messmate
(ˈmɛsmeɪt)
[f. mess n. + mate n.]
1. A companion at meals; one of a mess, esp. of a ship's mess.
| 1746 Brit. Mag. 346, I..had him for a Mess-mate. 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. 10 June, At two in the afternoon, I found myself one of ten messmates seated at table. 1835 Marryat Jac. Faithf. x, He was..a good, quiet, honest messmate, as ever slung a hammock. |
| Proverbial. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk s.v., Messmate before a shipmate, shipmate before a stranger [etc.]. |
2. Biol. = commensal B. 2.
| 1876 Beneden's Anim. Parasites i. 1 Animal messmates. Ibid. 3 There are some free messmates which never renounce their independence... The others, the fixed messmates, instal themselves with a neighbour, and live at their ease. Ibid. 48 We only know one Ophiurus which lives as a messmate on a comatula. 1879 [see commensal B. 2]. |
3. Austral. A name given to some species of Eucalyptus;
esp. E. amygdalina and
E. obliqua.
| 1889 J. H. Maiden Usef. Plants 429 Because it is allied to, or associated with, ‘Stringybark’, it [Eucalyptus amygdalina] is also known by the name of ‘Messmate’. 1890 Melbourne Argus 7 June 13/4 Dead messmates and white gums rise like gaunt skeletons from..the underwood. |
Hence
ˈmessmatism Biol. = commensalism.
| 1886 Lond. Q. Rev. July 246 Marine Messmatism. One of the most interesting features of life in the waters is that which has been called ‘Commensalism’, or, if we may adopt a newly coined word, ‘Messmatism’. |