DictionaryAI

mate

SayMAYTUK/meɪt//mæɪt/

Pluralmates

Verbmates, mating, mated

20 meanings of mate

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  1. 1
    fellow membernouncountable
    A companion, colleague, or partner; someone with whom a place, task, or experience is shared, as on a ship or in a classroom.

    Her cabin mate on the cruise turned out to be a marine biologist.

    He still exchanges letters with his old army mates.

    UsageOften joined to a noun: classmate, shipmate, roommate, or written apart: cabin mate.

    Similarfellow

    Note

    At its root, a mate is someone you eat with. Harriet W. Daly's Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life (1887) still captures that spirit: a mate was a mate, "share and share alike."

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Harriet W. Daly wrote Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia. archive.org
    • The book was first published in 1887, as dated on its title page. archive.org
    • Daly's narrative describes mates with the quoted words share and share alike. archive.org
  2. 2
    have sexverbintransitive
    Of animals, to have sex in order to produce young, with or without a named partner.

    Deer mate in the fall, and the fawns arrive in late spring.

    Captive pandas are famously reluctant to mate.

    UsageA partner follows with: the female mates with the male.

    Similarbreed, copulate, couple

    Note

    Couple is its synonym. The neutral tone of mate is what makes it the usual choice in descriptions of animal behavior, and a transitive use drops the preposition altogether, as in the bull mated the cow.

  3. 3
    nouncountable
    Someone's spouse or romantic or sexual partner, or the person someone is looking for to fill that role.

    Surveys suggest that people often choose a mate with a similar level of education.

    She and her mate of thirty years still hold hands on their evening walks.

    Similarpartner, spouse

  4. 4
    friendnouncolloquialAustraliaBritishIrelandNew ZealandSouth Africacountable
    A friend, usually of the same sex, in informal British and Commonwealth usage.

    Dave's an old mate of mine from school.

    She went on holiday with her mates from university.

    UsageCommon in a mate of mine and my best mate. In formal writing, friend is safer.

    Similarfriend, buddy, chum, pal, companion

    Oppositeenemy

    Note

    Friends in Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa are commonly mates: a few mates at the pub, a best mate from school. Because it usually describes someone of the same sex, a man's "my mate" normally means a friend, not a partner.

  5. 5
    breeding partnernouncountable
    A breeding partner; the animal with which another pairs to produce offspring.

    Each spring the male returns to the same nest to find a mate.

    Penguins may keep the same mate for many breeding seasons.

    Similarpartner

    Note

    Used chiefly of animals other than humans, so applying it to people borrows the language of the field guide, often with a wink. Richard P. Grant does exactly that in The Guardian (2015), lining up "birds and animals and stockbrokers and nurses" as creatures signaling their suitability as a mate. The same idea becomes a verb in the "copulate" sense.

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • Richard P. Grant wrote the cited Guardian article in 2015. theguardian.com
    • Grant uses the exact quoted list while describing signalling suitability as a mate. theguardian.com
  6. 6
    fit togetherverbintransitive
    Of parts or objects, to fit or join together closely; to fit one part onto another, as a connector or a shuttle on its carrier aircraft.

    The cabinet doors mate so closely that the seam almost disappears.

    When the two halves mate correctly, the latch clicks shut.

    Similarfit, join, connect, engage, meet

    Note

    The parts themselves are the subject here: the pieces mate, the halves mate. When a person does the fitting, the verb turns transitive, as in mating a plug to its socket. It promises more than match or pair does: the parts actually fit together, rather than merely corresponding.

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

  7. 7
    friendly addressnouncolloquialAustraliaBritishIrelandNew ZealandSouth Africa
    Used as a friendly form of address to a stranger, typically a man of about the speaker's own age; chiefly British.

    Sorry, mate, is this seat taken?

    Easy there, mate. No harm done.

    Similarbuddy

    Note

    It is aimed at a stranger, typically a man of about the speaker's age. It carries the same regional and colloquial coloring as the "friend" sense, so it suits the street, not the letterhead.

  8. 8
    nouncountable
    An officer on a merchant ship ranking below the captain, especially the first mate, who is second in command.

    When the captain fell ill, the mate brought the vessel safely into port.

    The captain rarely came on deck, so the first mate ran the ship from day to day.

    Note

    Without a number, "the mate" aboard can simply mean the first mate. That officer ranks next below the master and is traditionally responsible for cargo stowage, the deck crew, and the daily running of the ship. With the definite article, it reads almost as a job title: the mate took the watch.

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

    • The unqualified term "the mate" can mean the chief or first mate. gutenberg.org
    • The first mate ranks immediately below the captain or master. en.wiktionary.org
    • The chief mate traditionally supervises cargo stowage. gutenberg.org
    • The chief mate traditionally supervises the deck crew's work. gutenberg.org
    • The chief mate traditionally supervises the ship's daily work. gutenberg.org
  9. 9
    South American teanoun
    Alternative spelling of maté: a South American tea-like drink made by soaking dried leaves of the yerba mate plant in hot water, or the plant itself.

    He passed the gourd of mate around the table, topping it up from a thermos.

    Mate has a grassy, slightly bitter flavor that many drinkers grow to love.

    Note

    This is the drink's original Spanish spelling; English writers often add an accent, maté, to keep it apart from the companion word, and otherwise context has to do the disambiguating. It counts like maté does. The drink is uncountable (a gourd of mate), but a single cup is countable (two mates). Less commonly, the word also names the traditional container, a small calabash.

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • Mate is the Spanish spelling from which English maté derives. en.wiktionary.org
    • The English accent distinguishes the drink's pronunciation from that of mate meaning a companion. en.wikipedia.org

Practice

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Origins

Meanings 1–8, 10–15, 18, 20

From Middle English 'mate', borrowed from Middle Low German 'mate' ('messmate'). It ultimately comes from Proto-Germanic *gamatô, from parts meaning 'together' and 'food': so a mate was originally someone who shared food, linked to Old English 'mete' ('food').

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

  • English 'mate' comes from Middle English 'mate', borrowed from Middle Low German 'mate', meaning 'messmate'. en.wiktionary.org
  • The word ultimately derives from Proto-Germanic *gamatô. en.wiktionary.org
  • The reconstructed word combines elements meaning 'together' and 'food', literally denoting someone who shares food. en.wiktionary.org
  • The food element is related to Old English 'mete', meaning 'food'. en.wiktionary.org
Meanings 16–17

Persian شاه مات (šâh mât) gave the Old French noun mat ("checkmate"). From it came Middle French mater, the source of the Middle English verb maten.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

Meaning 19

Vulgar Latin *mattō, whose origin is unclear, became Old French mater ("to kill"), and Middle English took this as maten ("to overpower").

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

Meaning 9

From American Spanish mate, the name of both the drink and its drinking vessel, from Quechua mati, the calabash gourd it is drunk from.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

  • English mate comes from American Spanish mate. en.wikipedia.org
  • American Spanish mate names both the drink and its drinking vessel. en.wikipedia.org
  • Spanish mate derives from Quechua mati, referring to the calabash gourd used as the drinking vessel. es.wikipedia.org