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Matchable

Capable of being matched; comparable on equal conditions; adapted to being joined together; correspondent.

matchboard

A board that has a groove cut into one edge and a tongue cut into the other so they fit tightly together (as in a floor); see match boarding.

matchbook

A small folder of paper safety matches.

matchbush

any of several plants of the genus Gutierrezia having tiny matchlike flowerheads.

Matcher

One who, or that which, matches; a matching machine. See under 3d Match.

matchet

a large heavy knife used in Central and South America as a weapon or for cutting vegetation; usually called machete.

matching

having identical or closely similar appearance or properties; as, a pair of matching candlesticks.

Matchlock

An old form of gunlock containing a match for firing the priming; hence, a musket fired by means of a match.

Matchmaker

One who makes matches for burning or kinding.

Matchmaking

Busy in making or contriving marriages; as, a matchmaking woman.

matchwood

wood in small pieces or splinters; as, the vessel was beaten to matchwood on the rocks.

Mate

To be or become a mate or mates, especially in sexual companionship; as, some birds mate for life; this bird will not mate with that one.

mated

Brought together for sexual activity; bred; -- of animals.

Matelasse

A quilted ornamented dress fabric of silk or silk and wool.

Matelotte Matelote

A stew, commonly of fish, flavored with wine, and served with a wine sauce containing onions, mushrooms, etc.

Mateology

A vain, unprofitable discourse or inquiry.

Mater

See Alma mater, Dura mater, and Pia mater.

Material

To form from matter; to materialize.

Materialism

The doctrine of materialists; materialistic views and tenets; called also philosophical materialism.

Materialist

One who denies the existence of spiritual substances or agents, and maintains that spiritual phenomena, so called, are the result of some peculiar organization of matter. A believer in philosophical materialism.

Materialization

The act of materializing, or the state of being materialized.

Materialize

To appear as a material form; to take substantial shape.

Materiel

Those objects in a complex system which constitute the materials, or instruments employed, in distinction from the personnel, or men; for example, the buildings, libraries, and apparatus of a college, in distinction from its officers; -- used in a collective sense.

Maternal

Of or pertaining to a mother; becoming to a mother; motherly; as, maternal love; maternal tenderness.

maternalistic

showing maternal instincts; behaving as a mother should; motherly.

Maternity

The state of being a mother; motherhood.

maternity

Of or pertaining to childbirth or the period during which a woman is pregnant; as, maternity care; a maternity hospital.

maternity ward

The section of a hospital devoted to assisting women during childbirth and caring for them and their newborn infants until they are released to go home.

matey

having the relationship of friends or pals.

Math

A mowing, or that which is gathered by mowing; -- chiefly used in composition; as, an aftermath.

Mathematical

Of or pertaining to mathematics; according to mathematics; hence, theoretically precise; accurate; as, mathematical geography; mathematical instruments; mathematical exactness.

Mathematics

That science, or class of sciences, which treats of the exact relations existing between quantities or magnitudes, and of the methods by which, in accordance with these relations, quantities sought are deducible from other quantities known or supposed; the science of spatial and quantitative relations.

Mathes

The mayweed. Cf. Maghet.

Mathesis

Learning; especially, mathematics.

Matico

A Peruvian plant (Piperelongatum or Artanthe elongatum), allied to the pepper, the leaves of which are used as a styptic and astringent.

Matie

A fat herring with undeveloped roe.

matin

Of or pertaining to the morning, or to matins; used in the morning; matutinal.

matinal

Relating to the morning, or to matins; matutinal.

matinee

A reception, or a musical or dramatic entertainment, held in the daytime. See Soir/e.

matrass

A round-bottomed glass flask having a long neck; a bolthead.

matriarch

The mother and ruler of a family or of her descendants; a ruler by maternal right.

matriarchal

Of or pertaining to a matriarch; governed by a matriarch or matriarchs; as, a matriarchal society.

Matriarchate

The office or jurisdiction of a matriarch; a matriarchal form of government.

matric

admission to a group (especially a college or university).

Matricaria

A genus of chiefly Old World strong-smelling weedy herbs; it comprises plants sometimes included in other genera, such as Tanacetum and Tripleurospermum.

Matricide

The murder of a mother by her son or daughter.

Matriculation

The act or process of matriculating; the state of being matriculated.

matrilineage

The line of descent traced through the maternal side of the family; the mother's line of descent.

Matrimonial

Of or pertaining to marriage; derived from marriage; connubial; nuptial; hymeneal; as, matrimonial rights or duties.

Matrimony

The union of man and woman as husband and wife; the nuptial state; marriage; wedlock.

matrisib

One related on the mother's side.

Matron

A wife or a widow, especially, one who has borne children; a woman of staid or motherly manners.

Matronal

Of or pertaining to a matron; suitable to an elderly lady or to a married woman; grave; motherly.

Matronize

To make a matron of; to make matronlike.

Matross

Formerly, in the British service, a gunner or a gunner's mate; one of the soldiers in a train of artillery, who assisted the gunners in loading, firing, and sponging the guns.

Mattages

A shrike or butcher bird; -- written also matagasse.

Mattamore

A subterranean repository for wheat.

Matte

A partly reduced copper sulphide, obtained by alternately roasting and melting copper ore in separating the metal from associated iron ores, and called coarse metal, fine metal, etc., according to the grade of fineness. On the exterior it is dark brown or black, but on a fresh surface is yellow or bronzy in color.

matte

Having a dull, lusterless surface finish; opposed to glossy or polished; as, a matte photograph; a proof coin with matte figures on a polished field.

Matted

Covered with a mat or mats; as, a matted floor.

Matter

To regard as important; to take account of; to care for.

Matter-of-fact

Adhering to facts; not turning aside from absolute realities; not fanciful or imaginative; commonplace; dry.

Matterhorn

A mountain in Italy and Switzerland, 14,690 feet high.

Matterless

Not being, or having, matter; as, matterless spirits.

Mattery

Generating or containing pus; purulent.

Matteuccia

A small genus sometimes included in genus Onoclea; in some classifications both genera are placed in Polypodiaceae.

Matthew

Saint Matthew, a disciple of Jesus; author of the first Gospel.

Matthiola

A genus of Old World plants grown as ornamentals.

Matting

A dull, lusterless surface in certain of the arts, as gilding, metal work, glassmaking, etc.

Mattock

An implement for digging and grubbing. The head has two long steel blades, one like an adz and the other like a narrow ax or the point of a pickax.

Mattoid

A person of congenitally abnormal mind bordering on insanity or degeneracy.

Mattoir

A kind of coarse punch with a rasplike face, used for making a rough surface on etching ground, or on the naked copper, the effect after biting being very similar to stippled lines.

Mattowacca

An American clupeoid fish (Clupea mediocris), similar to the shad in habits and appearance, but smaller and less esteemed for food; -- called also hickory shad, tailor shad, fall herring, and shad herring.

Maturant

A medicine, or application, which promotes suppuration.

Maturate

To ripen; to become mature; specifically, to suppurate.

Maturation

The process of bringing, or of coming, to maturity; hence, specifically, the process of suppurating perfectly; the formation of pus or matter.

Maturative

A remedy promoting maturation; a maturant.

Mature

To advance toward maturity; to become ripe; as, wine matures by age; the judgment matures by age and experience.

Maturely

In a mature manner; with ripeness; completely.

maturement

The process of maturing; coming to full development; becoming mature; maturation.

Matureness

The state or quality of being mature; maturity.

Maturing

Approaching maturity; as, maturing fruits; maturing notes of hand.

Matutinal

Of or pertaining to the morning; early.

Matweed

A name of several maritime grasses, as the sea sand-reed (Ammophila arundinacea) which is used in Holland to bind the sand of the seacoast dikes (see Beach grass, under Beach); also, the Lygeum Spartum, a Mediterranean grass of similar habit.

Maty

A native house servant in India.

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