matelot

Or mate·low

[mat-loh, mat-l-oh]

noun

British Slang.

1. a sailor.

matelot

/ ˈmætləʊ /

noun

1. slang,  a sailor

Word History and Origins

Origin of matelot¹

1910–15; < French ≪ Middle Dutch mattenoot sailor, equivalent to matte mat ¹ + noot companion ( Dutch genoot )

Word History and Origins

Origin of matelot¹

C20: from French

Example Sentences

Once in town, he dropped into the Jacaranda, a coffee bar that was popular with local youth, and “got talking to a boy, George, in a striped matelot T-shirt and black leather jacket who told me his friends played music,” he later recalled in an interview with the website Classic Bands.

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There were the skins of two people, and also the work of two tattooists, and the faces of the subjects of the tattoos; the woman with her complex hairdo, above, and the man in the matelot top.

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But thanks to the huge Paradise Papers data breach, we do know in 2010 the ultimate beneficial owner of Matelot was Nickolay Fomichev, a member of the gang.

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In 2001 another offshore firm, Matelot Real Estate Incorporated, paid just over £1m for a flat in a shiny new tower block on the River Thames across from Chelsea Harbour, which it sold in 2006.

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We don't know who was originally behind it because when it was set up Matelot had nominee directors and an anonymous owner.

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