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
This matelot Blenkinsop has got it very badly.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 156, Jan. 8, 1919 by Various
Also, no man has more than one matelot.
From Caribbee by Hoover, Thomas
"I have been matelot to Jacques for almost three years, but I don't recall the pleasure of welcoming you before this evening."
From Caribbee by Hoover, Thomas
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
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.
