The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Meter \Me"ter\, Metre \Me"tre\, n. [OE. metre, F. m[`e]tre, L.
   metrum, fr. Gr. ?; akin to Skr. m[=a] to measure. See Mete
   to measure.]
   1. Rhythmical arrangement of syllables or words into verses,
      stanzas, strophes, etc.; poetical measure, depending on
      number, quantity, and accent of syllables; rhythm;
      measure; verse; also, any specific rhythmical
      arrangements; as, the Horatian meters; a dactylic meter.
      [1913 Webster]

            The only strict antithesis to prose is meter.
                                                  --Wordsworth.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. A poem. [Obs.] --Robynson (More's Utopia).
      [1913 Webster]

   3. A measure of length, equal to 39.37 English inches, the
      standard of linear measure in the metric system of weights
      and measures. It was intended to be, and is very nearly,
      the ten millionth part of the distance from the equator to
      the north pole, as ascertained by actual measurement of an
      arc of a meridian. See Metric system, under Metric.
      [1913 Webster]

   Common meter (Hymnol.), four iambic verses, or lines,
      making a stanza, the first and third having each four
      feet, and the second and fourth each three feet; --
      usually indicated by the initials C. M.

   Long meter (Hymnol.), iambic verses or lines of four feet
      each, four verses usually making a stanza; -- commonly
      indicated by the initials L. M.

   Short meter (Hymnol.), iambic verses or lines, the first,
      second, and fourth having each three feet, and the third
      four feet. The stanza usually consists of four lines, but
      is sometimes doubled. Short meter is indicated by the
      initials S. M.
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Metre \Me"tre\ (m[=e]"t[~e]r), n.
   See Meter.
   [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

metre
    n 1: the basic unit of length adopted under the Systeme
         International d'Unites (approximately 1.094 yards) [syn:
         meter, metre, m]
    2: (prosody) the accent in a metrical foot of verse [syn:
       meter, metre, measure, beat, cadence]
    3: rhythm as given by division into parts of equal duration
       [syn: meter, metre, time]

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):

metre

    (US "meter") The fundamental SI unit of length.

   From 1889 to 1960, the metre was defined to be the distance
   between two scratches in a platinum-iridium bar kept in the
   vault beside the Standard Kilogram at the International Bureau
   of Weights and Measures near Paris.

   This replaced an earlier definition as 10^-7 times the
   distance between the North Pole and the Equator along a
   meridian through Paris; unfortunately, this had been based on
   an inexact value of the circumference of the Earth.

   From 1960 to 1984 it was defined to be 1650763.73 wavelengths
   of the orange-red line of krypton-86 propagating in a vacuum.

   It is now defined as the length of the path traveled by light
   in a vacuum in the time interval of 1/299,792,458 of a second.

   (1998-02-07)


Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

METRE or METER. This word is derived from the Greek, and signifies a
measure.
     2. This is the standard of French measure.
     3. The fundamental base of the metre is the quarter of the terrestrial
meridian, or the distance from the pole to equator, which has been divided
into ten millions of equal parts, one of which is of the length of the
metre. The metre is equal to 3.28 feet, or 39.371 inches. Vide Measure.