amate

¹ American  

[uh-meyt] / əˈmeɪt /

verb (used with object)

Archaic.

amated, amating

1. to dismay; daunt.

---

amate ² American  

[uh-meyt] / əˈmeɪt /

verb (used with object)

Obsolete.

amated, amating

1. to be a mate to.

---

Etymology

Origin of amate¹

1275–1325; Middle English < Middle French amatir, equivalent to a- a- ⁵ + matir to subdue, derivative of mat subdued, dull. See mat ³

Origin of amate²

First recorded in 1590–1600; a- ¹ + mate ¹

Example Sentences

Beginning in the 1500s, he said, “Spanish missionaries became deeply familiar with pre-Columbian traditions in an effort to combat them and convert local populations,” and practices such as amate production were discouraged or even banned.

From New York Times • Apr. 11, 2024

Some people connect Torres’ art to the sheets of amate tree bark used by pre-Hispanic communities as paper, though the Indigenous precursor was not dyed.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 31, 2023

My heart is a thrall; my tears ne'er abate * And their rains the      railing of clouds amate; 'Twixt my weeping and watching and wanting love; * And whining      and pining for dearest mate.

From The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 08 by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir

D—     "He would forsake his choyse, and change his fate,     And leave her quite, and so procure her woe,     Faines that a sudden grief doth her amate,     Wounded with piercing sicknes' Ebon bow."

From A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 7 by Various

Sylla, thy threats and scoffs amate me not.

From A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 7 by Various