meter \me"ter\, n. from mete to measure.
   1. one who, or that which, metes or measures. see
      coal-meter.
      1913 webster

   2. an instrument for measuring, and usually for recording
      automatically, the quantity measured.
      1913 webster

   dry meter, a gas meter having measuring chambers, with
      flexible walls, which expand and contract like bellows and
      measure the gas by filling and emptying.

   wet meter, a gas meter in which the revolution of a
      chambered drum in water measures the gas passing through
      it.
      1913 webster
see also:
mete coal-meter dry meter wet meter