matelot
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of matelot
1910–15; < French ≪ Middle Dutch mattenoot sailor, equivalent to matte mat 1 + noot companion ( Dutch genoot )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
They were the only places you’d get French imported stuff from – the hipster trousers and matelot shirts – which we liked.
From The Guardian ● May 17, 2015
So in the old days a boucanier might acquire a matelot, to be his companion, and over the years the matelots got to be more like younger brothers than indentures.
From Caribbee by Hoover, Thomas
As Winston urged Katherine toward the gates, the young matelot was still lingering forlornly on the steps, gazing up at the burning "dovecote."
From Caribbee by Hoover, Thomas
We do not know whether, in peculiar cases, a matelot became his camarade's heir.
From The Monarchs of the Main, Volume I (of 3) Or, Adventures of the Buccaneers by Thornbury, Walter
The Buccaneers, hunting in couples, called each other matelot, or shipmate: the word expresses their amphibious capacity.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 10, No. 59, September, 1862 by Various
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.
