Green’s Dictionary of Slang

meter n.

(US black) a quarter, 25 cents.

1944		Cab Calloway New Hepsters Dict. in Calloway (1976) 258: meter (n.): quarter, twenty-five cents.
1944		‘Jiver’s Bible’ in D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive.

SE in slang uses

In compounds

meter thief (n.) [their targets never rise above gas meters, parking meters etc.]

(UK Und.) a term of contempt for a petty villain.

1977

D. Powis Signs of Crime 193: Meter thief Term of contempt for a petty thief.

In phrases

off the meter (adj.)

(US black) superlative.

2007

B. Coleman Check the Technique 173: ‘[T]he women walking by us were just off the meter’.