Definitions

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

  • noun A stone block with a shallow concave surface, used with a mano for grinding corn or other grains.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A primitive hand-mill of stone, usually on three, formerly also on four, legs of the same block. In ancient times the Mexican metate was often elaborately carved, whereas the Peruvian batan is a rude slab. The metate is in common use in the North American Southwest.

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

  • noun Southwestern U. S. & Sp. Amer. A flat or somewhat hollowed stone upon which grain or other food is ground, by means of a smaller stone or pestle.

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

  • noun A flat stone with a slightly concave surface, used with another stone (a mano) for grinding maize or other grains.

Etymologies

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

[American Spanish, from Nahuatl metlatl.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From American Spanish metate, from Classical Nahuatl metlatl ("grinding stone").

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Examples

  • In rural Mexico, and among very traditional cooks, the metate is still used to grind corn for home made tortillas, which taste so much better than the commercial variety.

    The Mexican Kitchen, Heart Of The Home: Part I - Cooking Equipment, Modern And Traditional 2006

  • In rural Mexico, and among very traditional cooks, the metate is still used to grind corn for home made tortillas, which taste so much better than the commercial variety.

    The Mexican Kitchen, Heart Of The Home: Part I - Cooking Equipment, Modern And Traditional 2006

  • I still wince whenever Roberto reminds me that for centuries, the process of making mole culminated not with the whiz of the blender among the most useful tools in the modern Mexican kitchen, but with painstaking grinding on a shallow, rudimentary stone mortar called a metate.

    Holy-Moly Lobster Mole J.J. Goode 2011

  • I still wince whenever Roberto reminds me that for centuries, the process of making mole culminated not with the whiz of the blender among the most useful tools in the modern Mexican kitchen, but with painstaking grinding on a shallow, rudimentary stone mortar called a metate.

    Holy-Moly Lobster Mole J.J. Goode 2011

  • Late that day, Hannah knelt beside the large, flat stone called a metate, grinding cornmeal.

    The Pride of Hannah Wade Janet Dailey 1985

  • Late that day, Hannah knelt beside the large, flat stone called a metate, grinding cornmeal.

    The Pride of Hannah Wade Janet Dailey 1985

  • The metate was a three-legged stone about two feet in length and one in breadth, slightly hollowed out in the center; grain was ground in this by rubbing with a smaller stone.

    History of California Helen Elliott Bandini

  • The metate is a sort of little table, hewn out of the basalt, with four little feet, and its surface is curved from the ends to the middle.

    Anahuac : or, Mexico and the Mexicans, Ancient and Modern Edward Burnett Tylor

  • A 'metate' stands in a corner for grinding corn, surrounded by water filters, irons, blown glass bottles, storage containers, tools and coffee grinders.

    La Hacienda de Nogueras in Comala, Colima 2007

  • A 'metate' stands in a corner for grinding corn, surrounded by water filters, irons, blown glass bottles, storage containers, tools and coffee grinders.

    La Hacienda de Nogueras in Comala, Colima 2007

Comments

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  • The gaucho at end of the day

    Reclines with his gourd of maté.

    His hammock will swing,

    His gaucha will sing

    To the beat of mano and metate.

    September 24, 2016