mat
1a 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.
to become entangled; form tangled masses.
Idioms about mat
go to the mat, to contend or struggle in a determined or unyielding way: The president is going to the mat with Congress over the proposed budget cuts.
Origin of mat
1Other words from mat
- matless, adjective
Words Nearby mat
Other definitions for mat (2 of 6)
a piece of cardboard or other material placed over or under a drawing, painting, photograph, etc., to serve as a frame or provide a border between the picture and the frame.
to provide (a picture) with a mat.
Origin of mat
2Other definitions for mat (3 of 6)
Other definitions for mat (4 of 6)
the intaglio, usually of papiermâché, impressed from type or a cut, from which a stereotype plate is cast.
Origin of mat
4Other definitions for mat. (5 of 6)
matins.
maturity.
Other definitions for M.A.T. (6 of 6)
Master of Arts in Teaching.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use mat in a sentence
Tormented by all-day nausea, I sought comfort in bed and on the yoga mat.
With an acupressure mat, you get acupressure, sans precision.
Each mat goes for a blitzkrieg-like concentration—my model has 7,992 spikes, each one-eighth inch long.
The best option to take care of your joints and your floors is a good yoga mat.
Working out at home? Here’s how to keep your house from smelling like a gym. | Harry Guinness | September 3, 2020 | Popular-ScienceThis coating is actually a mat of nanofibers with a very large surface area, which increases its energy storage capacity.
If they were well thought through, with a clear plan of execution, she was in, and ready to go to the mat.
The Valerie Jarrett I Know: How She Saved the Obama Campaign and Why She’s Indispensable | Joshua DuBois | November 18, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTZalwar Khan returns quickly and begins his morning prayers, spreading out a plastic mat and folding his arms over his chest.
Heart of Darkness: Into Afghanistan’s Taliban Valley | Matt Trevithick, Daniel Seckman | November 15, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBesides, neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians are exactly rolling out the welcome mat for Kerry.
Everyone Says John Kerry Should Stay Out of the Middle East | Josh Rogin | July 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIt would just throw himself onto a huge, soft mat covered in a bit of sand, and then it would get up right away.
Game of Thrones’ New Hunk Michiel Huisman on the Revamped Daario Naharis | Marlow Stern | April 22, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBy remarkable contrast, younger musicians who really go to the mat for political controversy can become superstars.
He had repeated till he was thrice weary the statement that "the Cat lay on the mat and the Rat came in."
Kipling Stories and Poems Every Child Should Know, Book II | Rudyard Kipling"Let me get the man something to eat," said Yung Pak as the monk seated himself upon a mat.
Our Little Korean Cousin | H. Lee M. PikeHe went back to his praying mat and bent again toward the west, where the Holy Kaaba enshrines the ruby sent down from heaven.
The Red Year | Louis TracyWe here saw an opium-eater, lying stretched out upon a mat on the floor.
A Woman's Journey Round the World | Ida PfeifferThe mat shop is beginning to affect my health: the dust has inflamed my throat, and my eyesight is weakening in the constant dusk.
Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist | Alexander Berkman
British Dictionary definitions for mat (1 of 4)
/ (mæt) /
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
NZ a Māori cloak
go back to the mat NZ 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 (def. 3)
to tangle or weave or become tangled or woven into a dense mass
(tr) to cover with a mat or mats
Origin of mat
1Derived forms of mat
- matless, adjective
British Dictionary definitions for mat (2 of 4)
/ (mæt) /
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
having a dull, lustreless, or roughened surface
to furnish (a picture) with a mat
to give (a surface) a mat finish
Origin of mat
2- Also (for senses 2, 4): matt
British Dictionary definitions for mat (3 of 4)
/ (mæt) /
printing informal short for matrix (def. 5)
British Dictionary definitions for mat. (4 of 4)
matinée
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with mat
see go to the mat; welcome mat.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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