MATE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Mate

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/meɪt/ Listen

noun

Mate n. The Paraguay tea, being the dried leaf of the Brazilian holly (Ilex Paraguensis). The infusion has a pleasant odor, with an agreeable bitter taste, and is much used for tea in South America.

Mate n. (Chess) Same as Checkmate.

Mate n.

1.

One who customarily associates with another; a companion; an associate; any object which is associated or combined with a similar object.

2.

Hence, specifically, a husband or wife; and among the lower animals, one of a pair associated for propagation and the care of their young.

3.

A suitable companion; a match; an equal. "Ye knew me once no mate For you; there sitting where you durst not soar."

4.

(Naut.) An officer in a merchant vessel ranking next below the captain. If there are more than one bearing the title, they are called, respectively, first mate, second mate, third mate, etc. In the navy, a subordinate officer or assistant; as, master's mate; surgeon's mate.

verb

Mate v. t.

1.

To confuse; to confound. (Obs.)

2.

To checkmate.

Mate v. t. (past & past part. mated; pres. part. mating)

1.

To match; to marry. "If she be mated with an equal husband."

2.

To match one's self against; to oppose as equal; to compete with. "There is no passion in the mind of man so weak but it mates and masters the fear of death." "I,... in the way of loyalty and truth,... Dare mate a sounder man than Surrey can be."

3.

To breed; to bring (animals) together for the purpose of breeding; as, she mated a doberman with a German shepherd.

4.

To join together; to fit together; to connect; to link; as, he mated a saw blade to a broom handle to cut inaccessible branches.

Mate v. i. To be or become a mate or mates, especially in sexual companionship; as, some birds mate for life; this bird will not mate with that one.

adjective

Mate adj. See 2d Mat. (Obs.)

See images of 'Mate'

Etymology of 'Mate'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Mate" Quotes from Famous Books

... been much of a mate," Griffiths replied, too hot himself to speak heatedly. "When the beach at Guvutu heard I'd shipped you, they all laughed. 'What? Jacobsen?' they said. 'You can't hide a square face of trade gin or sulphuric acid that he won't smell out!' You've ...

— A Son Of The Sun • Jack London

... declared he never had heard it—there came from below the roar of the rifles of Jesse and Uncle Dick. The second bear, perhaps more wary than its mate or perhaps warmer from its digging, had left the open space and taken shelter in a little clump of green bushes close to the point where the two hunters approached the slide. When the sound of firing began above, ...

— The Young Alaskans in the Rockies • Emerson Hough

... a week after Jeremy's capture, and they had been sighting low bits of land on both bows all day—Dave Herriot came on deck about the middle of the watch and told Curley, the Jamaican second mate, he might go below. He set Job to take soundings and, himself taking the tiller, swung her over to port with the wind abeam. Jeremy went to the bows where he could see the white line of shore ahead. They drew in, steering by Job's soundings, and by the time the watch changed were ...

— The Black Buccaneer • Stephen W. Meader

... wrong. Yet is it now my chosen task To sing her worth as Maid and Wife; Nor happier post than this I ask, To live her laureate all my life. On wings of love uplifted free, And by her gentleness made great, I'll teach how noble man should be To match with such a lovely mate; And then in her may move the more The woman's wish to be desired, (By praise increased), till both shall soar, With blissful emulations fired. And, as geranium, pink, or rose Is thrice itself through power of art, So may my happy skill disclose ...

— The Angel in the House • Coventry Patmore

... he's goin' to, or what he's drivin' at, than the man in the moon. Take my advice, lad, an' get out o' poetical regions as fast as ye can. It don't suit a young fellow who has got to do duty as first mate of his father's brig and push his way in the world as a seaman. When I sent you to school an' made you a far better scholar than myself, I had no notion they was ...

— Blown to Bits - or, The Lonely Man of Rakata • Robert Michael Ballantyne

Copyright © 2025 Free Translator.org