Adjacent Words

Mat definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

MAT, n. [L. matta.]
1. A texture of sedge, rushes, flags, husks, straw, or other material, to be laid on a floor for cleaning the boots and shoes of those who enter a house, and for other purposes.
2. A web of rope-yard, used in ships to secure the standing rigging from the friction of the yards, etc.
MAT, v.t. To cover or lay with mats.
1. To twist together; to interweave like a mat; to entangle.
And o'er his eyebrows hung his matted hair.
2. To press together; to lay flat; as matted grass.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: not reflecting light; not glossy; "flat wall paint"; "a photograph with a matte finish" [syn: flat, mat, matt, matte, matted] n
1: a thick flat pad used as a floor covering
2: mounting consisting of a border or background for a picture [syn: mat, matting]
3: sports equipment consisting of a piece of thick padding on the floor for gymnastic sports [syn: mat, gym mat]
4: a mass that is densely tangled or interwoven; "a mat of weeds and grass"
5: a master's degree in teaching [syn: Master of Arts in Teaching, MAT]
6: the property of having little or no contrast; lacking highlights or gloss [syn: flatness, lusterlessness, lustrelessness, mat, matt, matte]
7: a small pad of material that is used to protect surface from an object placed on it v
1: twist together or entwine into a confusing mass; "The child entangled the cord" [syn: entangle, tangle, mat, snarl] [ant: disentangle, straighten out, unsnarl]
2: change texture so as to become matted and felt-like; "The fabric felted up after several washes" [syn: felt, felt up, mat up, matt-up, matte up, matte, mat]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Old English meatte, from Late Latin matta, of Semitic origin; akin to Hebrew mi???h bed Date: before 12th century 1. a. (1) a piece of coarse, woven, plaited, or felted fabric used especially as a floor covering or a support (2) a piece of material placed at a door for wiping soiled shoe soles b. a decorative piece of material used under a small item (as a dish) especially for support or protection c. a large thick pad or cushion used as a surface for wrestling, tumbling, and gymnastics 2. something made up of densely tangled or adhering filaments or strands especially of organic matter <an algal mat> <a mat of unkempt hair> 3. a large slab usually of reinforced concrete used as the supporting base of a building II. verb (matted; matting) Date: 1549 transitive verb 1. to provide with a mat or matting 2. a. to form into a tangled mass <dirt and filth matted her hair> b. to pack down so as to form a dense mass intransitive verb to become matted III. transitive verb (matted; matting) Date: 1602 1. (also matte) (or matt) to make (as a metal, glass, or color) matte 2. to provide (a picture) with a mat IV. variant of matte II V. noun Etymology: French mat dull color, unpolished surface, from mat, adjective — more at matte Date: 1845 a border going around a picture between picture and frame or serving as the frame VI. noun Date: 1904 matrix 2a

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. & v. --n. 1 a piece of coarse material for wiping shoes on, esp. a doormat. 2 a piece of cork, rubber, plastic, etc., to protect a surface from the heat or moisture of an object placed on it. 3 a piece of resilient material for landing on in gymnastics, wrestling, etc. 4 a piece of coarse fabric of plaited rushes, straw, etc., for lying on, packing furniture, etc. 5 a small rug. --v. (matted, matting) 1 a tr. (esp. as matted adj.) entangle in a thick mass (matted hair). b intr. become matted. 2 tr. cover or furnish with mats. Phrases and idioms: on the mat sl. being reprimanded (orig. in the army, on the orderly-room mat before the commanding officer). Etymology: OE m(e)att(e) f. WG f. LL matta 2. var. of MATT. 3. n. = MATRIX 1. Etymology: abbr.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Mat Mat, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Matted; p. pr. & vb. n. Matting.] 1. To cover or lay with mats. --Evelyn. 2. To twist, twine, or felt together; to interweave into, or like, a mat; to entangle. And o'er his eyebrows hung his matted hair. --Dryden.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Mat Mat, v. i. To grow thick together; to become interwoven or felted together like a mat.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Mat Mat, n. [Cf. Matte.] A name given by coppersmiths to an alloy of copper, tin, iron, etc., usually called white metal. [Written also matt.]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Mat Mat, a. [OF. See 4th Mate.] Cast down; dejected; overthrown; slain. [Obs.] When he saw them so piteous and so maat. --Chaucer.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Mat Mat, n. [AS. matt, meatt, fr. L. matta a mat made of rushes.] 1. A fabric of sedge, rushes, flags, husks, straw, hemp, or similar material, used for wiping and cleaning shoes at the door, for covering the floor of a hall or room, and for other purposes. 2. Any similar fabric for various uses, as for covering plant houses, putting beneath dishes or lamps on a table, securing rigging from friction, and the like. 3. Anything growing thickly, or closely interwoven, so as to resemble a mat in form or texture; as, a mat of weeds; a mat of hair. 4. An ornamental border made of paper, pasterboard, metal, etc., put under the glass which covers a framed picture; as, the mat of a daguerreotype. Mat grass. (Bot.) (a) A low, tufted, European grass (Nardus stricta). (b) Same as Matweed. Mat rush (Bot.), a kind of rush (Scirpus lacustris) used in England for making mats.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(mats) 1. A mat is a small piece of something such as cloth, card, or plastic which you put on a table to protect it from plates or cups. The food is served on polished tables with mats. N-COUNT 2. A mat is a small piece of carpet or other thick material which is put on the floor for protection, decoration, or comfort. There was a letter on the mat... N-COUNT 3. see also matt, place mat

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. Interweave, entangle, twist together.

Moby Thesaurus

achromatic, achromic, agora, air mattress, amphitheater, anemic, arena, ashen, ashy, athletic field, auditorium, background, barrier, bear garden, bedding, bled white, blind, bloodless, bolster, bowl, boxing ring, braid, brattice, buffer, buffer state, bulkhead, bull ring, bumper, cadaverous, campus, canvas, carpet, carpeting, chloranemic, circus, cloison, cockpit, coliseum, collision mat, colorless, colosseum, course, crop, cushion, dead, deaden, deadened, deadly pale, deathly pale, diaphragm, dim, dimmed, dingy, discolored, dissepiment, dividing line, dividing wall, division, doormat, drab, drop cloth, duckboards, dull, enlace, entwine, etiolated, exsanguinated, exsanguine, exsanguineous, faded, faint, fallow, fender, field, flat, fleece, floor, floorboards, flooring, forum, ghastly, gray, ground, ground cloth, ground-sheet, gym, gymnasium, haggard, hall, head, head of hair, hippodrome, hueless, hypochromic, innerspring mattress, interknit, interlace, interseptum, intertie, intertissue, intertwine, intertwist, interweave, intort, knit, lace, lackluster, leaden, lifeless, lists, locale, locks, loom, loop, lurid, lusterless, mane, marketplace, mattress, mealy, midriff, midsection, milieu, mop, muddy, muted, net, neutral, noose, open forum, pad, palaestra, pale, pale as death, pale-faced, pallet, pallid, panel, parade ground, paries, partition, party wall, pasty, pave, pavement, pillow, pit, place, plait, platform, pleach, precinct, prize ring, property line, public square, purlieu, raddle, range, ring, rug, sallow, scene, scene of action, scenery, separation, septulum, septum, setting, shag, shock, shock pad, sickly, site, sleeping bag, somber, sphere, splice, springs, squared circle, stadium, stage, stage set, stage setting, tallow-faced, terrain, thatch, theater, tiling, tilting ground, tiltyard, tissue, tone down, toneless, tresses, twill, twine, twist, uncolored, underbed, underbedding, walk, wall, wan, washed-out, wattle, waxen, weak, weave, web, welcome mat, whey-faced, white, wreathe, wrestling ring