# metre

Pronunciation: UK say "MEE-tuh" /ˈmiːtə/; US say "MEE-tur" /ˈmiːtəɹ/

## Noun

1. The SI base unit of length: the distance light covers in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second, roughly 39.37 inches.
   - Simple: The main unit for measuring length in the metric system, equal to about 39 inches.
   - _The garden wall stands just over a metre high._
   - _Drivers must not park within ten metres of a junction._
2. The measured pattern of rhythm in language, chiefly in verse, and also in music.
   - Simple: The pattern of beats in a poem or a piece of music.
   - _The sonnet is written in a strict metre throughout._
   - _The piece keeps switching metres, which makes it hard to dance to._

## Verb

3. To give words or music a metrical form, arranging them in a regular rhythm.
   - Simple: To put words or music into a regular rhythm, like the beat of a poem.
   - _Translators who metre the psalms must keep both the sense and the rhythm._
   - _He metred the old folk tale into rhyming couplets._

## Origin

**Meaning 1** — Based on Ancient Greek métron ("measure, rule, length, size, poetic metre"), the word reached English through French mètre. Meter, metron and mether are doublets of it.
**Meanings 2–3** — Ancient Greek métron ("measure, rule, length, size, poetic metre") passed into Latin as metrum, and Old English took the word from there.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/metre (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).