metres
metres — noun
- metressingular
- metresesplural
1. The basic unit for measuring length in the metric system, equal to 100 centimetr
The basic unit for measuring length in the metric system, equal to 100 centimetres or roughly 39.37 inches.
The local swimming pool is twenty-five metres long and has ten lanes.
collocation: [number] metres long / wide / high / deep
Jessica bought three metres of blue fabric to sew new curtains for her bedroom window.
The tallest tree in the park stands about thirty metres above the ground.
Joon ran one hundred metres in under eleven seconds at the school sports day.
The distance between the two villages is roughly two thousand metres, or two kilometres.
- metre (m)
the official symbol is 'm'; 'metre' is the full word
用法筆記
This sense uses the British spelling 'metre' (plural 'metres'). US English uses 'meter' for both the unit of length and the measuring device, while British English distinguishes them: 'metre' for the unit of length and 'meter' for the device. The symbol for the unit is 'm' (e.g., 25 m, 100 m). Abbreviations like 'sq m' (square metres) and 'm³' (cubic metres) are common in construction and science.
常見錯誤
2. A device that records how much of a resource like gas, water, or electricity is
A device that records how much of a resource like gas, water, or electricity is consumed as it flows through a pipe or cable.
The gas meter is in the cupboard under the stairs, next to the hot water tank.
Noor checked the electricity meter at the end of each month to track household usage.
collocation: electricity meter / gas meter / water meter
A new water meter was installed outside the house to measure exactly how much the family uses.
The old meter by the front door records how many units of gas the building consumes each day.
Piotr read the meter every week and wrote the numbers down in a small notebook.
用法筆記
In British English, the measuring device is spelled 'meter'. The spelling 'metre' is used for the unit of length. In everyday UK English, people commonly say 'the meter' when referring to a gas, water, or electricity meter.
常見錯誤
3. The device fitted inside a taxi that calculates the fare to be paid based on the
The device fitted inside a taxi that calculates the fare to be paid based on the distance travelled and the waiting time.
Rohan watched the taxi meter climb as the traffic crawled through the city centre.
As soon as Constanza got into the cab at the airport, the driver turned on the meter.
collocation: turn on the meter
When the journey ended, the meter showed a fare of eighteen pounds and fifty pence.
Diya asked the driver to turn off the meter because they had agreed on a fixed price beforehand.
The meter was running the whole time the taxi sat in the queue outside the station.
- fare meter
less common; a more technical or formal term
用法筆記
In taxi contexts, 'the meter' alone is enough — people say 'what does the meter say?' without specifying 'taxi meter'. The phrase 'the meter is running' is also used metaphorically to mean that costs are accumulating.
4. The structured pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that creates a regul
The structured pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that creates a regular rhythm in a line of poetry.
Shakespeare's sonnets are written in iambic pentameter, a metre with five beats per line.
Nala struggled to identify the metre in the poem because the rhythm kept changing between stanzas.
The poetry teacher asked the class to mark the stressed syllables in each line to work out the metre.
Traditional English verse often uses a regular metre of alternating weak and strong beats.
Dewi's own poem used a loose metre that did not follow a fixed pattern of stressed syllables.
用法筆記
Also spelled 'meter' in US English. Common types include iambic metre (unstressed + stressed) and trochaic metre (stressed + unstressed). This is a technical term used mainly in literary analysis and creative writing courses.