mēta, ae, f. [root ma-, measure, whence Gr. μέτρον; Lat. manus, mane, etc. (q. v.), properly, that which marks a measured space, hence], any mark at a boundary or limit, esp.,
I The conical columns set in the ground at each end of the Roman Circus, the goal, turning-post : metaque fervidis Evitata rotis, Hor. C. 1, 1, 5: aut prius infecto deposcit praemia cursu Septima quam metam triverit ante rota, Prop. 3, 20, 25; cf.: et modo lora dabo, modo verbere terga notabo, Nunc stringam metas interiore rotā, Ov. Am. 3, 2, 11; Suet. Caes. 39: petra in metae maxime modum erecta est, cujus ima spatiosiora sunt, altiora in artius coëunt, summa in acutum cacumen exsurgunt, i. e. in the shape of a cone , Curt. 8, 39, 6; cf. III. 3. infra).—
II Any goal or winning-post, the mark, goal , in any contest of speed: optatam cursu contingere metam, of a footrace, Hor. A. P. 412: metam tenere, in a boatrace, Verg. A. 5, 159.—
2 Trop. (because of the danger to drivers of striking the goal, and breaking their oars), a critical point, place of danger : fama adulescentis paulum haesit ad metas, notitiā novā mulieris, broke down, failed, at the critical point , Cic. Cael. 31.—
III Transf., an end, period, extremity, boundary, limit : longarum haec meta viarum, Verg. A. 3, 714: ad metas aevi pervenire, id. ib. 10, 472: metam tangere vitae, Ov. Tr. 1, 9, 1: ad metam properare, id. A. A. 2, 727: ultima, id. Am. 3, 15, 2: hic tibi mortis erant metae, Verg. A. 12, 546: ad quas metas naturae sit perveniendum usu, i. e. extremes , Varr. L. L. 8, 16, 31: quando illa (luna) incurrat in umbram terrae, quae est meta noctis, eam obscurari necesse est, the limit, measure of night , Cic. Div. 2, 6, 17 (but v. 3. below, fin. and the passage there cited from Pliny): sol ex aequo metā distabat utrāque, equally far from both ends of his course , i. e. at noon, Ov. M. 3, 145: intercalariis mensibus interponendis ita dispensavit (Numa), ut vices uno anno ad metam eandem solis unde orsi essent ... dies congruerent, Liv. 1, 19, 6 Weissenb. ad loc.: metae Marsicae, = fines Marsorum, Mart. Cap. 4, § 331 Kapp: pares horarum metas, tam antemeridialium quam postremarum, manifestant, id. 6, § 600.—
2 A turning-point in one's course: praestat Trinacrii metas lustrare Pachyni, to sail around the promontory of Pachynus , Verg. A. 3, 429.—
3 Of any thing resembling in shape the meta of the Circus; any thing of a conical or pyramidal form, a cone, pyramid (class.); of a conical hill: ipse collis est in modum metae, in acutum cacumen a fundo satis lato fastigatus, Liv. 37, 27: buxus in metas emittitur, into cones , Plin. 16, 16, 28, § 70: in metas foenum exstruere, in ricks, haycocks , Col. 2, 18, 2: lactantes, conical cheeses , Mart. 1, 44, 7: lactis, id. 3, 58, 35: meta sudans, a conical stone on a fountain, dripping with water , Sen. Ep. 56, 4: meta molendaria, or molendinaria, that part of the upper millstone which projects downward and grinds the corn (the upper part is the catillus, q. v.); = Gr. ὄνος ἀλέτης, Dig. 33, 7, 18, § 5: metas molendinarias rotare, Amm. 17, 4, 15: si minor materia quam lux, metae existere effigiem, i. e. if the solid body be smaller than the light, its shadow will be conical , Plin. 2, 11, 8, § 51 (cf. the context).