 1964 S. Duke-Elder Parsons' Dis. Eye (ed. 14) xxviii. 455 With an emmetropic person the amount of convergence, reckoned in metre angles, is the same as the amount of accommodation reckoned in dioptres. |
| 1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl., *Meter-candle. 1915 R. A. Houston Treat. Light xx. 362 It is often necessary to measure in foot-candles or metre-candles the degree of illumination of a surface. 1939 A. W. Barton Text Bk. Light ix. 197 A metre-candle is equal to a lumen per square metre,..so that there are 10,000 metre-candles in a phot. 1970 M. V. Klein Optics iv. 126 Lux are also called meter-candles. |
| 1885 Pall Mall G. 20 Mar. 6/1 The Government of India has adopted the *metre gauge for all the new branches of the various State railways. 1891 Kipling City Dreadf. Nt. 78 The trucks were unloaded into the waggons of the metre-gauge colliery line in this wise. |
| 1868 L. Clark Electr. Meas. 45 The conventional unit of work W ordinarily employed in metrical measure is..that which will raise a weight of one gramme one metre in one second, and is called the *metre-gramme unit. |
| 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 544/1 *Metre-kilogramme-second (M-K-S) system of units. 1943 Lemon & Ference Analytical Exper. Physics ii. 38/1 Recently adopted by an international congress as the official system of metric units is the meter-kilogram-second (MKS) system. 1963 Listener 24 Jan. 156/1 The metre-kilogram-second system has been preferred by the Institute of Electrical Engineers. |
| 1873 Rep. Brit. Assoc. 224 The approximate length of a quadrant of one of the earth's meridians is a *metre-seven or a centimetre-nine. |
| 1881 Sir W. Thomson in Nature No. 619. 434 Ideal water-wheels..would give just one *metre-ton per square metre of area. |
▪ III. metre, v. (
ˈmiːtə(r))
Also 5
meetre, 6
metyr,
mitre, 7
meeter.
[f. metre n.1] 1. trans. To compose in or put into metre. ?
Obs.| 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 58 The weddynge dytees metryd coryously. 1563 Mirr. Mag., Collingbourne x, They murdred me for metryng thinges amys. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. Scot. 214/1 One Henrie, who was blind from his birth,..composed a whole booke in vulgar verse, in which he mitred all those things vulgarlie spoken of this Wallase. 1841 Catlin N. Amer. Ind. (1844) I. xviii. 126 Perfectly metred but without rhyme. 1858 Ramsay Remin. Ser. i. (ed. 7) 174 Jean said she thought David hadna taen much pains when he metred the Psalms. |
2. intr. To compose verses; to versify.
| c 1430 Freemasonry 569 Rethoryk metryth with oone speche amonge. c 1448 Hoccleve Balade Dk. York 48 If þat I in my wrytynge foleye..Meetrynge amis, or speke vnfittyngly. 1530 Palsgr. 635/2 Many a man can ryme well, but it is harde to metyr well. 1614 W. B. Philosopher's Banquet (ed. 2) 117 He..thus merrily Meeterd. |
Hence
† ˈmetring vbl. n., versification.
| 1644 Digby Nat. Bodies xxviii. 250 Such of the liberall artes are employed, which belong to the cultiuating mans voyce; as Rhetorike, meetering, and singing. |