mete 
First forthl shewe we hegh iiiesiire, that es t<> 
any thynge that has heglit miij ! m,-l hnwe he 
and this may be done In many mnnerei. 
.l/.v v,,,,,,,., -i .:. (HaUiwell.) 
She [the Soul] counts tliolr Stars, she mete* their distance! 
Anil differing pases. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, I. 6. 
A fair dial to mete oat the day. 
li. Jonton, Sad Shepherd, I. -'. 
2. To distribute or apportion by measure; 
measure or deal (out) ; dole. 
I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Sue- 
coth. Ps. lx. . 
For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall 
be measured to you again. Luke vl. .18. 
I mil. and dole 
Unequal laws unto a savage race. 
[< met- 
3737 
say howe metemplrical (raet-em-pir'i-kal), a. 
egn it es, ^Hy,,,-,,. + ./.] I n metaph., beyond or 
of experience; not based on experience; tran- 
scendental; a priori: opposed to empirical or 
IJ-/H /-a iiiinl. 
The metrinpirical region Is the void where Speculation 
roams unchecked, where Sense has no footing, where Ex- 
iwrlment can exercise no control, and where Calculation 
ends in impossible Quantities. 
Q.U. Leva, Probs. of Life and Mind, L L 1 15. 
metempiricism (met-em-pir'i-sizm), n. [< met- 
i HI /line + -ism. I In mi'taph., a system of phi- 
losophy based on a priori reasoning ; transcen- 
dentalism. 
metempiricist (met-em-pir'i-sist), w. [< met- 
i HI i>i i-ii' + -int.] Same as metempiric. 
Tennyton, Ulysses, metempsychosfl (me-temp'si-koz), r. t.\ pret. 
3. To be a measure of; serve for determining and pp. mttcnipxychosed, ppr. metempnyeliomnii. 
or expressing the extent, quantity, or capa- [<metrmpwbosi.<t.] To transfer from one body 
to another, as the soul ; cause to undergo me- 
tempsychosis. 
The souls of usurers after their death I.uclan affirms to 
be mrtrmptychoted, or translated Into the bodies of asses, 
and there remain certain years for poor men to take their 
pennyworth out of their bones. Peachnm, Blazoning. 
metempsychosis (me-temp-si-ko'sis), n. [< LL. 
metempsychosis (rare), < Gr. fitTe/tiJ6x ua i(, the 
transference of the soul from one body into 
another, < fitreuilnixow, make the soul pass from 
one body into another, < utrd, over, + i/u^f joii', 
put a soul into, animate, fyn/o^or, having life, 
< e i', in, + ^vx^lt soul, life : see I'gyche, and cf . 
psychosis, metapsychosis.] Transmigration of 
the soul ; the passing of the soul of a person 
after death into another body, either that of a 
human being or that of an animal : a doctrine 
held by various ancient peoples and by Py- 
thagoras and his followers, and still maintain- 
ed by Brahrnans and some others : also loosely 
used of such a transfer of the soul of a living 
person. 
I cannot believe the wisdom 'of Pythagoras did ever 
positively, and in a literal sense, affirm his metemptyfho- 
lit, or impossible transmigration of the souls of men into 
beasts. Sir T. Browne, Religio Medici, i. 37. 
city of. 
What word metes absolute loss? 
Mn. Browning, Drama of Exile. 
II. t intrans. To take measure or line ; aim. 
Let the mark have a prick In 't to mete at 
Shot., ],.!,.[.. Iv. 1. 134. 
mete 1 (met), . [(a) < ME. mete (mete)_(not found 
in AS., where the expected form 'mate is repre- 
sented by the related meeth, f.) (= OFries. mete, 
meta = "MD. maete, D. maat = MLG. mate = 
OHG. maza, MHO. maze, G. maas, f ., also MHG. 
mite, G. mass, n.), measure; mixed in E. with 
(6) the related form, now dial., met, < ME. met, 
mette, < AS. gemet, measure (= OS. gimet, mea- 
sure, = Icel. met, pi., weights of scales); < metan, 
measure, mete: see mete 1 , t'.] 1. Measure. 
Gyve thow trewe weyghte, mete, & measure. 
And then shall grace with the Indure. 
Hi ii.ii' of Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra Her.), I. 68. 
A XL foote of mette 
Iche elme away from oth'r must be borne. 
Pattadiui, Uusbondrle (E. E. T. S.), p. 68. 
2t. Computation; estimate; measure. 
To take thy netahebores catel [property] agayn hi! wyl, 
be It by force or by slelghte, be It by mete (var. mette] or 
Chaucer, Parson'! Tale. 
The Mollah and the Christian dog 
Change place In mad mrtemveychota. 
Whiltitr, The Haschish. 
by meauro. 
3. Limitation; limit: in the phrase metes and 
bounds (rarely in the singular mete and bound). 
The aggrieved party stood on his right and demanded metempsychosize (me - temp - si - k6 ' slz), r. t. ; 
that the frontier should be set out by motet and bounds. pret. and pp. metempsychosized, ppr. metempsy- 
Macautay, Hist. Eng., xvill. chosising. [< metempsychosis + -tee.] To cause 
The Eternal order circles round, 
And wave and storm mid mete and bound 
In Providence. Whittier, Anniversary Poem. 
mete 2 t, [ME. meten (pret. mette),( AS. mcetan, 
drearn.] I. intrans. I. To dream: often used 
impersonally: as, me mette, I dreamed. 
And in a launde as Ich lay, lenede ich and slepte, 
And merueylously me mette. Piert Plowman (C), 1. 9. 
ThU nyght thrye 
To goode mote it tome ! of yow I mette. 
Chaucer, Troilus, 11. 90. 
Hence 2. To lose the use of one's senses; be 
out of one's mind. 
I swor hlr this . . . 
Never to false yow, but [unless] I mete. 
Chaucer, Death of Blanche, 1. 1234. 
II. trans. To dream. 
Thanue gan I to meten a meruellouse sweuene [dream]. 
Piers Plowman (B), Prol., L 11. 
mete s t, r. t. [ME. meten, ma-ten, < AS. metan, 
paint.] To paint. 
mete 4 t, ' An obsolete form of meet 1 . 
mete^'t, An obsolete form of meeft. 
metegavelt, [< ME. mete, food, + gavel, a 
to pass after death into the body of some other 
living thing: said of the soul. 
Izaak Walton . . . metemptychmized into a frog. 
Southey, Doctor, cciiL (Danei.) 
metemptosis (met-emp-to'sis), n. [< Gr. /tcra, 
beyond, + e/iKTuotc, a falling upon, < ifm'mTtiv, 
fall upon or in, < ev, in, + frurrciv, fall.] In 
ehron., the solar equation which would be ne- 
cessary to prevent the calendar new moon from 
happening a day too late, or the suppression of 
the bissextile once in 134 years. The opposite to 
this is the proemptosii, or the addition of a day every $00 
years and another every 2,400 years. 
metencephalic (met-en-se-fal'ik or -sef'a-lik), 
a. [< metencephalon + -ic.] Of or pertaining 
to the metencephalon, in either sense. 
metencephalon (met-en-sef'a-lon), w.: pi. met- 
enceiiliala (-la). [NL., < Qr. /ura, after, + *j- 
/ctya/of, the brain : see eneephalon.] 1. Theaf- 
terbrain; the medulla oblongata as far as the 
pons Varolii : synonymous with myelencephaton 
of Huxleyand others, and macromyelon of Owen. 
<fnttin ; Wilder and Gage. 2. The cerebellar 
segment of the brain, the chief parts of which 
uwv^e"" "M L * - ' sec;meiii ui me urii 
tax.] A tribute, charge, or rent paid in vie- are the cerebe n um ^d pons Varolii. Buxlt-y. 
tuals. See cuts under brain and enfeplnilou. 
metelt,". [ME., also MMMlt; <<<, dream: m etensomatosis(met-en-86-ma-t6'sis),n. [LL.. 
see ****.] A dream. < L Gr. fjerevau/iaruaic, a putting into another 
And loseph mette metela fill raeruilous alse, 
How the sonne and the mone and enleuene sterres 
Falden bi-fore his feet and hcileden him alle. 
Fieri Plowman ( AX viii. 145. 
A Middle English form of mr/it- 
body, < ucrevoupaTovv, put into another body, < 
Gr. uera, over, + cvauaaToiv, put into a body, 
embody, < evouuaros, in the bodv, < f, in, + 
oufia, body.] The transference of the elements 
of one body into another body and their con- 
version into its substance, as by decomposition 
and assimilation. 
metelesst, 
iMfc 
metelyt, See meetly. 
metembryo (me-tem'bri-6), n. [< Gr. 
after, + fujptw, embryo: see embryo.] The 
gastrula stage of the metazoan embryo, paral- 
lel with the adult of some sponges, as ascons. 
Hyatt, Proo. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., 1887. See 
cut under iiaatnilii. 
metembryonic (ine-tem-bri-on'ik), a. [< - 
tcmbryo(n) + -ic.] Of or pertaining to a me- 
tembryo. 
metempiric (met-em-pir'ik), n. [< Gr. ptrd, be- 
yoml. + f/i-eipia, experience: see i-miiirii:] One metenteron (met-en'te-ron), .: pi. m, t-'iiti i-n 
who believes in the mctemjiirical <ir transeen- (-r). [NL., < Gr. uera, after, + h-repov. intes- 
dental philosophy. Also un li -inpirii -int. tine: see interim.] The enteroii, in any secnn- 
Is it not Indisputable that man's body . . . Is composed 
of the very same materials, the same protein, and fats, and 
salines, and water, which constitute the Inorganic world 
which may unquestionably have served long ago as the 
dead material which was vivified and utilized in the bod- 
ies of extinct creatures, and which may serve In endless 
mi ii'iMtmatosu (If the word, which has the authority of 
Clemens Alexandrlnns, and which is now imperiously de- 
manded by the wants of science, may be pardoned on the 
score of necessity) for we know not what organisms yet to 
come? Farrar. 
meteoric 
dary, differentiated, or specialized stale occnr- 
ring from modification of its primary condit inn 
of archenteron. 
metenteronic (met-cn-te-ron'ik), a. [< 
teron + -ic.] Of or pertaining to the metente- 
ron. 
meteogram < mc'te-o-gram), . [Shortfor - 
teorogram, < Gr. /imupav, a meteor (see meteor), 
+ ypd/i/ia, a writing: see gram'*.] A diagram 
composed of the tracings made by several self- 
recording meteorological instruments, as the 
thermograph and the barograph. 
meteograpn (me'te-o-graf), n. [Short for me- 
teorograph.] Same as meteorograph. 
The meUograph, with the anemograph. 
R. Aoercromby, Nature, XXXVI. 310. 
meteor (me'te-or), n. [< OF. mcteore, F. i 
ore = Sp. Pg. ' meteoro = It. meteora, < NL. mete- 
arum, < Gr. /urtupov, a meteor (def. 1), usually 
in pi. uertupa, lit. ' things in the air,' neut. of 
ii'-iu/xn; lifted up, on nigh, in air, < ficrd, be- 
yond, 4- aeiptiv, lift up, raise (> iupa, another 
form of ai&pa, a being lifted up or suspended 
on high, hovering, anything suspended).] 1. 
Any atmospheric phenomenon. 
Hall, an ordinary meteor; murrain of cattle an ordinary 
disease yet for a plague to obdured I'haraoh miraculously 
wrought, Bp. Hall, Invisible World, L I & 
Except they be watered from higher regions, and fructi- 
fying meteonot knowledge, these weeds must so lose their 
alimental sappe, and wither of themselves. 
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., Pref. 
In starry flake, and pellicle. 
All day the hoary meteor fell. 
Whittier, Snow-Bound. 
Specifically 2. A transient fiery or luminous 
body seen in or through the atmosphere, usually 
in its more elevated region : a shooting-star. If 
it reaches the surface of the earth, it is called 
a meteorite, formerly aerolite, and also (very 
rarely) uranolite. 
And all their silver crescents then I saw 
Like falling meteors spent, and set for ever 
Under the cross of Malta. 
Beau, and Fl., Knight of Malta, II. 1. 
The Imperial ensign ; which, full high advanced, 
Shone like a meteor, streaming to the wind. 
Hilton, P. L, 1. 537. 
3. A small body moving in space, and of the 
same nature as those which become visible by 
encountering onr atmosphere. There is reason to 
suppose that such bodies are very numerous, and that a 
large proportion of them are concentrated In swarms : it 
is considered very probable that a comet Is only such a 
meteoric swarm. 
meteor. An abbreviation of meteorology, mete- 
orological. 
meteor-cloud (me'te-or-kloud), n. 1. A flock 
of small meteoroids moving in space. Also 
called meteoric sirarm. 2. A cloud-like train 
left by a meteor in the upper air. [Bare.] 
meteor-dust (me'te-or-dust), . Matter in in- 
finitesimal particles supposed to be floating 
throughout free space, and gradually settling 
upon the surfaces of the heavenly bodies. 
Sir W. Thomson . . . shows that mettarjutt, accumu- 
lating at the rate of one foot In 4,000 years, would account 
for the remainder of retardation. 
Uuxley, Lay Sermons, p. 248. 
meteoric (me-te-or'ik), a. [= F. mcteoriqve = 
Sp. mete6rico =' Pg. It. meteorico, < NL. meteori- 
fiin, pertaining to meteors, ML. in the air, on 
high, < NL. meteorum, a meteor: see meteor.] 
If. Of the upper air ; ethereal; empyreal. 
The fiery particles ascended to the most meteoric or 
highest regions. Sharon Turner. Sacred Hist, of World 
[(tr. of Diod. slculus). p. 23. 
2. Pertaining to or of the nature of a meteor; 
consisting of meteors : as. meteoric stones ; me- 
teoric showers. 
Our nature is meteoric, we respect (because we partake 
so) both earth and heaven. Donne, Letters, xxxvii. 
3. Flashing like a meteor; transiently or irreg- 
ularly brilliant. 
Anthony Ashley Cooper, third earl of Shaft eebury (grand- 
son of the flrst earl, the famous mettaric politician of the 
reign of Charles II.), was born in 1671 and died In 1713. 
CraiJr, Hist. Eng. Lit., II. 235. 
Meteoric astronomy, that branch of science which 
treats of meteors and meteoroids in their astronomical 
relations. Meteoric Iron. See iron and meteorite. - Me- 
teoric ring, a swarm of meteoroids more or lew thickly 
scattered along the entire orbit in which the)' circulate 
alwut the sun or other central body, so as to form a ring 
around it. The rings of Saturn are probably thus con- 
stituted. Meteoric showers, showers of meteors or 
shooting-stars occurring periodically, and especially in the 
months of August and November. The maximum bril- 
liancy occurs every thirty-three years, and then sometimes 
for four years in succession there are showers of unusual 
magnitude. They are now known to be connected with 
comets. -Meteoric stone*, aerolites. See meteorite. 
