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[mats] /mæts/

noun
1.
Military Air Transport Service.
[mat] /mæt/
noun
1.
a piece of fabric made of plaited or woven rushes, straw, hemp, or similar fiber, or of some other pliant material, as rubber, used as a protective covering on a floor or other surface, to wipe the shoes on, etc.
2.
a smaller piece of material, often ornamental, set under a dish of food, a lamp, vase, etc.
3.
Sports.

4.
a thickly growing or thick and tangled mass, as of hair or weeds.
5.
a sack made of matting, as for coffee or sugar.
6.
a slablike footing of concrete, especially one for an entire building.
7.
a heavy mesh reinforcement for a concrete slab.
verb (used with object), matted, matting.
8.
to cover with or as if with mats or .
9.
to form into a mat, as by interweaving.
verb (used without object), matted, matting.
10.
to become entangled; form tangled masses.
Idioms
11.
go to the mat, to contend or struggle in a determined or unyielding way:
The president is going to the mat with Congress over the proposed budget cuts.
[mat] /mæt/
noun
1.
a piece of cardboard or other material placed over or under a drawing, painting, photograph, etc., to serve as a frame or provide a border between the picture and the frame.
verb (used with object), matted, matting.
2.
to provide (a picture) with a mat.
[mat] /mæt/
adjective, noun, verb, matted, matting.
1.
1 .
[mat] /mæt/
noun, Printing.
1.
the intaglio, usually of papiermâché, impressed from type or a cut, from which a stereotype plate is cast.
2.
(def 8).
[mat] /mæt/
adjective
1.
having a dull or lusterless surface:
matte paint; a matte complexion; a photograph with a matte finish.
noun
2.
a dull or dead surface, often slightly roughened, as on metals, paint, paper, or glass.
3.
a tool for producing such a surface.
4.
Metallurgy. an unfinished metallic product of the smelting of certain sulfide ores, especially those of copper.
5.
Movies. .
verb (used with object), matted, matting.
6.
to finish with a matte surface.
/mæt/
noun
1.
a thick flat piece of fabric used as a floor covering, a place to wipe one’s shoes, etc
2.
a smaller pad of material used to protect a surface from the heat, scratches, etc, of an object placed upon it
3.
a large piece of thick padded material put on the floor as a surface for wrestling, judo, or gymnastic sports
4.
(NZ) a Māori cloak
5.
(NZ) go back to the mat, to abandon urban civilization
6.
any surface or mass that is densely interwoven or tangled: a mat of grass and weeds
7.
the solid part of a lace design
8.

9.
(civil engineering) short for mattress (sense 3)
verb mats, matting, matted
10.
to tangle or weave or become tangled or woven into a dense mass
11.
(transitive) to cover with a mat or mats
/mæt/
noun
1.
a border of cardboard, cloth, etc, placed around a picture to act as a frame or as a contrast between picture and frame
2.
a surface, as on metal or paint
adjective
3.
having a dull, lustreless, or roughened surface
verb (transitive) mats, matting, matted
4.
to furnish (a picture) with a mat
5.
to give (a surface) a mat finish
/mæt/
noun
1.
(printing, informal) short for matrix (sense 5)
/mæt/
noun
1.
an impure fused material consisting of metal sulphides produced during the smelting of a sulphide ore
/mæt/
noun
1.
(films, television) a mask used to blank out part of an image so that another image can be superimposed
n.

variant of mat (n.2).
n.

loosely joined natural materials used as bedding, etc., Old English matte, from Late Latin matta “mat made of rushes” (4c.), probably from Punic or Phoenician matta (cf. Hebrew mittah “bed, couch”). Meaning “tangled mass” is from 1835. That of “piece of padded flooring used in gymnastics or wrestling” is attested from 1892; hence figurative phrase go to the mat “do battle” (1910). The Latin word also is the source of German Matte, matze; Dutch mat, Italian matta. French natte “mat, matting” is from Late Latin secondary form natta (cf. napkin).

“sheet of backing material,” 1845, from French mat “dull surface or finish” (15c.), noun use of Old French mat (adj.); see mat (adj.).
adj.

1640s, “lusterless, dull” (of a color or surface), from French mat “dull, dead surface,” from Old French mat “beaten down, withered, afflicted, dejected; dull,” which is perhaps from Latin mattus “maudlin with drink,” from madere “to be wet or sodden, be drunk,” from PIE root *mad- “to be wet, drip” (see mast (n.2)). Or the French word might represent a transferred use from chess of mater “to checkmate, defeat,” from Arabic (see mate (v.2)).
v.

early 15c., “to make mats,” from mat (n.1). From 1540s as “to provide with mats, to cover with mats;” meaning “to become tangled” is from 1570s. Related: Matted; matting.

noun

The floor; deck (1950s+ Navy)

Related Terms

go to the mat, on the mat
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