materials

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of material.

   The builder ordered materials for the roof a month before work began.

   She spent years gathering materials for a biography she never wrote.

   Note

   A plural that counts kinds rather than amounts. Material works as both a mass noun and a count noun. Enough material for a dress is a quantity, while a builder's materials are the separate sorts of stuff a job needs. The plural suits supplies and gathered collections: building materials, raw materials, or the notes and documents assembled for a book.

2. 2
   verbobsolete

   Third-person singular simple present of material. The verb is obsolete.

   Note

   The verb behind this form is obsolete. Material once meant to bring something into being from matter, to give an idea or essence a physical shape, a job that materialize does today. In modern prose the spelling is almost always the plural noun, so a reader should take it for a verb only in old text, and only when a subject is plainly giving physical form to something.

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