Meet

Pronunciation

• enPR: mÄ“t, IPA: /miːt/
• Rhymes: -iːt
• Homophones: meat, mete

From Middle English meten, from Old English mētan ("to meet, find, find out, fall in with, encounter, obtain"), from Proto-Germanic *mōtijaną ("to meet"), from Proto-Indo-European *mōd-, *mad- ("to come, meet"). Cognate with Scots met, mete, meit ("to meet"), North Frisian mete ("to meet"), West Frisian moetsje ("to meet"), Dutch ontmoeten ("to meet"), Low German moten, möten ("to meet"), Danish møde ("to meet"), Swedish möta ("to meet"), Icelandic mæta ("to meet"). Related to moot.

Full definition of meet

Verb

1. (of individuals) To make personal contact.
1. (encounter by accident)To come face to face with by accident; to encounter.
   Guess who I met at the supermarket today?
   Fancy meeting you here!
• 1899, Hughes Mearns, Antigonish, Yesterday, upon the stair / I met a man who wasn’t there / He wasn’t there again today / I wish, I wish he’d go away …
2. To come face to face with someone by arrangement.
   Let's meet at the station at 9 o'clock.
   Shall we meet at 8 p.m in our favorite chatroom?
• 1963, Margery Allingham, The China Governess Chapter 10, With a little manÅ“uvring they contrived to meet on the doorstep which was … in a boiling stream of passers-by, hurrying business people speeding past in a flurry of fumes and dust in the bright haze.
3. To be introduced to someone.
   I'd like you to meet a colleague of mine.
   I'm pleased to meet you!
   I met my husband through a mutual friend at a party. It wasn't love at first sight; in fact, we couldn't stand each other at first!
• 1910, Emerson Hough, The Purchase Price Chapter 1, Captain Edward Carlisle...felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze,...; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.
4. (Ireland) To French kiss someone.
5. (of groups) To gather or oppose.
1. To gather for a formal discussion.
   The government ministers met today to start the negotiations.
   I met with them several times.
2. To come together in conflict.
• 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book X:And therewythall they spurred their horsys, and mette togydirs so harde that Sir Epynogrys smote downe Sir Dynadan.
• John Milton (1608-1674)Weapons more violent, when next we meet,
  May serve to better us and worse our foes.
• 2013-06-07, Gary Younge, Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution, The dispatches … also exposed the blatant discrepancy between the west's professed values and actual foreign policies. Having lectured the Arab world about democracy for years, its collusion in suppressing freedom was undeniable as protesters were met by weaponry and tear gas made in the west, employed by a military trained by westerners.
3. (sports) To play a match.
   England and Holland will meet in the final.
4. To make physical or perceptual contact.
1. To converge and finally touch or intersect.
   The two streets meet at a crossroad half a mile away.
• 1910, Emerson Hough, The Purchase Price Chapter 1, Captain Edward Carlisle, soldier as he was, martinet as he was, felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, her alluring smile ; he could not tell what this prisoner might do.
2. To touch or hit something while moving.
   The right wing of the car met the column in the garage, leaving a dent.
3. To adjoin, be physically touching
   The carpet meets the wall at this side of the room.
   The forest meets the sea along this part of the coast.
4. To satisfy; to comply with.
   This proposal meets my requirements.
   The company agrees to meet the cost of any repairs.
• 2013-06-22, Engineers of a different kind, Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers....Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster. Clever financial ploys are what have made billionaires of the industry’s veterans. “Operational improvement” in a portfolio company has often meant little more than promising colossal bonuses to sitting chief executives if they meet ambitious growth targets. That model is still prevalent today.
5. To perceive; to come to a knowledge of; to have personal acquaintance with; to experience; to suffer.
   The eye met a horrid sight.
   He met his fate.
• Alexander Pope (1688-1744)Of vice or virtue, whether blest or curst,
  Which meets contempt, or which compassion first.

Usage notes

In the sense "come face to face with someone by arrangement", meet is sometimes used with the preposition with in American English.

Derived terms

Noun

1. A sports competition, especially for athletics or swimming.
2. A gathering of riders, their horses and hounds for the purpose of foxhunting.
3. (rail transport) A meeting of two trains in opposite directions on a single track, when one is put into a siding to let the other cross. (Antonym: a pass.)
4. A meeting.OK, let's arrange a meet with Tyler and ask him.
5. (algebra) the greatest lower bound, an operation between pairs of elements in a lattice, denoted by the symbol ∧ (mnemonic: half an M)
6. (Irish) An act of French kissing someone

Antonyms

• (greatest lower bound) join

Derived terms

Pronunciation

• enPR: mÄ“t, IPA: /miːt/
• Rhymes: -iːt
• Homophones: meat, mete

From Middle English mete, imete, from Old English ġemǣte ("suitable, having the same measurements"), from the Proto-Germanic *gamētijaz (cognate with Dutch meten ("measure"), German gemäß ("suitable") etc.), itself from collective prefix ge- + Proto-Indo-European *med- ("to measure").

Adjective

1. suitable; right; proper

Anagrams

• mete
• teem