metate

[ muh-tah-tee; Spanish me-tah-te ]

noun

, plural me·ta·tes [m, uh, -, tah, -teez, me-, tah, -tes].

1. a flat stone that has a shallow depression in the upper surface for holding maize or other grains to be ground with a mano.

Word History and Origins

Origin of metate¹

1825–35, Americanism; < Mexican Spanish < Nahuatl metlatl

Example Sentences

They also prepare a drink by parching corn and grinding it to powder on the metate, and mixing it with water and a little achote.

From Project Gutenberg

Their cooking-utensils consist of the metate, pots made of earthenware, and gourds.

From Project Gutenberg

On my way I stubbed my stockinged foot against a stone metate or mortar in which Indians and Mexicans make their flour.

From Project Gutenberg

Being an Indian she quite cheerfully went back to pounding acorns in a metate.

From Project Gutenberg

The animal he caught he throws toward her where she is kneeling before the metate, so that it falls on her skirt.

From Project Gutenberg