mete
English
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)
- (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,
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”).
Adjective
mete (comparative more mete, superlative most mete)
- 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.
Estonian
Galician
Verb
mete
- inflection of meter:
- third-person singular present indicative
- second-person singular imperative
Haitian Creole
Etymology
From Saint Dominican Creole French mété, from French mettre.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mete/
Latin
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈme.te/, [ˈmɛt̪ɛ]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈme.te/, [ˈmɛːt̪e]
Lithuanian
Mauritian Creole
Etymology
From French mettre. Compare Haitian Creole mete.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mete/
Middle English
Etymology 1
From Old English mete (“food”) (also met, mett, whence the forms with a short vowel). More at meat.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈmɛːt(ə)/, /mɛt/
Noun
- 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
- The act of dining; a lunch.
References
- “mē̆te, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Etymology 2
From Old French mete (“boundary, mere”), from Latin mēta. More at mete.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈmɛːt(ə)/
Descendants
- English: mete
Etymology 3
From Old English ġemǣte (“suitable, meet”), from Proto-Germanic *mētijaz, a variant of *mētiz. More at meet.
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈmɛːt(ə)/
Adjective
mete
- suitable, fitting, appropriate
- pleasing, accommodating, useful
- right in shape or size, well-fitting
Old English
Etymology
From Proto-Germanic *matiz.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈme.te/
Noun
mete m
- 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.
- late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Saint Augustine's Soliloquies
Declension
Derived terms
Portuguese
Pronunciation
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈmɛ.t͡ʃi/
- (Southern Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈmɛ.te/
- (Portugal) IPA(key): /ˈmɛ.tɨ/
- Rhymes: (Brazil) -ɛt͡ʃi, (Portugal) -ɛtɨ
- Hyphenation: me‧te
Verb
mete
- inflection of meter:
- third-person singular present indicative
- second-person singular imperative
Rawa
References
- Norma Toland, Donald Toland, Reference Grammar of the Karo/Rawa Language (1991)
Spanish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈmete/ [ˈme.t̪e]
- Rhymes: -ete
- Syllabification: me‧te
Verb
mete
- inflection of meter:
- third-person singular present indicative
- second-person singular imperative
Sumerian
Swedish
Etymology
From meta (“angle for fish”).
Declension
Declension of mete | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | mete | metet | meten | metena |
Genitive | metes | metets | metens | metenas |
References
Walloon
Etymology
From Old French metre, from Latin mittō, mittere (“send”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mɛt/
Conjugation
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
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈme.t̪e/