▪ I. mat, n.1
(mæt)
Also 1 matt (? matte), meatt, meatte, (3 pl. maten), 4–6 matte, 6–8 matt.
[OE. (only in glossaries) matt, meatt str. (? fem.), meatte wk. fem., ad. late L. matta (4th c.), whence It. matta, and the Teut. forms OHG. matta (MHG., mod.G. matte, also dial. matze), MDu. matte (Du. mat), Sw. matta, Da. matte. A synonymous late L. natta (Gregory of Tours, 6th c.), whence F. natte (see nat), is commonly regarded as an altered form of matta, with n for m as in F. nappe table-cloth, from L. mappa.]
1. a. A piece of a coarse fabric formed by plaiting rushes, sedge, straw, bast, etc., intended to lie, sit, or kneel upon, or for use as a protective covering for floors, walls, plants, etc., or in packing furniture.
| c 725 Corpus Gloss. 487 Spiato [for psiato, ψιάθῳ], matte. c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 154/2 Storea. uel psiata, meatta. a 1100 Voc. ibid. 328/34 Matta, meatte. a 1225 Ancr. R. 10 Seinte Sare, & seinte Sincletice, & monie oðre swuche weopmen & wommen mid hore greate maten & hore herde heren. c 1375 S. Austin 1490 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1878) 87/1 In þe chirche an old monk sat, Seyinge his psauter vppon a mat. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VII. 379 Þe matte [L. matta] þat was under hym whan he bad his bedes. 1392–3 Earl Derby's Exp. (Camden) 222 Item pro vj mattes ad cooperiendum le biscwhit in galeia, vjli. xijs. 1462–3 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 279 In duabus mattis emp. pro aula, vij. d. 1511 Guylforde's Pilgr. (Camden Soc.) 17 Jacobyns..brought vnto vs mattes for oure money, to lye vpon. 1553 Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 18 Laying them on mattes or couerlettes. 1587–8 in Swayne Sarum Churchw. Acc. (1896) 138 A Matt for the Clarke to kneell vpon, 6d. 1626 Bacon Sylva §696 Fleas breed Principally of Straw or Mats, where there hath beene a little Moisture. 1666 Pepys Diary 15 June, A very fine African mat, to lay upon the ground under a bed of state. 1703 Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1721) 128 Shaded over head with Trees, and with Matts when the Boughs fail. 1716 Swift Phyllis 15 She..on the Mat devoutly kneeling, Wou'd lift her Eyes up to the Ceiling. a 1734 North Exam. ii. v. §118 (1740) 388 The Discovery of 80 Musquets in the Lord Grey's House, that were packed in Matts. 1766 C. Beatty Two Months' Tour (1768) 44 It is covered with an handsome matt, made of rushes. 1777 G. Forster Voy. round World I. 131 They appeared to be dressed in mats. 1830 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 7) II. 632/2 Mats, swung from trees serve them [S. Amer. Indians] both as seats and hammocks. 1837 J. T. Smith tr. Vicat's Mortars 96 Colonel Raucourt de Charleville recommends straw-mats to be suspended in front of the walls. 1856 Delamer Fl. Gard. (1861) 34 In winter, cover with mats during frosty weather. |
† b. As the name of a material: Plaited or woven rushes, straw, etc.; matting. Obs. exc. attrib.
| 1523–4 Rec. St. Mary at Hill (E.E.T.S.) 322 Paid for ij yerdys of wykur matt for þe childrens fete, xvj d. 1555 W. Watreman Fardle Facions ii. viii. 175 These are appareilled in matte, made of a certayne softe kinde of mere rushes. 1594–5 in Swayne Sarum Churchw. Acc. (1896) 143, 40 yeardes of matte for y⊇ parishoners to kneele on the time of commvnion. a 1619 Fletcher Bonduca iv. ii, I defie thee, thou mock-made man of mat. 1688–9 in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) III. 348, 461 yards of Matt. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 259 Having..ready for your Work..Woollen-Yarn, Bass-matt, or such like to bind them withal. c 1710 C. Fiennes Diary (1888) 284 Rowles of Matt very naturall at their head and feete. 1732 Pope Ep. Bathurst 299 In the worst inn's worst room, with mat half-hung. |
c. Applied to bast used for tying plants. Also attrib. in mat-tie. (Cf. matting vbl. n. 3 b.)
| 1824 Loudon Encycl. Gard. §1514 The flat-headed..nail, used either with lists, loops of cord, or mat; and the eyed..nail, used with mat-ties. Ibid. 1519 When mat, bark, rush,..or straw are used [for tying]. |
d. A bag made of matting, used to hold sugar, coffee, flax, etc.
| 1798 Hull Advertiser 1 Dec. 2/1, 40 mats Lexia raisins. Ibid. 15 Dec. 2/1, 26 matts of best Rake Liebau Flax. 1885 Mrs. C. Praed Head Station (new ed.) 157 Sacks of flour and mats of ration sugar. |
e. N.Z. A type of cloak or cape worn by the Maori (cf. quot. 1777 under sense 1 a); also used allusively to refer to the Maori way of life.
| 1807 J. Savage Some Acct. N.Z. viii. 50 The dress of the natives consists in a mat finely wove of the native flax. 1832 A. Earle Narr. Residence N.Z. (1966) 59 They were clothed in mats, called Ka-ka-hoos. 1840 W. Deans Let. 29 Mar. in J. Deans Pioneers of Canterbury (1937) 23 Two New Zealanders, clad in a native mat. 1849 W. T. Power Sketches in N.Z. xvii. 146 New habits are rapidly modifying the old ones... In throwing off the mat and the blanket, they also dispense with shark oil and red ochre. 1874 J. C. Johnstone Maoria i. 16 The rough pureki..when seen upon the men in the canoes which boarded the first vessels that visited the Island, was not inappropriately called ‘a mat’, and the ugly name came to be applied to any description of garment worn by the Maoris. 1905 W. B. Where White Man Treads 54 He is a warrior; and at any moment may cast off his mat and defend his privileges. 1947 ‘A. P. Gaskell’ Big Game 92 She must have been somewhere to a Maori High School and then come back to the mat. 1970 D. M. Davin Not Here, Not Now iii. vi. 197 All a man can do is go back to the mat and cry, or laugh. |
f. Bowls. = footer n.1 4.
| 1892 J. Brown Man. Bowling (ed. 2) 69 The mat shall be placed by the lead of the party who lost the previous head. 1910 Encycl. Brit. IV. 347/2 The bowler delivers his bowl with one foot on a mat or footer, made of india-rubber or cocoanut fibre, the size of which is also prescribed by rule as 24 by 16 in. 1959 Times 12 Aug. 4/6 Their No. 3..went to the mat. 1962 Bowls (‘Know the Game’ Series) 4 At the beginning of the first end the mat is placed lengthwise on the centre line of the rink, the back edge to be four feet from the ditch. |
g. Phr. on the mat, orig. in army use (see quot. 1919); in trouble with some authority. Cf. on the carpet (s.v. carpet n. 1 b).
| 1898 Pearson's Mag. Oct. 372/2 The sergeant..shouts with military brevity: ‘On to the mat, John Smith.’ [ante, Close to the medical officer's desk is a thick padded carpet about a yard square.] 1917 A. G. Empey Over Top 302 On the mat, when Tommy is haled before his commanding officer to explain why he has broken one of the seven million King's regulations for the government of the Army. His ‘explanation’ never gets him anywhere unless it is on the wheel of a limber. 1919 Athenæum 1 Aug. 695/1 ‘He's on the mat’ means the same [as ‘He's for the high jump’]; the pre-war orderly room was furnished with a piece of carpet, in the exact centre of which the accused stood. 1925 Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 154 Mat, on the: up for trial. In trouble. 1935 A. J. Pollock Underworld Speaks 92/2 Put on the mat, a thorough questioning, usually by the police. 1949 J. R. Cole It was so Late 62 Then I was on the mat again. Now it seems a wonder I kept out of trouble as long as I did. 1973 J. Thomson Death Cap x. 136 Mrs Holbrook had been given the impression that she was on the mat in front of her husband's superior officer. |
h. A piece of padded material, canvas, etc., used as a floor covering in gymnastics, wrestling, etc. Hence fig., in phr. to go to the mat: to engage in a struggle or controversy; to argue.
| 1903 P. Longhurst Wrestling i. 5 Ordinary gymnasium mats covered with canvas or sail-cloth form the best surface for this style of wrestling. 1924 Wodehouse Leave it to Psmith i. 28, I..heard..you and Aunt Constance going to the mat about poor old Phyllis. 1937 D. Aldis Time at her Heels i. 26 She just didn't have time at the moment to call him in and go to the mat with him about it. 1950 Oxf. Jun. Encycl. IX. 489/1 In this type of wrestling a ‘fall’ is gained by bringing the opponent's two shoulders simultaneously into contact with the mat. 1967 V. L. Drehman Head over Heels i. 3 Wide mats must be used for the learner in tumbling. 1970 New Yorker 12 Dec. 131/1 These senators felt that the President had handed them two lemons, had gone to the mat for his choices when he didn't have to. |
2. a. An article (originally such as is described in sense 1, but now more usually made of other materials) intended to be placed near a door for persons entering to wipe their shoes upon (= door-mat), or similar to those so used.
Now commonly of rectangular shape and considerable thickness; made either of some coarsely woven material (as hemp, coco-nut fibre, latterly often wire), or occasionally of perforated or corrugated indiarubber, cork, etc.
| 1665 Hooke Microgr. 6 A very convenient substance to make Bed-matts, or Door-matts of. a 1818 Miss Rose in G. Rose's Diaries (1860) II. 75 There had been a heavy mat on the floor-cloth. 1842 Browning Pied Piper 51 Only a scraping of shoes on the mat. 1848 Dickens Dombey xxiii, They found that exemplary woman beating the mats on the door-steps. 1886 Fenn Master of Ceremonies v, He paused on the mat to draw a long, catching breath. |
b. A thin flat article (originally made of plaited straw (cf. sense 1), but now of leather, oilcloth, cork, plastic, etc.) to be placed under a dish, plate, or vessel in order to protect the table from heat, moisture, etc. Also applied to various other articles of similar use, e.g. a disk or square of fancy work placed on a dressing-table to support articles of the toilet, etc., or merely for ornament.
| 1800 M. Edgeworth Parent's Assistant (ed. 3) V. 32 These here half dozen little mats, to put under my dishes. 1852 Mrs. Gaskell Let. Dec. (1966) 217 The little ones had worked mats, & gathered flowers &c &c for her dressing-room. 1875 in Knight Dict. Mech. 1904 Pilot 2 Apr. 307 Muslin hangings to your looking-glass, bows on your chair-rails, mats on your tables. |
3. transf. A thick tangled mass.
| 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 164 To break the mats of the raw wool and to render it light. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. ix. 77 A very heavy mat of sandy hair. 1872 H. C. Wood Fresh-w. Algæ (1874) 56 A number of individuals of one or more species [of Scytonemaceæ] are almost always associated to form on the ground little mats. 1897 Outing (U.S.) XXX. 219/2 The favorite haunts of the bass are about reefs, mats of weeds [etc.]. 1898 Pound & Clements Phytogeogr. Nebraska iii. 53 This group is composed of acaulescent or low-stemmed plants which grow aggregated into dense cushion-like mats. 1916 B. D. Jackson Gloss. Bot. Terms (ed. 3) 224/1 Mat, a closely intertwined vegetation, with roots and rhizomes intermixed. 1930 Forestry IV. 70 A ‘mat’ of actively growing mycelium of the parasite was present in the watering flasks of many of the cultures. 1971 Nature 30 Apr. 599/1 At Kariba..where the lake took 4–5 yr to fill, extensive mats of Salvinia auriculata and Pistia stratiotes accumulated over much of the lake. 1972 Science 27 Oct. 403/1 Microbial mats occur in Yellowstone at temperatures up to about 70°C. 1973 Nature 4 May 12/1 The meeting concluded with a field trip to the algal mats at the north shore of the Great Salt Lake. |
4. Naut. A thick web of rope yarn used to protect the standing rigging from the friction of other ropes.
| 1497 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 251 Grete mattes for couerying of the seid Cordage. 1644 H. Manwayring Sea-mans Dict., Matts are broad clowtes, weaved of synnet and thrums..and are used in these places: To the maine and fore-yards, at the ties, (to keep the yards from galling against the mast) [etc.]. 1769 in Falconer Dict. Marine (1780). 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 473 Where it is possible, rounding is now used instead of mats. |
| attrib. 1886 R. C. Leslie Sea-painter's Log iii. 49 Were it not for the many chafing-battens, mat-service, and other gear often renewed upon them. |
5. a. The coarse piece of sacking on which the feather-bed is laid (E.D.D.). b. A woollen bed-covering.
| 1702 S. Centlivre Beau's Duel iv. i., I'll have no Matts, but such as lie under the Feather Beds. 1790 Pluckley Vestry Bk. 25 Oct. (E.D.D). Fram matt and cords. a 1894 J. Shaw in R. Wallace Country Schoolm. (1899) 350 In Renfrewshire a mat meant a thick woollen covering for the bed, generally wrought into a pattern. |
6. Engineering. A woven structure of brushwood secured by ropes and wires, used as a revetment for river banks.
| 1884 in Knight Dict. Mech., Suppl. |
7. Lace-making. (See quot.)
| 1882 Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework, Mat, a lace maker's term for the close part of a design. |
8. attrib. and Comb. a. Simple attrib., as mat-awning, mat-bag, mat-house, mat-hut, mat-lodge, mat-roof (hence mat-roofed adj.), mat-sail, mat-satchel, mat-screen, mat-shed, mat-skirt, mat-work; b. instrumental, as mat-clad, mat-covered adjs.; c. objective, as mat-forming, mat-maker, mat-making, mat-mender. d. Special comb.: mat-boat, -braid (see quots.); mat-canvas, a dress material of a coarse texture; mat-grass, (a) Nardus stricta, (b) Psamma arenaria, the marram grass; mat-man slang, a wrestler; mat-platting, in Kindergarten work, the weaving of patterns by means of strips of coloured paper; mat-pole (see quot.); † mat-reed, the leaves of Typha latifolia; mat-rush, the bulrush, Scirpus lacustris; also = matweed; matweed, a name for various rush-like grasses (see quot. 1866 and cf. mat-grass); mat-tree, -wood [tr. F. bois de natte], a species of Imbricaria found in Mauritius; mat-work, (a) matting; anything resembling matting; (b) Arch. = nattes (Cent. Dict.); (c) physical exercises performed on a mat.
| 1730 Capt. W. Wriglesworth MS. Log-bk. of the ‘Lyell’ 30 Aug., Received a New *Matt Awning and fixed it for the Main Deck. |
| 1856 Faulkner Dict. Comm. Terms, *Mat⁓bags, are formed of the leaves of the date and other palm trees, and are extensively used in Bombay and many parts of India for packing goods. |
| 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., *Mat boat.., a frame of ways supported on scows, on which mat for revetment is woven. |
| 1882 Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework, *Mat-braid, a thick worsted Braid, woven after the manner of plaiting,..employed as a trimming. |
| 1902 Daily Chron. 14 June 10/4 *Mat canvas is decidedly a fashionable fabric. |
| 1852 G. C. Mundy Our Antipodes II. xiii. 386 These are the lineal successors to the tattooed, *mat clad, cannibal old caterans. |
| 1903 Blackw. Mag. Nov. 605 The cat..scrambles quickly on to the *mat-covered floor. |
| 1951 Dict. Gardening (R. Hort. Soc.) IV. 1878/1 [Saxifraga] Section 2. Hirculus. *Mat-forming plants with undivided, deciduous, oval leaves. 1971 D. Bartrum Rock Gardens vii. 162 The ‘Cheddar Pink’ is another very tough mat-forming plant that doesn't mind being walked upon when not in flower. |
| 1789 J. Pilkington View Derbysh. I. 331 Nardus stricta, *Matgrass... This grass is stiff and hard to the touch. 1818 Latrobe Jrnl. Vis. S. Africa 372 [St. Helena] A peculiar kind of grass, called mat-grass, from its spreading..over the ground in such thickness, that it forms a cover resembling thick matting. |
| 1898 W. C. Scully Between Sun & Sand 18 (Pettman), On either side of it stood respectively, a *mat-house and a square tent. |
| 1882 Floyer Unexpl. Baluchistan 195 We found a small village of three or four families and as many *mat huts. |
| 1807 P. Gass Jrnl. 203 We encamped at two *mat-lodges of the natives. |
| 1530 Palsgr. 599/1, I knyt, as a *matte maker knytteth, je tys. 1881 Instr. Census Clerks 17 Mat maker. |
| 1854 Thoreau Walden 283 Might not the basket, stable-broom, *mat-making, corn-parching, linen-spinning, and pottery business have thrived here? 1890 Ld. Lugard Diary 21 Feb. (1959) I. ii. 111 The Banga reed grows by the river here, but very poorly, and useless for building and mat-making. |
| 1923 N.Y. Times 11 Feb. i. ii. 1/4 (heading) Navy *matmen on top. In a finely contested wrestling match..the Naval Academy won. 1930 Ibid. 16 Feb. xi. 3/5 It was..the first time in four seasons that the Midshipmen have been able to take the measure of the matmen from South Bethlehem. 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §707/2 Matman. 1968 Globe & Mail Mag. (Toronto) 17 Feb. 8/3 He became one of the best known mat men in Canada. ‘Wrestling always fascinated me,’ he says now. 1971 Soviet Weekly 8 May 14 A popular group exercise among the matmen. |
| 1880 Plain Hints Needlework Gloss. 76 The rudimentary teaching of this darning is taught in the Kindergarten system, under the name of ‘*mat platting’. |
| 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., *Mat pole.., a pole..used in placing mats of brush for shore protection, jetties, etc. |
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens iv. liii. 513 The leaues are called *Matte reede, bycause they make mattes therewith. |
| 1897 Daily News 15 Jan. 5/3 The snake was sliding through the *mat roof. |
| 1895 Kipling Day's Work, Maltese Cat, Some of them were in *mat-roofed stables close to the polo-ground. |
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens iv. lii. 511 The fourth is called..in English, the pole Rushe, or bull Rushe, or *Mat Rushe. 1611 Cotgr., Ionc à cabas, the pole-rush, mat-rush, fraile-rush. 1640 [see matweed]. |
| 1894 B. Thomson S. Sea Yarns 80 The great *mat-sail was spread upon the sand. |
| 1777 G. Forster Voy. round World II. 321 Most of them were married, and carried their children in a *mat-satchel on their backs. |
| 1926 M. Leinster Dew on Leaf i. iii. 41 Warehouses, *mat-sheds, and hovels. 1939 ‘A. Bridge’ Four-Part Setting ii. 8 To sit in a mat-shed on the sand and drink cocktails. |
| 1908 Daily Chron. 15 Aug. 1/6 A Maori chief..saying..he was to fasten the native *mat-skirt about his body. |
| 1812 tr. De Guigne's Observ. in Pinkerton's Voy. XI. 92 Among the trees of the Isle of France must be noticed..the *mat tree [orig. bois de natte]. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal i. xxviii. §2. 38 Hooded *Mat weede. Ibid. §3. 39 English Mat weede hath a rushie roote. 1640 Parkinson Theatr. Bot. xiii. xxxv. 1197 Matt weed or Mat Rushes... Our Matweed or Marram..the other of our Sea Matweedes. 1787 tr. Linnæus' Fam. Plants I. 41 Lygéum. Mat-weed. 1866 Treas. Bot., Matweed, Ammophila arenaria, also called Sea Matweed. Hooded Matweed, Lygeum Spartum. Small Matweed, Nardus stricta. |
| 1793 Trapp tr. Rochon's Voy. Madagascar Introd. 28 [In the Isle of France are] *mat⁓wood, tacamacca, stinking-wood [etc.]. |
| 1859 R. F. Burton Centr. Afr. in Jrnl. Geog. Soc. XXIX. 290 A thick growth of aquatic vegetation, which forms a kind of *matwork. 1944 Horizon Jan. 48 P.T. exercises..mat work, track work. |
▪ II. mat, n.2
(mæt)
Also matt.
[a. F. mat, subst. use of mat, mat a.]
1. Glass-painting. A layer of colour ‘matted’ on the glass (see mat v.2 b).
| 1881 Art Interchange (N.Y.) 27 Oct. 90/3 [Painting on glass.] Laying a mat will greatly facilitate tracing... There are two kinds of mat in use, ‘water mat’ and ‘oil mat’. 1896 H. Holiday Stained Glass i. 23 Stipple-shading..is in common use now together with another method, consisting of a series of ‘matts’. |
2. a. Gilding. The effect of ‘mat’ or unburnished gold. b. Metalwork. A roughened, frosted, or figured groundwork.
| 1866 Tomlinson's Cycl. Useful Arts I. 757/2 (Gilding.) Parts of the gilding which are to be in dead gold, (called matt). 1887 L. L. Haslope Repoussé Work 51 These [markings] may be arranged so as to touch one another, forming a close mat, or placed a little distance apart, as an open mat, so as to form a grounding to the picture. |
3. A sheet of cardboard placed on the back of a print or drawing and then covered by a mount which forms a margin round the area of the print; also used for the mount itself. Cf. mount n.2 3 a. Also attrib.
| 1845 Pract. Hints on Daguerreotype 37 Leather Cases, with..gilt mats and glasses complete. 1886 P. Fitzgerald in Art Jrnl. 327/1 It is common..to set off water-colours with a broad golden mat of pasteboard. Ibid., A snow-white cardboard mat. 1890 Howells Shadow of Dream 163 Engravings with wide mats in frigid frames of black. 1909 F. Weitenkampf How to appreciate Prints xiii. 291 Sometimes mat and mount are fastened together on all four sides, forming what is known as a ‘sunk mount’. 1932 ― Quest of Print xii. 270 Some collectors place a sheet of celluloid, cellophane, or similar material..over the print and under the mat. 1965 Zigrosser & Gaehde Guide to Collecting Orig. Prints vii. 100 Quality of Mat Board. Only 100 percent rag-fiber mat stock is to be used. 1967 Boston Sunday Globe 23 Apr. B. 58/7 Sometimes prints come with a mat (white space around the art), but the framed picture is much better if the mat is made from a mat board. 1973 F. Taubes Painter's Dict. Materials & Methods 149 Made, as a rule, from cardboards of various colours, mats serve in the framing of watercolors and all kinds of prints... The width of a mat..should be equal on top and at the sides but somewhat greater at the bottom, or the picture will have a tendency to ‘droop’. 1974 P. Highsmith Ripley's Game v. 50 He needed more mat paper. |
4. = matting-punch.
| 1890 Home Handicrafts (ed. Peters) 19 (Repoussé work.) When backgrounds with patterns upon them are required, punches shaped like crescents at the point, or as circles, stars, crosses, will be required. These fancy punches..are technically called ‘mats’. 1898 T. B. Wigley Goldsm. & Jeweller 79 Punches of various shapes, called..Freezer-Mat. Dead Mat. Hair Mat. |
5. attrib.
| 1876 Encycl. Brit. V. 170/1 Matt-work is protected with one or two coats of finish-size; but burnished gold is [etc.]. 1896 H. Holiday Stained Glass i. 24 The painter has..to repeat the two matt processes. |
▪ III. mat, n.3 Card-playing.
(mæt)
[Short f. matador.]
= matador 2.
| 1766 [Anstey] Bath Guide Epil. 10 Madam Shuffledumdoo..Has sold your poor Guide for two Fish and a Mat. 1861 Macm. Mag. Dec. 131 The three best trump cards..are called Matadores..or shortly Mats. |
▪ IV. mat, n.4 dial.
(mæt)
[Either shortened from or cogn. with mattock.]
A tool for stubbing furze, ling, etc.; a mattock (E.D.D.).
▪ V. mat, n.5
Colloq. abbrev. of matinée.
| 1914 G. Atherton Perch of Devil i. viii. 55 Although Mr. Compton won't take me to any balls, there are the movin' pictures and the mats—matinées. 1940 Amer. Speech XV. 204/2 Mats, matinees. |
▪ VI. mat, n.6
Abbrev. of matrix 4.
| 1923 M. V. Atwood Country Newspaper 20 Just a word should be added about matrices, or ‘mats’ as they are always called. 1937 E. J. Labarre Dict. Paper 172/1 This matrix or ‘mat’ is then baked and used for making a metal plate for flat or roll printing. 1942 F. Brown Angels & Spaceships (1955) 38 The cost of getting special Linotype mats cut would be awfully high. 1967 V. Strauss Printing Industry v. 225/2 Matrices, called mats by the industry, are intermediate elements in the production of stereotypes but they are also independent items of commerce. Ibid. 226/1 During mat-making an intaglio replica of the original relief material is produced. 1975 Printing Historical Soc. Newslet. No. 28. 3 A few large display matrices of the Caslon series (original founders' mats) are offered to PHS members. |
▪ VII. mat, v.1
(mæt)
[f. mat n.1]
1. trans. To cover or furnish with mats or matting. to mat up: to cover (a plant) with matting.
| 1549 Privy Council Acts (1890) II. 269 To James Rufford for matting of the chambers at Westminster. 1576–7 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 717 For mattinge y⊇ com'on pue, 2s. 8d. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 24 Temples, kept cleane and matted neatly. 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort. Dec. 81 Keep the Doors and Windows of your Conservatories well matted. 1672–3 Churchw. Acc. E. Budleigh (1894) 13 For stopping of the presentment at the Deane Ruralls Renewing ffor nott matting the seates. 1752 Johnson Rambler No. 200 ¶14 He mats his stairs and covers his carpets. 1782 F. Burney Cecilia i. xi, The three eldest..were hard at work with their mother in matting chair-bottoms. 1851 Beck's Florist Aug. 184 It will withstand the vicissitude of our climate when planted against a wall, if matted up during severe frosty weather. 1882 Floyer Unexpl. Baluchistan 52 A side room..well and neatly built of mud, and matted with pīsh matting. |
2. transf. To cover as with a mat or matting; to cover with an entangled mass.
| 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 80 The ground is matted, and as it were netted with the remaines of the olde Rootes. 1610 W. Folkingham Art of Survey i. vi. 13 With what Herbage the Crust or Sword is matted, mantled and swarthed. 1627 Drayton Quest of Cynthia 76 The Banck with Daffadillies dight, with grasse like Sleaue was matted. 1747 Franklin Let. Wks. 1887 II. 82 Take the whole together, it is well matted, and looks like a green corn-field. 1825 Greenhouse Comp. I. 167 If the ball is much matted with roots..it is a sure indication of the vigour of the plant. 1849 Robertson Serm. Ser. i. xix. (1866) 243 A temple..matted with ivy. 1901 Scotsman 29 Oct. 9/1 Mountain chains of Oregon and Washington, matted with the towering growth of the mighty evergreen forest. |
3. To form into a mat: a. to entangle or entwine (together) in a thick mass.
| 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 51 When I haue thus done, I matte it [sc. a plashed hedge] thicker and thicker euery yeere. 1626 Bacon Sylva §746 Bats haue beene found in Ouens, and other Hollow Close Places, Matted one vpon another. 1682 H. More Contin. Remark. Stories 35 In the night, the Daughter had..her hair snarled and matted together in that manner, that [etc.]. 1701 Grew Cosm. Sacr. i. iv. §17. 19 In the Skin..the Fibers are Matted, as Wooll is in a Hat. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) I. 594 To..disentangle the boughs where they had matted themselves together. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. II. 9, I sought my mother's grave: the weeds were already matted over it. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. IV. 120 Sometimes the material which mats the intestines together can be stripped off. |
b. To make by interlacing, to form into a mat.
| 1824 Loudon Encycl. Gard. §1506 Garden or bass mats are woven or matted from the bast or inner bark of..the lime. 1865 Tylor Early Hist. Man. vii. 188 Weaving, which consists of matting twisted threads. |
4. intr. To become entangled, to form tangled masses. Chiefly with together.
| 1742 Lond. & Country Brew. ii. (ed. 2) 92 Malt..in that Time, would grow musty, or matt together. 1763 Mills Syst. Pract. Husb. IV. 144 They will mat together, and rot each other. 1847 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. VIII. i 69 The [wheat] plants get too forward, and do not mat on the ground. 1851 Ibid. XII. i. 134 The wheat..began then to mat and to tiller. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 339/1 It is these proportions of the wool which interlock and mat together in the milling process. 1897 Rhoscomyl White Rose Arno 217 In the face of this bluff there dripped and matted a close-grown thicket of oak and ash, hazel and holly. |
Add: 5. trans. To reprimand or admonish as a superior; = carpet v. 4. Usu. in pass. Cf. mat n.1 1 g. colloq.
| 1948 Sunday Pictorial 29 Aug. 7/3 Carpet, a three month sentence; carpeted, on a charge for misbehaviour (also ‘cased’ or ‘matted’). 1969 ‘W. Haggard’ Doubtful Disciple iv. 44 The interviewer had been matted and now he was uncertain. 1982 Sunday Times 10 Oct. 1/1 He'd been cornered and couldn't approve because he'd be matted by the bishops if he did. |
▪ VIII. mat, v.2
(mæt)
[a. F. mater, f. mat: see mat, mate adjs.]
trans. To make (colours, etc.) dull; to give a ‘mat’ or dull appearance to (gilding, metal, etc.); to frost (glass).
| 1602 Kyd's Sp. Trag. iii. xii. H 3 b, I'de haue you paint me..In your oile colours matted. 1727–51 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Gilding, The work being thus far gilt, when dry, remains either to be burnished, or matted... To mat, is to give it a light lick in the places not burnished, with a pencil dipt in size. 1854 Reinnel Carpenters etc. Comp. 74 Those parts of your work which look dull from not being burnished, are now to be matted, that is, are to be made to look like dead gold. 1877 G. E. Gee Pract. Gold-worker 133 A design may be rendered more distinct after the pattern has been greatly brought out in relief by simply matting the ground. 1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 173 The Swiss silver the work first and then mat it by scratch brushing. 1898 H. Maclean Photogr. Print Process xvi. 137 Many a time a print is distinctly improved by being on the one hand matted, or, on the other, enamelled. 1900 Cassell's Cycl. Mech. (1902) I. 153/2 Now pour on white acid, and let it remain until the glass is matted. |
b. Glass-painting. ‘To cover (glass) with gum or other colour, smoothed over with a badger softener’ (Suffling Glass-painting, 1902).
| 1885 F. Miller Glass-Paint. 53 A method frequently resorted to..to give tone and softness to white glass is to matt each square when traced, with umber or ancient brown. |
▪ IX. mat, v.3
(mæt)
[f. mat n.4]
trans. To break up with a mattock.
| 1855 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XVI. ii. 319 It is a better way to mat up the hassocks and ant-hills. |
▪ X. mat, v.4
(mæt)
[f. mat n.2 3.]
trans. To mount a print on a cardboard backing, or to provide it with a border. So ˈmatted ppl. a.; ˈmatting vbl. n.
| 1965 Zigrosser & Gaehde Guide to Collecting Orig. Prints vii. 100 The collector or owner who will have to rely on commercial framers to have his prints matted is cautioned to insist on the following points. Ibid. 104 If the matted print belongs to a study collection and is stored horizontally, hinging at the side is preferable because it makes for easier and safer handling. 1967 Boston Sunday Globe 23 Apr. B. 58/7 Oil paintings, on the other hand, do not take glass or matting. 1968 P. Nuttall Picture Framing ii. 24 Different papers can be used to surface the mounting (matting) boards before the window is cut. |
▪ XI. mat
see mate, matt a., matte, may v.1, mete v.
▪ XII. mat
(in Cinematography): see matte3.