Chapter Masterdom to Match of M by Webster's Dictionary (1913 Edition)

Mat
(Mat), n. [AS. matt, meatt, fr. L. matta a mat made of rushes.]

1. A fabric of sedge, rushes, flags, husks, straw, hemp, or similar material, used for wiping and cleaning shoes at the door, for covering the floor of a hall or room, and for other purposes.

2. Any similar fabric for various uses, as for covering plant houses, putting beneath dishes or lamps on a table, securing rigging from friction, and the like.

3. Anything growing thickly, or closely interwoven, so as to resemble a mat in form or texture; as, a mat of weeds; a mat of hair.

4. An ornamental border made of paper, pasterboard, metal, etc., put under the glass which covers a framed picture; as, the mat of a daguerreotype.

Mat grass. (Bot.) (a) A low, tufted, European grass (Nardus stricta). (b) Same as Matweed. — Mat rush (Bot.), a kind of rush (Scirpus lacustris) used in England for making mats.

Mat
(Mat), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Matted ; p. pr. & vb. n. Matting.]

1. To cover or lay with mats. Evelyn.

2. To twist, twine, or felt together; to interweave into, or like, a mat; to entangle.

And o'er his eyebrows hung his matted hair.

Dryden.

Mat
(Mat), v. i. To grow thick together; to become interwoven or felted together like a mat.

Matachin
(||Ma`ta*chin") n. [Sp.] An old dance with swords and bucklers; a sword dance.

Mataco
(Mat"a*co) n. (Zoöl.) The three-banded armadillo See Illust. under Loricata.

Matadore
(Mat"a*dore, Mat"a*dor) n. [Sp. matador, prop., a killer, fr. matar to kill, L. mactare to sacrifice, kill.]

1. The killer; the man appointed to kill the bull in bullfights.

2. (Card Playing) In the game of quadrille or omber, the three principal trumps, the ace of spades being the first, the ace of clubs the third, and the second being the deuce of a black trump or the seven of a red one.

When Lady Tricksey played a four,
You took it with a matadore.

Swift.

Matagasse
(Mat`a*gasse") n. (Zoöl.) A shrike or butcher bird; — called also mattages. [Prov. Eng.]

Matamata
(||Ma`ta*ma"ta) n. [Pg.] (Zoöl.) The bearded tortoise (Chelys fimbriata) of South American rivers.

Matanza
(Ma*tan"za) n. [Sp., slaughter, fr. matar to kill.] A place where animals are slaughtered for their hides and tallow. [Western U. S.]

Match
(Match) n. [OE. macche, F. mèche, F. mèche, fr. L. myxa a lamp nozzle, Gr. my`xa mucus, nostril, a lamp nozzle. Cf. Mucus.] Anything used for catching and retaining or communicating fire, made of some substance which takes fire readily, or remains burning some time; esp., a small strip or splint of wood dipped at one end in a substance which can be easily ignited by friction, as a preparation of phosphorus or chlorate of potassium.