Metre

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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 Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Metre \Me"tre\ (m[=e]"t[~e]r), n.
     See {Meter}.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  metre
       n 1: the basic unit of length adopted under the Systeme
            International d'Unites (approximately 1.094 yards) [syn:
             {meter}, {m}]
       2: (prosody) the accent in a metrical foot of verse [syn: {meter},
           {measure}, {beat}, {cadence}]
       3: rhythm as given by division into parts of equal time [syn: {meter},
           {time}]

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  metre
       
           (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) [bouvier]:

  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.