Wiktionary

mete

See also: Mete, meté, metę, and mɛtɛ

English

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WOTD – 15 September 2006

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English meten, from Old English metan (“to measure, mete out, mark off, compare, estimate; pass over, traverse”), from Proto-West Germanic *metan, from Proto-Germanic *metaną (“to measure”), from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to measure, consider”).

Cognate with Scots mete (“to measure”), Saterland Frisian meete (“to measure”), West Frisian mjitte (“to measure”), Dutch meten (“to measure”), German messen (“to measure”), Swedish mäta (“to measure”), Latin modus (“limit, measure, target”), Ancient Greek μεδίμνος (medímnos, “measure, bushel”), Ancient Greek μέδεσθαι (médesthai, “care for”), Old Armenian միտ (mit, “mind”).

Verb

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mete (third-person singular simple present metes, present participle meting, simple past and past participle meted)

  1. (transitive, usually with “out”) To dispense, measure in order to dispense, allot (especially punishment, reward etc.).
    • 1833, Alfred Tennyson, Ulysses:
      Match'd with an agèd wife, I mete and dole
      Unequal laws unto a savage race
    • 1929, Kirby Page, Jesus Or Christianity A Study In Contrasts‎[1], page 31:
      Every generation metes out substantially the same punishment to those who fall far below and those who rise high above its standards.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 7:2:
      For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
    • 1870s Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Soothsay, lines 80-83
      the Power that fashions man
      Measured not out thy little span
      For thee to take the meting-rod
      In turn,
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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From Middle English mete, borrowed from Old French mete (“boundary, boundary marker”), from Latin mēta (“post, goal, marker”). Cognate with the second element in Old English wullmod (“distaff”).

Noun

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mete (plural metes)

  1. A boundary or other limit; a boundary-marker; mere.

Etymology 3

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Adjective

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mete (comparative more mete, superlative most mete)

  1. Obsolete spelling of meet (“suitable, fitting”).
    • 1570, Margaret Ascham, Roger Ascham, The Scholemaster, foreword:
      I could not finde any man for whose name this booke was more agreable for hope [of] protection, more mete for submission to iudgement, nor more due for respect of worthynesse of your part and thankefulnesse of my husbandes and myne.

Anagrams

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Czech

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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mete

  1. third-person singular present indicative of mést

Dutch

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Verb

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mete

  1. (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of meten

Anagrams

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Estonian

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Noun

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mete

  1. genitive plural of mesi

Galician

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Verb

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mete

  1. inflection of meter:
    1. third-person singular present indicative
    2. second-person singular imperative

Haitian Creole

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Etymology

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From Saint Dominican Creole French mété, from French mettre.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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mete

  1. to put
  2. to put on

Italian

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Noun

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mete f

  1. plural of meta

Anagrams

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Latin

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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mete

  1. second-person singular present active imperative of metō

Lithuanian

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Noun

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metè

  1. locative singular of mẽtas (“time”)

Noun

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mẽte

  1. vocative singular of mẽtas (“time”)

Mauritian Creole

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Etymology

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From French mettre. Compare Haitian Creole mete.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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mete (medial form met)

  1. to put; put on
  2. to set
  3. to wear

Middle English

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Etymology 1

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From Old English mete (“food”) (also met, mett, whence the forms with a short vowel). More at meat.

Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈmɛːt(ə)/, /ˈmɛt(ə)/

Noun

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mete (plural metes or meten)

  2. Food, nourishment or comestibles; that which is eaten:
    • c. 1275, Judas (Roud 2964, Child Ballad 23, Trinity College MS. B.14.39)‎[2], folio 34, recto, lines 3-4; republished at Cambridge: Wren Digital Library (Trinity College), 2019 May 29:
      Iudaſ þou moſt to iurſelem oure mete foꝛ to bugge / þritti platen of ſelu[er] þou bere up oþi rugge […]
      "Judas, you must go to Jerusalem to buy our food; / You'll have thirty pieces of silver on your back […]
    • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “lxj”, in Le Morte Darthur, book X:
      And thenne he blewe his horne that the maronners had yeuen hym / And whanne they within the Castel herd that horne / they put forthe many knyghtes and there they stode vpon the walles / and said with one voys / welcome be ye to this castel / […] / and sire Palomydes entred in to the castel / And within a whyle he was serued with many dyuerse metes
      And then he blew his horn that the mariners had given him / And when they that were within the castle heard that horn / they put forth many knights and there they stood upon walls / and said with one voice: / “be welcome to this castle” / […] / and Sir Palamedes entered into the castle / And after a while he was served with many diverse meats
    1. A store or supply of food.
    2. An individual serving of food, especially when cooked.
    3. Meat; the (usually cooked) flesh of animals as (an item of) food.
    4. Food that animals eat (including prey or lures)
  3. The act of dining; a lunch.
Derived terms
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Descendants
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  • English: meat
  • Scots: mete, met, meit, mait
  • Yola: maate, met
References
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Etymology 2

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From Old French mete (“boundary, mere”), from Latin mēta. More at mete.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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mete

  2. boundary, target, point, position
Descendants
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Etymology 3

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From Old English ġemǣte (“suitable, meet”), from Proto-Germanic *mētijaz, a variant of *mētiz. More at meet.

Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Adjective

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mete

  2. suitable, fitting, appropriate
  3. pleasing, accommodating, useful
  4. right in shape or size, well-fitting
Descendants
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Adverb

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mete

  1. appropriately
  2. copiously

References

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  • The Middle English Dictionary (M.E.D.)[3]
  • Riverside Chaucer[4]

Old English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Proto-Germanic *matiz.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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mete m

  1. food
    • late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Saint Augustine's Soliloquies
      Ne lyst mē nāwiht ðāra metta þe ic forhātan habbe, ac mē lyst ðāra þe ic getiohhod habbe tō ætanne, ðonne ic hī gesēo.
      I desire none of those meats which I have renounced; I desire those which I have thought right to eat, when I see them.

Declension

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Declension of mete (strong i-stem)
Case Singular Plural
nominative mete metas
accusative mete metas
genitive metes meta
dative mete metum

Derived terms

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Descendants

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Old Frisian

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Proto-West Germanic *mati.

Noun

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mete

  1. food, especially sustenance (as opposed to desserts, snacks, or sweets)

Descendants

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Portuguese

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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mete

  1. inflection of meter:
    1. third-person singular present indicative
    2. second-person singular imperative

Rawa

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Adjective

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mete

  1. good

References

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Serbo-Croatian

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Verb

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mete (Cyrillic spelling мете)

  1. third-person singular present of mesti

Spanish

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈmete/ [ˈme.t̪e]
  • Rhymes: -ete
  • Syllabification: me‧te

Verb

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mete

  1. inflection of meter:
    1. third-person singular present indicative
    2. second-person singular imperative

Sumerian

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Romanization

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mete

  1. Romanization of 𒋼 (mete)

Swedish

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Etymology

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From meta (“angle for fish”).

Noun

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mete n

  1. (fishing) angling for fish

Declension

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Declension of mete 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative mete metet meten metena
Genitive metes metets metens metenas

See also

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References

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Walloon

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Etymology

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From Old French metre, from Latin mittō, mittere (“send”).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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mete

  1. to put

Conjugation

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    —             —   Conjugation of the verb mete in Walloon   —   Codjowaedje do viebe mete e walon
infinitive mete
gerund metant
auxiliary aveur
past participle masculine feminine
singular metou metowe
plural metous metowes
singular plural
1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st person 2nd person 3rd person
indicative dji (dj') tu (t') i (il) / ele dji (dj') / nos vos i (il)
present mete metes mete metans metoz metnut or metèt
imperfect meteu meteus meteut metins metîz metint
preterit meta metas meta metîs metîz metît
future metrè metrès metrè metrans metroz metront
conditional metreu metreus metreut metrins metrîz metrint
subjunctive ki dj' ki t' k' i (il) / k' ele ki dj' / ki nos ki vos k' i (il)
present mete metes mete metanxhe metoxhe metèxhe or metnuxhe
present metaxhe metaxhes metaxhe metinxhe metîxhe metinxhe
imperative — tu — dji / nos vos —
affirmative mete metans metoz

West Makian

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Etymology

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Likely cognate with Ternate mote (“to follow”).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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mete

  1. (transitive) to follow

Conjugation

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Conjugation of mete (action verb)
singular plural
inclusive exclusive
1st person temete memete amete
2nd person nemete femete
3rd person inanimate imete demete
animate
imperative nemete, mete femete, mete

References

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  • Clemens Voorhoeve (1982) The Makian languages and their neighbours‎[5], Pacific linguistics
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