meter
Unit of linear measure in the metric system used in France and elsewhere; equivalent to 39.37 inches. 2. An apparatus for measuring the flow of liquid, gas, or electrical current. 3. The basic unit of length in the metric system, equivalent to 39.37 inches, originally defined as one ten-millionth of the distance from the equator to the pole measured on the meridian, later as the distance between two lines on a platinum-iridium bar preserved at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures near Paris, and now as 1/299,972,458 of the distance light travels in a vacuum in one second. Abbr.: m. (Saylor, 1952)