Metings

Metings is a historical or rarely used English noun formed from the verb mete, meaning to measure, allot, or distribute. As a plural form, metings refers to multiple instances of measurement, distribution, or allocation. In older or literary texts, a meting could denote a portion granted or the act of allotting something, such as food, goods, or punishment. The phrase meting out is the standard modern construction that preserves the original sense: the meting of justice or the meting of penalties.

Etymology and related forms draw on the Old English mete and the broader Germanic roots for measurement and allocation. In modern English, the verb mete and the fixed expression mete out are common, while meting and metings survive primarily in historical, legal, or poetic contexts.

Usage and interpretation with examples: In historical contexts, one might encounter references to the meting of rations or the meting of fines. The meting of punishment is a phrase seen in older legal writing to describe the administration of penalties. Today, these senses are often rendered with distribution, allocation, or punishment rather than the noun meting, and metings is seldom used outside antiquarian or literary prose.

Modern status: Metings is largely obsolete in contemporary English. It persists mainly as a scholarly or textual reference to the act or result of measuring and distributing. The everyday language uses mete, mete out, distribution, allocation, or punishment instead of meting or metings.

See also: mete; mete out; measure; allocation; justice; punishment.