mate

plural mates

1. A fellow, comrade, colleague, partner or someone with whom something is shared, e.g. shipmate, classmate.

   A "mate" was a "mate" - share and share alike, no matter how bad might be the times, or how long a spell of ill luck had attended them.

   1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 152

   Synonyms: fellow, fere

2. especiallyA breeding partner.

   Such overt displays of avowed sexual prowess – or at least, desperate availability – are not limited to the countryside. Even in the city, birds and animals and stockbrokers and nurses find ways of signalling their suitability as a mate.

   2015 April 16, Richard P. Grant, “Sex and the successful fundraiser”, in The Guardian

3. AustraliaIrelandNew ZealandSouth AfricaUKcolloquialsometimes elsewhere in the CommonwealthA friend, usually of the same sex.

   He's my best mate.

   1 more example

   I'm going to the pub with a few mates.

   Synonyms: friend, buddy, babber, billy, bredrin, bruv, bud, buddo

4. AustraliaIrelandNew ZealandSouth AfricaUKcolloquialsometimes elsewhere in the CommonwealthFriendly term of address to a stranger, usually male, of similar age.

   Excuse me, mate, have you got the time?

   Synonyms: buddy

5. nauticalIn naval ranks, a non-commissioned officer or his subordinate (e.g. Boatswain's Mate, Gunner's Mate, Sailmaker's Mate, etc).
6. nauticalA ship's officer, subordinate to the master on a commercial ship.
7. nauticalA first mate.
8. A technical assistant in certain trades (e.g. gasfitter's mate, plumber's mate); sometimes an apprentice.
9. The other member of a matched pair of objects.

   I found one of the socks I wanted to wear, but I couldn't find its mate.

10. A suitable companion; a match; an equal.

    Ye knew me once no mate / For you; there sitting where you durst not soar.

    1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

present singular third person mates · participle present mating · participle past mated · past mated

1. intransitiveTo match, fit together without space between.

   The pieces of the puzzle mate perfectly.

   Synonyms: match, couple, pair

2. intransitiveTo copulate.

   1 more example

   “In fact, the apes live with us, and have for many ages. We call them the first men—we speak their language quite as much as we do our own; only in the rituals of the temple do we make any attempt to retain our mother tongue. In time it will be forgotten, and we will speak only the language of the apes; in time we will no longer banish those of our people who mate with apes, and so in time we shall descend to the very beasts from which ages ago our progenitors may have sprung.”

   1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 172

   Synonyms: couple, approach, cohabit, common, company, copulate, couple, engage in sex

3. intransitiveTo pair in order to raise offspring.
4. transitiveTo arrange in matched pairs.
5. transitiveTo introduce (animals) together for the purpose of breeding.
6. transitiveTo copulate with.
7. transitiveTo marry; to match (a person).

   If she be mated with an equal husband.

   1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]

8. obsoletetransitiveTo match oneself 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.

   1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Death”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC

   1 more example

   I, […] in the way of loyalty and truth, […] / Dare mate a sounder man than Surrey can be.

   1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]

9. transitiveTo fit (objects) together without space between.
10. intransitiveTo come together as companions, comrades, partners, etc.

    Indeed, some cases of devotion that were met with were quite touching; and very often to all appearances the pairs were not always mated from the same class of society.

    1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 152

11. transitivespace flightTo move (a space shuttle orbiter) onto the back of an aircraft that can carry it.

    Antonyms: demate

plural mates

1. abbreviationclippingboard gamesClipping of checkmate.

present singular third person mates · participle present mating · participle past mated · past mated

1. abbreviationclippingboard gamesClipping of checkmate.

present singular third person mates · participle present mating · participle past mated · past mated

1. obsoleteTo confuse; to confound.

   I think you are all mated, or stark mad.

   c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]

plural mates

1. alternativeAlternative spelling of maté, an aromatic tea-like drink prepared from the holly yerba maté (Ilex paraguariensis).
2. The abovementioned plant; the leaves and shoots used for the tea

1. A barangay of Tayabas, Quezon, Philippines.