Mete

Mete

Verb · /miːt/

Definition

To dispense or allot (usually used with out): to mete out punishment, to mete out justice, to mete out rewards. The verb almost always appears in the phrase mete out in contemporary English.

Origin

From Old English metan (to measure), from Proto-Germanic *metanan (to measure), related to Old English met (measure), Old High German mezzan, and Gothic mitan. The Proto-Indo-European root is *med- (to take appropriate measures), which also gives medicine, meditate, moderate, and mode. The original sense was simply to measure; the current meaning of distributing or allotting developed from the idea of measuring out portions.