*matt*

n. [ F. harmattan, prob. of Arabic origin. ] A dry, hot wind, prevailing on the Atlantic coast of Africa, in December, January, and February, blowing from the interior or Sahara. It is usually accompanied by a haze which obscures the sun. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Matte. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) A shrike or butcher bird; -- written also matagasse. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. matamore, from Ar. ma&tsdot_;mōra. ] A subterranean repository for wheat. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. matte; cf. F. mat, masc., matte, fem., faint, dull, dim; -- said of metals. See Mate checkmate. ] 1. (Metallurgy) A partly reduced copper sulphide, obtained by alternately roasting and melting copper ore in separating the metal from associated iron ores, and called coarse metal, fine metal, etc., according to the grade of fineness. On the exterior it is dark brown or black, but on a fresh surface is yellow or bronzy in color. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A dead or dull finish, as in gilding where the gold leaf is not burnished, or in painting where the surface is purposely deprived of gloss. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having a dull, lusterless surface finish; opposed to glossy or polished; as, a matte photograph; a proof coin with matte figures on a polished field. [ PJC ]

a. [ See Matte. ] Having a dull surface; lusterless; unburnished; same as matte; as, matted gold leaf or gilding. [ 1913 Webster ]

Matted glass, glass ornamented with figures on a dull ground. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ See 3d Mat. ] 1. Covered with a mat or mats; as, a matted floor. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Tangled closely together; having its parts adhering closely together; as, matted hair. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. matere, F. matière, fr. L. materia; perh. akin to L. mater mother. Cf. Mother, Madeira, Material. ] 1. That of which anything is composed; constituent substance; material; the material or substantial part of anything; the constituent elements of conception; that into which a notion may be analyzed; the essence; the pith; the embodiment. [ 1913 Webster ]

He is the matter of virtue. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That of which the sensible universe and all existent bodies are composed; anything which has extension, occupies space, or is perceptible by the senses; body; substance. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Matter is usually divided by philosophical writers into three kinds or classes: solid, liquid, and gaseous. Solid substances are those whose parts firmly cohere and resist impression, as wood or stone. Liquids have free motion among their parts, and easily yield to impression, as water and wine. Gaseous substances are elastic fluids, called vapors and gases, as air and oxygen gas. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. That with regard to, or about which, anything takes place or is done; the thing aimed at, treated of, or treated; subject of action, discussion, consideration, feeling, complaint, legal action, or the like; theme. “If the matter should be tried by duel.” Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

Son of God, Savior of men! Thy name
Shall be the copious matter of my song. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge. Ex. xviii. 22. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. That which one has to treat, or with which one has to do; concern; affair; business. [ 1913 Webster ]

To help the matter, the alchemists call in many vanities out of astrology. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

Some young female seems to have carried matters so far, that she is ripe for asking advice. Spectator. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Affair worthy of account; thing of consequence; importance; significance; moment; -- chiefly in the phrases what matter? no matter, and the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

A prophet some, and some a poet, cry;
No matter which, so neither of them lie. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Inducing cause or occasion, especially of anything disagreeable or distressing; difficulty; trouble. [ 1913 Webster ]

And this is the matter why interpreters upon that passage in Hosea will not consent it to be a true story, that the prophet took a harlot to wife. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. Amount; quantity; portion; space; -- often indefinite. [ 1913 Webster ]

Away he goes, . . . a matter of seven miles. L' Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

I have thoughts to tarry a small matter. Congreve. [ 1913 Webster ]

No small matter of British forces were commanded over sea the year before. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. Substance excreted from living animal bodies; that which is thrown out or discharged in a tumor, boil, or abscess; pus; purulent substance. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. (Metaph.) That which is permanent, or is supposed to be given, and in or upon which changes are effected by psychological or physical processes and relations; -- opposed to form. Mansel. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. (Print.) Written manuscript, or anything to be set in type; copy; also, type set up and ready to be used, or which has been used, in printing. [ 1913 Webster ]

Dead matter (Print.), type which has been used, or which is not to be used, in printing, and is ready for distribution. --
Live matter (Print.), type set up, but not yet printed from. --
Matter in bar,
Matter of fact. See under Bar, and Fact. --
Matter of record, anything recorded. --
Upon the matter, or
Upon the whole matter, considering the whole; taking all things into view; all things considered. [ 1913 Webster ]

Waller, with Sir William Balfour, exceeded in horse, but were, upon the whole matter, equal in foot. Clarendon. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Mattered p. pr. & vb. n. Mattering. ] 1. To be of importance; to import; to signify. [ 1913 Webster ]

It matters not how they were called. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To form pus or matter, as an abscess; to maturate. [ R. ] “Each slight sore mattereth.” Sir P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To regard as important; to take account of; to care for. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

He did not matter cold nor hunger. H. Brooke. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. A mountain in Italy and Switzerland, 14, 690 feet high. According to WordNet, 14, 780 feet high [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. 1. Not being, or having, matter; as, matterless spirits. Davies (Wit's Pilgr.). [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Unimportant; immaterial. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Adhering to facts; not turning aside from absolute realities; not fanciful or imaginative; commonplace; dry. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Generating or containing pus; purulent. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Full of substance or matter; important. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. A small genus sometimes included in genus Onoclea; in some classifications both genera are placed in Polypodiaceae.
Syn. -- genus Matteuccia, Pteretis, genus Pteretis. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

prop. n. Saint Matthew, a disciple of Jesus; author of the first Gospel.
Syn. -- Saint Matthew, St. Matthew, Saint Matthew the Apostle, Levi. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

prop. n. A genus of Old World plants grown as ornamentals.
Syn. -- genus Matthiola. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ From Mat, v. t. & i. ] 1. The act of interweaving or tangling together so as to make a mat; the process of becoming matted. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Mats, in general, or collectively; mat work; a matlike fabric, for use in covering floors, packing articles, and the like; a kind of carpeting made of straw, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Materials for mats. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. An ornamental border. See 3d Mat, 4. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Matte. ] A dull, lusterless surface in certain of the arts, as gilding, metal work, glassmaking, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. mattuc; cf. W. matog. ] An implement for digging and grubbing. The head has two long steel blades, one like an adz and the other like a narrow ax or the point of a pickax. [ 1913 Webster ]

'T is you must dig with mattock and with spade. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ It. matto mad (cf. L. mattus, matus, drunk) + -oid. ] A person of congenitally abnormal mind bordering on insanity or degeneracy. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

‖n. [ F. matoir. ] (Engraving) A kind of coarse punch with a rasplike face, used for making a rough surface on etching ground, or on the naked copper, the effect after biting being very similar to stippled lines. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ Indian name. ] (Zool.) An American clupeoid fish (Clupea mediocris), similar to the shad in habits and appearance, but smaller and less esteemed for food; -- called also hickory shad, tailor shad, fall herring, and shad herring. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. materas, F. matelas, LL. matratium; cf. Sp. & Pg. almadraque, Pr. almatrac; all from Ar. ma&tsdot_;rah a place where anything is thrown, what is thrown under something, fr. &tsdot_;araha to throw. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A large pad stuffed with hair, moss, or other suitable soft material, and quilted or otherwise fastened, used as or in a bed, to support the human body while lying down. [ Written also matress. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Hydraulic Engin.) A mass of interwoven brush, poles, etc., to protect a bank from being worn away by currents or waves. [ 1913 Webster ]

innerspring mattress A variety of mattress{ 1 } having springs inside to provide a flexible support; it is considered more comfortable than a stuffed mattress. [ PJC ]

n. [ So named from Paramatta, in Australia. ] A light fabric of cotton and worsted, resembling bombazine or merino. Beck (Draper's Dict.) [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ OE. smateren to make a noise; cf. Sw. smattra to clatter, to crackle, G. schmettern to dash, crash, to warble, quaver. ] 1. To talk superficially or ignorantly; to babble; to chatter. [ 1913 Webster ]

Of state affairs you can not smatter. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To have a slight taste, or a slight, superficial knowledge, of anything; to smack. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To talk superficially about. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To gain a slight taste of; to acquire a slight, superficial knowledge of; to smack. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Superficial knowledge; a smattering. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who has only a slight, superficial knowledge; a sciolist. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A slight, superficial knowledge of something; sciolism. [ 1913 Webster ]

I had a great desire, not able to attain to a superficial skill in any, to have some smattering in all. Burton. [ 1913 Webster ]