mete

¹

[ meet ]

verb (used with object)

, met·ed, met·ing.

1. to distribute or apportion by measure; allot; dole (usually followed by out ):

   to mete out punishment.

   Synonyms: parcel, measure, deal

2. Archaic. to measure.

mete

²

[ meet ]

noun

1. a limiting mark.
2. a limit or boundary.

   Synonyms: bound

mete

¹

/ miːt /

verb

1. formal.
   usually foll by out to distribute or allot (something, often unpleasant)

verb

1. poetic.
   (to) measure

mete

²

/ miːt /

noun

1. rare.
   a mark, limit, or boundary (esp in the phrase metes and bounds )

Other Words From

• un·meted adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of mete¹

before 900; Middle English; Old English metan; cognate with Dutch meten, Old Norse meta, Gothic mitan, German messen to measure, Greek mḗdesthai to ponder

Origin of mete²

1275–1325; Middle English < Middle French < Latin mēta goal, turning post

Word History and Origins

Origin of mete¹

Old English metan; compare Old Saxon metan, Old Norse meta, German messen to measure

Origin of mete²

C15: from Old French, from Latin mēta goal, turning post (in race)

Example Sentences

It might not sound like it from the description, but as these three rather stray individuals intersect, the series metes out comedy and dysfunctional romance with a sure hand.

From Los Angeles Times

They started to mete out desegregation orders with teeth, requiring busing if necessary.

From Seattle Times

But country stations still retain a significant gatekeeping power, elevating favored performers and mediating the genre’s metes and bounds for audiences and the industry at large.

From New York Times

And yet Himes is able to garner sympathy and adulation for these two men who, within the world of Himes’s Harlem, try their best to mete out justice equally under an inherently unjust system.

From New York Times

But the department didn’t make the footage public or mete out punishment.

From Salon