metes and bounds
Americanplural noun
Etymology
Origin of metes and bounds
1275–1325; late Middle English; translation of Anglo-French metes et boundes. See mete 2, bound 3
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Portuguese Bend residents generally favor a system more in tune with metes and bounds, a mapping method that uses physical landmarks such as trees, walls and roads to measure parcels.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 6, 2023
Statisticians cannot say more than they know and the data constrain the conclusion to be within the metes and bounds of the data.
From Textbooks • Nov. 29, 2017
That settled it: Like the trees used as markers by settlers to denote the metes and bounds of changing landscapes, the oak would be my witness tree.
From Seattle Times • Apr. 13, 2017
Surveyors were mapping out metes and bounds to tame the jumbled countryside with the gridiron pattern we know today.
From New York Times • Dec. 1, 2010
The power which made the Constitution can alone set up the metes and bounds between the realm of authority of the general Government and that of the Commonwealths.
From The Middle Period 1817-1858 by Burgess, John William
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
