mate1
n.
- Brit. informal a friend or companion.
-
[in combination]
a fellow member or joint occupant:
his table-mates.
- the sexual partner of a bird or other animal.
- chiefly Brit. an assistant or deputy in some trades:
a plumber's mate.
- an officer on a merchant ship subordinate to the master. See also first mate.
v.
- (with reference to animals or birds) come or bring together for breeding; copulate.
- join or connect mechanically.
Derivative
Etymology
ME: from Mid. Low Ger. māt(e) ‘comrade’, of W. Gmc origin.
mate2
n.
&
v.
Chess short for
checkmate.
Etymology
ME: from Anglo-Norman Fr. mat, from the phr. eschec mat (see checkmate), and Anglo-Norman Fr. mater ‘to checkmate’.