mates

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mate¹

(māt)

1. One of a matched pair: the mate to this glove.

2. A spouse or romantic partner.

a. Either of a pair of birds or other animals that associate in order to propagate.

b. Either of a pair of animals brought together for breeding.

c. Either of a pair of plants, fungi, or other organisms that engage in sexual reproduction or conjugation with each other.

a. A person with whom one is in close association; an associate.

b. Chiefly British A good friend or companion.

c. A person with whom one shares living quarters. Often used in combination: advertised for a new flatmate.

5. A deck officer on a merchant ship ranking next below the master.

6. A US Navy petty officer who is an assistant to a warrant officer.

v. mat·ed, mat·ing, mates

v.tr.

1. To join closely or combine: an engine that is mated to a four-speed transmission.

2. To cause to be united in marriage or a romantic sexual relationship.

3. To cause (organisms) to breed or bring (organisms) into close proximity for breeding.

v.intr.

1. To become joined in marriage or a romantic sexual relationship.

a. To be paired for reproducing; breed.

b. To engage in sexual reproduction or conjugation.

[Middle English, from Middle Low German gemate, mate, messmate.]

mate²

(māt)

A checkmate.

tr. & intr.v. mat·ed, mat·ing, mates

To checkmate or achieve a checkmate.

[Middle English, from Old French mat, checkmated, from Arabic māt, he has died; see checkmate.]

mate3

bombilla (foreground) and mate cup(background)

ma·te³

(mä′tā) also ma·té (mä-tĕ′)

1. An evergreen shrub or small tree (Ilex paraguariensis) of South America, widely cultivated for its leaves, which are used to prepare a tealike beverage.

2. A tealike beverage, popular in South America, made from the dried leaves of this plant. Also called Paraguay tea, yerba mate.

3. An oval or rounded container or cup, traditionally made from a hollow calabash, in which this tea is prepared and served.

[American Spanish, from Quechua mati, calabash container.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun

mates - a pair of people who live together; "a married couple from Chicago"

couple, match

family unit, family - primary social group; parents and children; "he wanted to have a good job before starting a family"

power couple - a couple both of whom have high-powered careers or are politically influential

DINK - a couple who both have careers and no children (an acronym for dual income no kids)

References in classic literature ?

Gust, that he might the better observe, clambered into the branches of a tree to the rear of them, being careful that the leafy fronds hid him from the view of his erstwhile mates.

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At breakfast time, eating nothing myself, I presided with such frigid dignity that the two mates were only too glad to escape from the cabin as soon as decency permitted; and all the time the dual working of my mind distracted me al- most to the point of insanity.

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Now these three mates --Starbuck, Stubb, and Flask, were momentous men.

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I met my mates in the morning (and, oh, but I am old!) Where roaring on the ledges the summer ground-swell rolled; I heard them lift the chorus that drowned the breakers' song-- The Beaches of Lukannon--two million voices strong.

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Jerry, scarcely aware of Lerumie's presence, was trotting past on his way aft to where Borckman, the mate, was superintending the stringing of the barbed wire to the stanchions.

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As with the running mate on the left, she repelled these attentions with her teeth; but when both bestowed their attentions at the same time she was roughly jostled, being compelled, with quick snaps to either side, to drive both lovers away and at the same time to maintain her forward leap with the pack and see the way of her feet before her.

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"Is this here table for my mate Bill?" he asked with a kind of leer.

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A MAN that owned a fine Dog, and by a careful selection of its mate had bred a number of animals but a little lower than the angels, fell in love with his washerwoman, married her, and reared a family of dolts.

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The poor mother, who, as the men reported, was a woman of sense and good breeding, had spared all she could so affectionately for her son, that at last she entirely sank under it; and when the mate of our ship went in, she sat upon the floor on deck, with her back up against the sides, between two chairs, which were lashed fast, and her head sunk between her shoulders like a corpse, though not quite dead.

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Our young friend listened to the mate with a queer sense of discomfort growing on him.

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On 16 July mate reported in the morning that one of the crew, Petrofsky, was missing.

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Ut finished the mate. He was on the brudge wuth me, an' I told hum tull take a look tull the wedges o' number one hatch.

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