Definition of "mate"

mate¹

/meɪt/

noun
plural mates
1. A fellow, comrade, colleague, partner or someone with whom something is shared, e.g. shipmate, classmate.
  Quotations
  A "mate" was a "mate" - share and share alike, no matter how bad might be the times, or how long a spell of ill luck had attended them.
  1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 152
2. (especially of a non-human animal) A breeding partner.
3. (colloquial, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, sometimes elsewhere in the Commonwealth) A friend, usually of the same sex.
4. (colloquial, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, sometimes elsewhere in the Commonwealth) Friendly term of address to a stranger, usually male, of similar age.
5. (nautical) In naval ranks, a non-commissioned officer or his subordinate (e.g. Boatswain's Mate, Gunner's Mate, Sailmaker's Mate, etc).
6. (nautical) A ship's officer, subordinate to the master on a commercial ship.
7. (nautical) A first mate.
8. A technical assistant in certain trades (e.g. gasfitter's mate, plumber's mate); sometimes an apprentice.
9. The other member of a matched pair of objects.
10. A suitable companion; a match; an equal.
  Quotations
  Ye knew me once no mate / For you; there sitting where you durst not soar.
  1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873,
verb
third-person singular simple present mates, present participle mating, simple past and past participle mated
1. (intransitive) To match, fit together without space between.
2. (intransitive) To copulate.
3. (intransitive) To pair in order to raise offspring.
4. (transitive) To arrange in matched pairs.
5. (transitive) To introduce (animals) together for the purpose of breeding.
6. (transitive, of an animal) To copulate with.
7. (transitive) To marry; to match (a person).
  Quotations
  If she be mated with an equal husband.
  1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene i]
8. (transitive, obsolete) To match oneself against; to oppose as equal; to compete with.
  Quotations
  There is no passion in the mind of man so weak but it mates and masters the fear of death.
  1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Death”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret
  I, […] in the way of loyalty and truth, […] / Dare mate a sounder man than Surrey can be.
  1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene ii]
9. (transitive) To fit (objects) together without space between.
10. (intransitive) To come together as companions, comrades, partners, etc.
  Quotations
  Indeed, some cases of devotion that were met with were quite touching; and very often to all appearances the pairs were not always mated from the same class of society.
  1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 152
11. (transitive, aerospace) To move (a space shuttle orbiter) onto the back of an aircraft that can carry it.

mate²

/meɪt/

noun
plural mates
1. (chess) Clipping of checkmate.
verb
third-person singular simple present mates, present participle mating, simple past and past participle mated
1. (chess) Clipping of checkmate.

mate³

/meɪt/

verb
third-person singular simple present mates, present participle mating, simple past and past participle mated
1. (obsolete) To confuse; to confound.
  Quotations
  I think you are all mated, or stark mad.
  c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act V, scene i]

mate⁴

/meɪt/

noun
plural mates
1. Alternative spelling of maté, an aromatic tea-like drink prepared from the holly yerba maté (Ilex paraguariensis).
2. The abovementioned plant; the leaves and shoots used for the tea

Definition of "mate"

mate1

noun

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verb

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mate2

noun

verb

mate3

verb

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mate4

noun

mate¹

mate²

mate³

mate⁴