a piece of fabric made of plaited or woven rushes, straw, hemp, or similar fiber, or of some other pliant material, as rubber, used as a protective covering on a floor or other surface, to wipe the shoes on, etc.
a smaller piece of material, often ornamental, set under a dish of food, a lamp, vase, etc.
Sports.
the padded canvas covering the entire floor of a wrestling ring, for protecting the contestants from injury when thrown.
a thick pad placed on the floor for the protection of tumblers and others engaged in gymnastic sports.
a thickly growing or thick and tangled mass, as of hair or weeds.
a sack made of matting, as for coffee or sugar.
Building Trades.
a slablike footing of concrete, especially one for an entire building.
a heavy mesh reinforcement for a concrete slab.
to cover with or as if with mats or matting.
to form into a mat, as by interweaving.
the intaglio, usually of papiermâché, impressed from type or a cut, from which a stereotype plate is cast.
matins.
maturity.
a thick flat piece of fabric used as a floor covering, a place to wipe one's shoes, etc
a smaller pad of material used to protect a surface from the heat, scratches, etc, of an object placed upon it
a large piece of thick padded material put on the floor as a surface for wrestling, judo, or gymnastic sports
a Māori cloak
to abandon urban civilization
any surface or mass that is densely interwoven or tangled
a mat of grass and weeds
the solid part of a lace design
a heavy net of cable or rope laid over a blasting site to prevent the scatter of debris
a heavy mesh of reinforcement in a concrete slab
(esp US) a steel or concrete raft serving as a footing to support a post
civil engineering short for mattress
to tangle or weave or become tangled or woven into a dense mass
(tr) to cover with a mat or mats
a border of cardboard, cloth, etc, placed around a picture to act as a frame or as a contrast between picture and frame
a surface, as on metal or paint
to furnish (a picture) with a mat
to give (a surface) a mat finish
First recorded before 900; Middle English mat(te), Old English matt, matta, matte, from Late Latin matta “mat (of rushes),” from a Semitic language; compare Phoenician maṭṭa, Hebrew miṭṭāh “bed”
First recorded in 1845–50; apparently mat 1, influenced by matte 1
First recorded in 1920–25; shortened form of matrix
When you walk into someone else's house, it's polite to wipe your feet on the mat — the pad that covers part of the floor inside the front door. A mat is a kind of floor covering, often smaller than a rug or carpet. You might buy a sea grass mat to put in your bedroom, or a door mat for your apartment entryway. You can also use the word mat as a verb, to mean tangle or snarl: "The dog managed to mat the fur on his belly by rolling around on the beach." The Old English matte came from the Latin word matta, "mat made of rushes."
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Before his fall, Langton was attempting to move into a handstand position on the high bar but lost his grip and fell head first on to the mat.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
“Being on the mat, on the water, it’s a unique experience,” Gutentag said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2026
Everyone knew how this fight would go: Nurmagomedov would take Iaquinta down to the mat, wear him down, and eventually choke him out.
From Slate ● Jun. 14, 2026
“We are right now not rolling out the welcome mat, we are putting up all sorts of signs saying stay away, and that’s what is resonating with fans and players,” said Bruen.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
Directly in front of us was what looked like a smaller version of Professor Watt’s gym, complete with a training mat.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
“He told me to go to the back of the building and next to the dumpster there would be a rubber mat. Look under it,” she recalls him telling her.
From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2025
"You know, we're lucky that we have access to shelter. They have fans in there and we get a mat. So that helps a lot."
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2023
“I did a lot of laying on the mat. I felt like I was a top athlete, but they destroyed me.”
From New York Times ● Apr. 25, 2023
“Leave it on the mat. You’re an amazing son.”
From Washington Post ● Jul. 30, 2021
I've got a date for the mat., this aft., so ta-ta.
From Uncle Terry A Story of the Maine Coast by Munn, Charles Clark
She didn’t see the people I knew who were now stabilized on M.A.T. and getting their kids and jobs back.
From New York Times ● Jul. 20, 2018
She also knew just how hard it would be for Tess to qualify for M.A.T. a second time.
From New York Times ● Jul. 20, 2018
M.A.T. and J.W.M.G. performed and analysed worm experiments under the supervision of J.M.A.T.;
From Nature ● Nov. 28, 2017
Harvard's M.A.T. degree requires not only education courses, but also graduate learning in liberal arts and apprentice, or "intern," teaching in any of a dozen school systems around Boston.
From Time Magazine Archive
Charlie Sands, who is on a newspaper, calls us either the "M.A.T." or the "B.A.'s," for "Beloved Aunts," although Aggie and I are not related to him.
From Tish by Rinehart, Mary Roberts
She said when Paul dropped Honey off he told her she was "very matted" which she found odd, adding she had been brushed that morning and is brushed "every day".
From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026
The schoolhouse is a dull, matted red, as are other architectural elements.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
When you got away from the individual hairs, and now you had these brushstrokes that felt more like matted fur again, there was an interesting reality that came from that.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 12, 2025
As erosion slows, marsh and streamside vegetation is rebounding and putting down densely matted root systems that can increasingly stand firm against flooding, or surging waves.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 31, 2024
The one eye we could see under all that matted hair, his right eye, was warm and friendly, and his smile was genuine, so the twins reached out and shook hands with him.
From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall
Rabbit adopters must perform perpetual grooming to keep the rabbit’s fur from matting and must keep a close eye on the bunnies’ diet and poops.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 4, 2024
Wearing skullcaps, about 60 kneeled in the sun on green matting spread over bits of scrubby brown vegetation.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 20, 2023
She said it was "astonishing" the matting was not adjusted despite the change in the routine from rehearsals.
From BBC ● Nov. 24, 2023
Families pick the type of frame and matting and then a professional framer gets started.
From New York Times ● Oct. 8, 2022
A strip of coconut-palm matting ran down the center of the wide hall.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
