▪ I. † matrass1 Obs.
In 6 mattresse.
[a. OF. materas, matelas, of obscure origin.]
A quarrel or bolt for the cross-bow.
| 1530 Palsgr. 244/1 Mattresse for a crosbowe, martelas. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. |
▪ II. matrass2
(ˈmætræs)
Forms: 7 matrat, (matracy, from mod.L.), matrace, 7–8 matras, 8–9 mattras(s, 7– matrass.
[a. F. matras, in 15–17th c. matheras (Hatz.-Darm.), matraz, matrac (Cotgr.); = Sp. matraz, pharmaceutical L. matracium.
By some considered to be a transferred use of matras matrass1, with reference to the shape of the vessel. This view is supported by the existence of the Eng. synonym bolt-head 2, unless the latter be merely a quasi-literal translation of the Fr. word. Devic suggests adoption from the Arab. maṭra{suph} leather bottle; cf. mod.L. matracium ‘a little sack, wherein is calcinated tartar or the like, pricked here and there for the emission of liquors’ (tr. Blancard's Phys. Dict., ed. 2, 1693).]
1. A glass vessel with a round or oval body and a long neck, used by chemists for digesting and distilling.
| 1605 Timme Quersit. ii. v. 123 Vessels which are called matrats, like unto round globes, having straite neckes. 1657 Tomlinson Renou's Disp. 592 Some include it [quicksilver] with aqua fortis in a Matracy. 1669 W. Simpson Hydrol. Chym. 166 Put a..quantity thereof in a matrass, lute it exactly [etc.]. 1681 tr. Willis' Rem. Med. Wks. Vocab., Matrace, a vessel used for chymical distillations. 1698 H. Sloane in Phil. Trans. XX. 73 Put all into a Matras, and pour upon them a Quart of Brandy. 1721 W. Gibson Farrier's Disp. ii. i. 81 Instead of a Matrass, may be used a Florence Wine Flask. 1763 W. Lewis Comm. Phil. Techn. 34 A Long necked matras or bolt head. 1811 A. T. Thomson Lond. Disp. (1818) 468 Apply a moderate heat to the matrass. 1849 R. V. Dixon Heat i. 155 The ball of a small mattrass. 1880 Garrod & Baxter Mat. Med. 48 A matrass containing twenty-two ounces of water. |
| attrib. 1683 Pettus Fleta Min. ii. 12 The word Bell is also applyed to a glass..which the Chimists call a matrass glass. |
2. A urinal (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1890).
| 1855 Dunglison Med. Lex. (ed. 12) s.v. Matracium. |
▪ III. matrass, -at
obs. ff. mattress, matrass.