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”).
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Usually, With “out” To dispense, measure in order to dispense, allot (especially punishment, reward etc.).
Match'd with an agèd wife, I mete and dole Unequal laws unto a savage race1833, Alfred Tennyson, Ulysses:
Every generation metes out substantially the same punishment to those who fall far below and those who rise high above its standards.1929, Kirby Page, Jesus Or Christianity A Study In Contrasts, page 31:
2 more examples
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 7:2:
the Power that fashions man Measured not out thy little span For thee to take the meting-rod In turn,1870s Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Soothsay, lines 80-83
Etymology From Middle English mete, from Old French mete (“boundary, boundary marker”), from Latin mēta (“post, goal, marker”). Cognate with the second element in Old English wullmod (“distaff”).
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A boundary or other limit; a boundary-marker; mere.