mete

[meet]

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verb (used with object), met·ed, met·ing.

to distribute or apportion by measure; allot; dole (usually followed by out): to mete out punishment.
Archaic. to measure.

Origin of mete

before 900; Middle English; Old English metan; cognate with Dutch meten, Old Norse meta, Gothic mitan, German messen to measure, Greek mḗdesthai to ponder

Related formsun·met·ed, adjective

Synonyms for mete

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1. deal, measure, parcel.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for meted

parcel, deal, give, ration, share, dole, portion, lot, measure, divide, allocate, allot, allow, apportion, assign, dispense, admeasure

Examples from the Web for meted

Contemporary Examples of meted

The unfortunate reality is that race, gender, and economic status do matter when justice is meted out.
The Post-Brown and Garner Question: Who ‘Deserves’ to Die?
Goldie Taylor
December 9, 2014
It is not a scarce commodity to be meted out begrudgingly or in short portions.
The Heroic Lesbian Couple of Oklahoma Who Fought for Equal Marriage—and Won
Randy R. Potts
October 7, 2014
Draconian punishments were meted out to supposed sinners and traitors.
Saddam’s Former Deputy, the Red Skull of Baghdad, Still at Large in Iraq and Allied With ISIS
Jacob Siegel, Christopher Dickey
July 21, 2014
As the last line of defense, the goalkeeper is also first in the firing line when blame and retribution are meted out.
Can England Forgive Robert Green?
Alex Massie
June 13, 2010

Historical Examples of meted

The measure which he meted to others was in turn accorded to himself.
Aztec Land
Maturin M. Ballou
With what measure they had meted out, it had been measured back to them again!
Sir Henry Morgan, Buccaneer
Cyrus Townsend Brady
What would become of his family if justice was meted out to him?
Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail
Ezra Meeker
Severe punishment was meted out when ammunition was thrown away.
Charles Carleton Coffin
William Elliot Griffis, D. D.
Yahwe's blessings are meted out in this world, but not in Sheol.
The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria
Morris Jastrow

British Dictionary definitions for meted

mete

verb (tr)

(usually foll by out) formal to distribute or allot (something, often unpleasant)

verb, noun

poetic, dialect (to) measure

Word Origin for mete

Old English metan; compare Old Saxon metan, Old Norse meta, German messen to measure

mete

noun

rare a mark, limit, or boundary (esp in the phrase metes and bounds)

Word Origin for mete

C15: from Old French, from Latin mēta goal, turning post (in race)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for meted

mete

"to allot," Old English metan "to measure, mete out; compare, estimate" (class V strong verb; past tense mæt, past participle meten), from Proto-Germanic *metanan (cf. Old Saxon metan, Old Frisian, Old Norse meta, Dutch meten, Old High German mezzan, German messen, Gothic mitan "to measure"), from PIE *med- "to take appropriate measures" (see medical). Used now only with out. Related: Meted; meting.

mete

"boundary," now only in phrase metes and bounds, late 15c., from Old French mete "limit, bounds, frontier," from Latin meta "goal, boundary, post, pillar."