▪ I. matt, a.
(mæt)
Also 7, 9– matte, 9 mat.
[a. F. mat: see mate a.]
Of colours, surfaces: Without lustre, dull, ‘dead’.
| a 1648 Digby Closet Open. (1677) 215 Smooth like silver between polished and matte. 1864 Reader 26 Nov. 675/1 The traces are made with diamond points on mat-black paper. 1876 Encycl. Brit. V. 170/1 Water gilding..is finished either ‘matt’ or burnished... Matt-work is protected with one or two coats of finish-size. 1887 Sci. Amer. 7 May 297/2 Most kinds of varnish that will dry ‘bright’ under ordinary circumstances will become ‘matt’ if subjected to a chill. 1890 Anthony's Photogr. Bull. III. 14, I like a landscape photograph, if not too small, better on plain paper—as we call a mat surface print, than on a glazed surface. 1892 Photogr. Ann. II. 76 The metal separates in a matt grey form. 1896 Godey's Mag. Apr. 448/2 Others are of mat Roman gold. 1897 [see glossy a. a]. 1909 Chamber's Jrnl. Oct. 684/1 Taken altogether, it cannot compare with the ‘matte’ appearance of the flatted enamel which is so extensively used in French decoration. 1925 Morris Owner's Manual 79 The operation is finished when the valve face has a clean, even, matt-surfaced ring around it. 1933 Archit. Rev. LXXIII. 265 To treat plastic materials without humbug so as to bring out their..pleasant matt texture. 1944 L. MacNeice Springboard 32 The matt-grey iron ship, Which ought to have been the Future. 1953, 1958 [see egg-shell c]. 1967 E. Chambers Photolitho-Offset iii. 27 Some smooth, semi-matt prints give fair results, but, in general, sepia tone prints, matt-surface prints and hand-coloured prints should be avoided. 1969 Sears Catal. Spring/Summer 6 Uniquely styled in matte-finished vinyl. 1973 Sci. Amer. Oct. 128/1 For those who wish a definite opaque matte appearance, talc is cut to a third, and rice starch or particularly fine precipitated chalk is added to improve absorption. |
▪ II. matt
variant of mat, mate a.