parking meter

American  

noun

• parking meters
  plural

1. a mechanical device for registering and collecting payment for the length of time that a vehicle occupies a parking space, consisting typically of a timer, actuated by a coin that a driver deposits upon parking, set in a headpiece mounted on a pole.

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parking meter British  

noun

1. a timing device, usually coin-operated, that indicates how long a vehicle may be left parked

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• parking meters
  plural

Etymology

Origin of parking meter

First recorded in 1930–35

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

parking meter

Orlean, who is so carefully attentive to her responsibilities that we interrupted our interview so she could feed her parking meter, made headlines in 2020 for tweeting with no filter.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2025

Dismissing the claim, Deputy District Judge Nathan Smith said the contract between Excel and Mr Barton "was not concluded until he read the terms and conditions next to the parking meter".

From BBC ● Jan. 31, 2025

“He arrived at the intersection of American history, where he put a quarter in the parking meter of destiny, leaving the car, looking to avoid stepping in the urine puddle of jurisprudence.”

From New York Times ● Apr. 23, 2024

In 2008, in order to offset a budget crisis, the city council leased the parking meter system to a company called Chicago Parking Meters LLC, owned by Morgan Stanley and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

From Salon ● Jan. 21, 2024

An empty trash can chained to a parking meter banged and rolled from side to side, and its lid, also chained, flipped and flapped in the wind like a kite on a short string.

From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago