What Does Metes And Bounds Mean? Everybody knows of the term "survey":  it's what your attorney gives you after you buy a house or a piece of land. It shows the area of the property and the location with "block and lot" numbers  assigned by the town. However, a survey can be made only after it was measured by a licensed surveyor. The description of the property location is defined by "metes and bounds." For example, the property may be described as: S 90° 0 0 E, 100.0'; thence S 20° 0 0 W, 60.0'; thence S 80° 0 0 W, 90.0'; thence N 3° 0 0 E,60.0'.   The survey starts at a beginning point which is referenced by a marker, such as an iron stake.  This stake was established from a more permanent marker that was prepared by a government survey agency. Starting from this beginning point and walking in a clockwise direction, a circle-compass will guide you in the direction of the property line.  Since a compass has 360°(degrees) it is divided in four quadrants of 90° each. (imagine a circle with 360 lines starting from the center; the distance between each line is one degree).  Now, the first direction is: S 90° 0 0 E, 100.0'.  You walk South East 90 degrees. The 90 degree angle opens from the South side. The 100.0' is the distance in feet from the beginning point. You continue from this end point and proceed South West 20° degrees, the angle starting from the South line, go 60 feet. After you follow all the metes and bounds in this procedure, you have walked your property. In this example, the 0 0 are actually "minutes" and "seconds."  there are 60 minutes in an hour and 60 seconds in a minute. These two measures only define the degree-direction more precisely. I have left out these to simplify the example. By Maury Jazzetti Website: http://www.betterlifestyles.com