Metre
Webster's Dictionary [1]
(1): ( n.) A poem.
(2): ( n.) See Meter.
(3): ( n.) 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.
(4): ( n.) 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.
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [2]
(Gr. Μέτρον ) is, in its almost extensive signification, the Measure by which any thing is determined with exactness, and due proportion. In its classical sense the word is used for the subdivision of a verse. The Greeks measured some species of verses (the dactylic, choriambic, antispastic, Ionic, etc.) by considering each foot as a metre; in others (the iambic, trochaic, and anapaestic), each dipodia, or two feet, formed' a metre. Thus the dactylic hexameter (the heroic verse) contained six dactyls or spondees; the iambic, almapaestic, and trochaic trimeter, six of those feet respectively. A line is said to be acatalectic when the last syllable of the last foot is wanting; brachicatalectic, when two syllables are cut off in the same way; hypercatalectic, when there is one superfluous syllable.
In religious poetry, as adapted to music, metre denotes the regular consecution in a stanza of lines containing a certain number of syllables of a given kind of verse. The usual number of lines is four, and these may be alike or different in length. For example, in what is called Long Metre, each line consists of four iambic measures; in Common Metre, the lines contain alternately four and three iambi, or their prosodiac equivalents; and in Short Metre every line has three iambi, except the third, which has four. All other kinds are called "partictlar metres," as 6 lines of 8 syllables each, 4 lines of 7, 6 lines of 7, 4 lines of 10, 4 of 6 and 2 of 8, 8 of 8 and 7 alternately, etc.
The Nuttall Encyclopedia [3]
The name given to the unit of length in the metric or decimal system, and equal to 39.37 English inches, the tenths, the hundreds, and the thousands of which are called from the Latin respectively decimetres, centimetres, and millimetres, and ten times, a hundred times, and a thousand times, which are called from the Greek respectively decamètres, hectomètres, and kilomètres.
