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mat¹

(măt)

1. A flat piece of coarse fabric or other material used for wiping one's shoes or feet, or in various other forms as a floor covering.

2. A small flat piece of decorated material placed under a lamp, dish of food, or other object.

3. Sports A floor pad to protect athletes, as in wrestling or gymnastics.

4. A densely woven or thickly tangled mass: a mat of hair.

5. The solid part of a lace design.

6. A heavy woven net of rope or wire cable placed over a blasting site to keep debris from scattering.

v. mat·ted, mat·ting, mats

v.tr.

1. To cover, protect, or decorate with mats or a mat.

2. To pack or interweave into a thick mass: High winds matted the leaves against the base of the fence.

v.intr.

To be packed or interwoven into a thick mass; become entangled.

[Middle English matte, from Old English matta, meatte, from Late Latin matta, of Phoenician origin; see nṭy in the Appendix of Semitic roots.]

mat²

(măt)

1. A decorative border placed around a picture to serve as a frame or provide contrast between the picture and the frame.

2. also matte

a. A dull, often rough finish, as of paint, glass, metal, or paper.

b. A special tool for producing such a surface or finish.

3. Printing See matrix.

tr.v. mat·ted, mat·ting, mats

1. To put a mat around (a picture).

2. To produce a dull finish on.

adj.

Variant of matte¹.

[From French, dull, from Old French, defeated, withered, perhaps from Latin mattus, stupefied, senseless, possibly from *maditus, past participle of madēre, to be wet.]

MAT

abbr.

Master of Arts in Teaching

mat.

abbr.

matinee

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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