Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A checkmate.
  • transitive & intransitive verb To checkmate or achieve a checkmate.
  • noun One of a matched pair.
  • noun A spouse or romantic partner.
  • noun Either of a pair of birds or other animals that associate in order to propagate.
  • noun Either of a pair of animals brought together for breeding.
  • noun Either of a pair of plants, fungi, or other organisms that engage in sexual reproduction or conjugation with each other.
  • noun A person with whom one is in close association; an associate.
  • noun Chiefly British A good friend or companion.
  • noun A person with whom one shares living quarters. Often used in combination.
  • noun A deck officer on a merchant ship ranking next below the master.
  • noun A US Navy petty officer who is an assistant to a warrant officer.
  • intransitive verb To join closely or combine.
  • intransitive verb To cause to be united in marriage or a romantic sexual relationship.
  • intransitive verb To cause (organisms) to breed or bring (organisms) into close proximity for breeding.
  • intransitive verb To become joined in marriage or a romantic sexual relationship.
  • intransitive verb To be paired for reproducing; breed.
  • intransitive verb To engage in sexual reproduction or conjugation.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To defeat; daunt; confound; stupefy.
  • To be confounded.
  • To join or match as a mate or as mates, as in marriage or other union.
  • To match one's self with or against; vie or cope with.
  • To be joined in companionship; form a union; pair: as, to mate with one's like; birds mate in spring.
  • To checkmate.
  • noun In chess, the state of the king when he is in check and cannot move out of it, the player whose king is so placed losing the game.
  • Enfeebled; fatigued; spent.
  • Confounded; daunted; dismayed; dejected; cast down.
  • Overthrown; fallen; slain.
  • noun A familiar associate or companion; one who is associated with another or others in habitual intercourse or action; a fellow; a comrade: often used as the second element in a compound, as in playmate, schoolmate, shipmate.
  • noun An equal; a match.
  • noun One of a pair; one who or that which corresponds to or is joined with another in a pair; one of a pair of mated persons or animals, male and female, or of matched things; one of two fellows: as, a conjugal mate or partner; these shoes are not mates.
  • noun A ship's officer whose duty it is to oversee the execution of the orders of the master or commander, or of his immediate superior.
  • noun In the United States navy, an officer of the line not in the line of promotion.
  • noun In geometry, the element that is paired with a given element in a correlation.
  • In logging, to place together in a raft (logs of similar size); match.
  • noun A species of holly, Ilex Paraguayensis; also, its prepared leaves, or the tea-like beverage made from them.
  • noun Same as congonha.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The Paraguay tea, being the dried leaf of the Brazilian holly (Ilex Paraguensis). The infusion has a pleasant odor, with an agreeable bitter taste, and is much used for tea in South America.
  • noun (Chess) Same as checkmate.
  • adjective obsolete See 2d mat.
  • intransitive verb To be or become a mate or mates, especially in sexual companionship
  • transitive verb obsolete To confuse; to confound.
  • transitive verb To checkmate.
  • noun One who customarily associates with another; a companion; an associate; any object which is associated or combined with a similar object.
  • noun Hence, specifically, a husband or wife; and among the lower animals, one of a pair associated for propagation and the care of their young.
  • noun A suitable companion; a match; an equal.
  • noun (Naut.) An officer in a merchant vessel ranking next below the captain. If there are more than one bearing the title, they are called, respectively, first mate, second mate, third mate, etc. In the navy, a subordinate officer or assistant

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French mat, checkmated, from Arabic māt, he has died; see checkmate.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Middle Low German gemate, mate, messmate.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English verb maten, Middle French mater, from Old French noun mat ("checkmate"), from Persian شاه مات (šâh mât).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English, from Middle Low German mate ("messmate") (replacing Middle English mette from Old English ġemetta ("sharer of food, table-guest")), derived from Proto-Germanic *gamatjô, itself from Proto-Germanic *ga- (“together”) (related to German and Dutch ge-) + Proto-Germanic *matjô (from Proto-Germanic *matiz (“food”)), related to Old English mete ("food")). More at co-, meat.

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Examples

  • He is also, ex-officio, the wit of the crew; for the captain does not condescend to joke with the men, and the second mate no one cares for; so that when “the mate” thinks fit to entertain “the people” with a coarse joke or a little practical wit, every one feels bound to laugh.

    Chapter III. Ship’s Duties-Tropics 1909

  • A bushman may have many mates in his roving, but there is always one his mate, "my mate;" and it is common to hear a bushman, who is, in every way, a true mate to the man he happens to be travelling with, speak of _his mate's mate_ -- "Jack's mate" -- who might be in Klondyke or South Africa.

    Children of the Bush Henry Lawson 1894

  • Charles moved to Imperial Records in 1958; his label mate Domino registered a No. 6 pop single with "Walking to New Orleans" two years later.

    Variety.com 2010

  • The R&B star gives propes to his label mate Kanye West ...

    MTV UK 2010

  • He also speaks on his label mate Nicki Minaj and how she impresses him with her witty verses.

    ShowHype - Top Entertainment News, Videos, and Blogs 2009

  • He also speaks on his label mate Nicki Minaj and how she impresses him with her witty verses.

    ShowHype - Top Entertainment News, Videos, and Blogs 2009

  • He also speaks on his label mate Nicki Minaj defpenradio718. com 24 minutes ago - Drake speaks to HipHollywood about his debut album Thank Me Later.

    ShowHype - Top Entertainment News, Videos, and Blogs 2009

  • I'll not be so absurd as to say that the mate is afraid of those gangsters.

    CHAPTER XIX 2010

  • Yerba mate is a stimulant that appears to slow gastrointestinal transit time, leading to a persistent sense of fullness and decreased food intake, as well as having caffeine-like inhibitory affects on appetite.

    The Pink Patch - Irresponsible Advertising on My Space aka TBTAM 2008

  • Well, as long as my mate is a changeling, I don't care what I am.

    Psy/Changeling Release Date Change Nalini Singh 2008

Comments

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  • As far as my Buenos Aires list is concerned, this refers to a bitter, tea-like drink, popular in Argentina and some provinces of Brazil.

    The link below shows exceptionally rare documentary evidence of the endangered Irish silver fox photographed while sampling MATE for the very first time

    el zorrito de plata probando MATE por primera vez

    August 16, 2008

  • I'm very wary of uppercase beverages.

    August 16, 2008