1. a piece of fabric made of plaited or woven rushes, straw, hemp, or similar fiber, or of some other pliant material, as rubber, used as a protective covering on a floor or other surface, to wipe the shoes on, etc.
2. a smaller piece of material, often ornamental, set under a dish of food, a lamp, vase, etc.
3. Sports.
• the padded canvas covering the entire floor of a wrestling ring, for protecting the contestants from injury when thrown.
• a thick pad placed on the floor for the protection of tumblers and others engaged in gymnastic sports.
4. a thickly growing or thick and tangled mass, as of hair or weeds.
5. a sack made of matting, as for coffee or sugar.
6. Building Trades.
• a slablike footing of concrete, especially one for an entire building.
• a heavy mesh reinforcement for a concrete slab.

7. to cover with or as if with mats or matting.
8. to form into a mat, as by interweaving.

9. to become entangled; form tangled masses.

10. to contend or struggle in a determined or unyielding way: The president is going to the mat with Congress over the proposed budget cuts.

1. a piece of cardboard or other material placed over or under a drawing, painting, photograph, etc., to serve as a frame or provide a border between the picture and the frame.

2. to provide (a picture) with a mat.

1. matte¹.

1. the intaglio, usually of papiermâché, impressed from type or a cut, from which a stereotype plate is cast.
2. matrix (def. 8).

1. matins.
2. maturity.

1. Master of Arts in Teaching.

1. a thick flat piece of fabric used as a floor covering, a place to wipe one's shoes, etc
2. a smaller pad of material used to protect a surface from the heat, scratches, etc, of an object placed upon it
3. a large piece of thick padded material put on the floor as a surface for wrestling, judo, or gymnastic sports
4. a Māori cloak
5. to abandon urban civilization
6. any surface or mass that is densely interwoven or tangled
7. the solid part of a lace design
• a heavy net of cable or rope laid over a blasting site to prevent the scatter of debris
• a heavy mesh of reinforcement in a concrete slab
• (esp US) a steel or concrete raft serving as a footing to support a post
9. civil engineering short for mattress (def. 3)

10. to tangle or weave or become tangled or woven into a dense mass
11. to cover with a mat or mats

1. a border of cardboard, cloth, etc, placed around a picture to act as a frame or as a contrast between picture and frame
2. a surface, as on metal or paint

3. having a dull, lustreless, or roughened surface

4. to furnish (a picture) with a mat
5. to give (a surface) a mat finish

1. printing informal short for matrix (def. 5)

1. matinée

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