Definitions

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

  • noun An opaque border or pattern placed between a source of light and a photosensitive surface to prevent exposure of specified portions of the surface.
  • noun A map specifying how two electronic images of the same size and shape are to be cropped for combination into a single image.
  • noun A kind of paint that dries to a dull finish.
  • adjective Having a dull finish.
  • noun A mixture of a metal with its sulfides, produced by smelting the sulfide ores of copper, lead, or nickel.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In metallurgy, a product of the smelting of sulphureted ores, obtained in the process which next follows the roasting.

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

  • noun (Metallurgy) A partly reduced copper sulphide, obtained by alternately roasting and melting copper ore in separating the metal from associated iron ores, and called coarse metal, fine metal, etc., according to the grade of fineness. On the exterior it is dark brown or black, but on a fresh surface is yellow or bronzy in color.
  • noun A dead or dull finish, as in gilding where the gold leaf is not burnished, or in painting where the surface is purposely deprived of gloss.
  • adjective Having a dull, lusterless surface finish; opposed to glossy or polished.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun art, photography A decorative border around a picture
  • noun film A background, often painted or created with computers
  • noun The molten metal sulfide phases typically formed during smelting of copper, nickel, and other base metals
  • adjective dull, not reflective of light

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective not reflecting light; not glossy
  • noun the property of having little or no contrast; lacking highlights or gloss
  • noun a mixture of sulfides that forms when sulfide metal ores are smelted
  • verb change texture so as to become matted and felt-like

Etymologies

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

[French, curdled milk, matte, from feminine of obsolete mat, compact, from Old French, dull, from Latin mattus, stupefied; see mat.]

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