mate

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“
This we thought would be pleasanter for us, as the mate was a good-natured man and not very strict.

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Definitions (78)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (17)

  1. noun One of a matched pair: the mate to this glove.
  2. noun A spouse.
  3. noun Either of a pair of animals or birds that associate in order to propagate.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (38)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (10)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (13)

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Examples (50)

  • In fact her mate is the Barbarian woman's leader-hero. —  GUEST EDITORIAL
  • I believe your old roommate thinks his mate is a genuine vixen. —  Analog SFF, November 2006
  • Things being thus adjusted, nothing remained for him to do but to get ready for his journey, and that his mate might be the less timorous of the event, he told her he had procured another supply of twenty-five guineas. —  Lives Of The Most Remarkable Criminals Who have been Condemned and Executed for Murder, the Highway, Housebreaking, Street Robberies, Coining or other offences
  • This time his mate was here to release his primal energy into. —  Kate Douglas, Lacy Danes, Morgan Hawke - Sexy Beast III
  • Citrus and fresh herb flavors, chipotle smoke and even coffee and yerba mate are all over the menu, enlivening traditional dishes without fuss or fanfare. —  New York Press
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Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

companion ·  captain ·  partner ·  sir ·  husband ·  crow ·  lieutenant ·  sailor ·  master ·  lover ·  comrade ·  pilot

Used in the same contextWord Family

mate:   mating ·  mates ·  mated
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (8)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Middle English, from Middle Low German gemate, mate, messmate.
  2. Middle English, from Old French mat, checkmated, from Arabic māt, he has died; see checkmate.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (6)

  1. from Middle English mate (= Old Dutch maet, Dutch maat = Middle Low German māt, mate = German maat = Swedish Danish mat), a companion, a variant (due in part, especially in the nautical use, to the D. form) of make: see make, and cf. match.
  2. from mate, n. Cf. match, v.
  3. from Middle English mate, maat, mat, from Old French mat = Provencal mat = Spanish Portuguese mate, confounded, dull, = Italian matto, fond, mad, = Dutch mat = Middle Low German mat = Middle High German mat, German matt = Swedish matt = Danish mat, confounded, confused, dejected, dull; from Middle Latin mattus, confounded, confused, dull (also checkmated ?), from Persian (later Turkish) māt, astonished, confounded, amazed, receiving checkmate; shāhmāt, checkmate, literally the king is dead: see checkmate. Cf. mate. Cf. also mat, from German matt, dull, diminutive
  4. from Middle English maten, from Old French mater = Spanish Portuguese matar = Italian mattare = Dutch matten (in afmatten) = German matten = Swedish matta = Danish matte, mate; from the adjective
  5. from Middle English mate, in checkmate: see checkmate.
  6. from Middle English maten, from Old French and F. mater (= Provencal matar = Italian mattare), checkmate, from mat, checkmated: see mate.
 

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/meɪt/
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