metes and bounds
Americanplural noun
Etymology
Origin of metes and bounds
1275–1325; late Middle English; translation of Anglo-French metes et boundes. See mete 2, bound 3
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But country stations still retain a significant gatekeeping power, elevating favored performers and mediating the genre’s metes and bounds for audiences and the industry at large.
From New York Times
This, he wrote, was such a case: “It is every individual’s obligation to confront the current siege in Gaza, but it is also this Court’s obligation to remain within the metes and bounds of its jurisdictional scope.”
From New York Times
As though fostering the robust exchange of ideas, innovative problem-solving, and developing students equipped to lead in a multi-racial democracy, is legitimate only when subject to metes and bounds and a forecast due date, lest we, as a democracy, miss more pressing engagements.
From Slate
Portuguese Bend residents generally favor a system more in tune with metes and bounds, a mapping method that uses physical landmarks such as trees, walls and roads to measure parcels.
From Los Angeles Times
“Perhaps, although the lack of clarity about the metes and bounds of the restricted area and the Vice President’s movements on January 6th undermine this argument.”
From Seattle Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.