mete
mete — verb
- metepresent simple I / you / we / they
- metes3rd person singular
- meting-ing form
- metedpast simple
1. to give out or distribute something in measured or calculated amounts — for exam
to give out or distribute something in measured or calculated amounts — for example, portions of food, money, supplies, or resources.
Tendai meted out small portions of rice to each child at the dinner table.
mete out + [quantity] + [thing] + to + [recipient]
The foundation metes out grants to artists who need financial support for their projects.
Selim carefully meted the flour into the mixing bowl for the bread dough.
Food supplies were meted out to the refugee families every two weeks by the relief agency.
The council meted building permits to each neighbourhood in proportion to its population.
- distribute
the most common general alternative; neutral register
- allocate
suggests a planned or official division of resources
- dispense
more formal; often used for medicine or justice
- dole out
informal; suggests small, often reluctant portions
- withhold
to refuse to give something that could be given
文法句型
mete + [something]
mete out + [something] + to + [someone]
用法筆記
In modern English this sense almost always appears with the particle 'out' (mete out). Using 'mete' alone without 'out' sounds very formal or literary. For the specific meaning of giving a punishment, see the phrasal verb 'mete out' below.
常見錯誤
mete — noun
1. a line or limit that marks the edge of an area, territory, or piece of land.
a line or limit that marks the edge of an area, territory, or piece of land.
The old stone wall marked the mete between the two farms in the valley.
archaic; appears in historical land records
Historians still debate the exact mete of the ancient Roman province in Britain.
A charter from 1272 described the river as the mete of the bishop's estate.
Beyond the southern mete of the kingdom lay vast, unmapped forests.
用法筆記
This noun sense is archaic and almost never used in modern English, except in historical texts, land deeds, or deliberately literary writing. The modern equivalent is 'boundary' or 'limit'.