mete

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See also: Mete, meté, metę, and mɛtɛ

English

WOTD – 15 September 2006

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

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

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, 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
Translations

Etymology 2

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

mete (plural metes)

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

Etymology 3

Adjective

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

Czech

Pronunciation

Verb

mete

  1. third-person singular present indicative of mést

Dutch

Verb

mete

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

Anagrams

Estonian

Noun

mete

  1. genitive plural of mesi

Galician

Verb

mete

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

Haitian Creole

Etymology

From Saint Dominican Creole French mété, from French mettre.

Pronunciation

Verb

mete

  1. to put
  2. to put on

Italian

Noun

mete f

  1. plural of meta

Anagrams

Latin

Pronunciation

Verb

mete

  1. second-person singular present active imperative of metō

Lithuanian

Noun

metè

  1. locative singular of mẽtas (“time”)

Noun

mẽte

  1. vocative singular of mẽtas (“time”)

Mauritian Creole

Etymology

From French mettre. Compare Haitian Creole mete.

Pronunciation

Verb

mete (medial form met)

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

Middle English

Etymology 1

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

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈmɛːt(ə)/, /mɛt/

Noun

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)‎, 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
Descendants
  • English: meat
  • Scots: mete, met, meit, mait
  • Yola: maate, met
References

Etymology 2

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

Pronunciation

Noun

mete

  2. boundary, target, point, position
Descendants

Etymology 3

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

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Adjective

mete

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

Adverb

mete

  1. appropriately
  2. copiously

References

  • The Middle English Dictionary (M.E.D.)
  • Riverside Chaucer

Old English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *matiz.

Pronunciation

Noun

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

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

Derived terms

Descendants

Old Frisian

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *mati.

Noun

mete

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

Descendants

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

Verb

mete

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

Rawa

Adjective

mete

  1. good

References

Serbo-Croatian

Verb

mete (Cyrillic spelling мете)

  1. third-person singular present of mesti

Spanish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈmete/
  • Rhymes: -ete
  • Syllabification: me‧te

Verb

mete

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

Sumerian

Romanization

mete

  1. Romanization of 𒋼 (mete)

Swedish

Etymology

From meta (“angle for fish”).

Noun

mete n

  1. (fishing) angling for fish

Declension

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

See also

References

Walloon

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

Verb

mete

  1. to put

Conjugation

   —         —   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

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

Verb

mete

  1. (transitive) to follow

Conjugation

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

  • Clemens Voorhoeve (1982) The Makian languages and their neighbours‎, Pacific linguistics
Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia