I. ˈma.trə̇s noun
( -es )
Etymology: Middle English materas, from Old French, from Arabic maṭraḥ place where something is thrown
1.
a. : a resilient pad for use as a resting place either alone or supported (as by springs) on a bedstead, consisting in its simplest form of a large fabric sack stuffed with resilient filling (as wool or feathers) but now being usually a product of manufacture with carefully stabilized filling of felted cotton, hair, or sponge rubber or sometimes of an arrangement of coiled springs that is permanently covered with fabric and often consolidated by tufting
b. : an inflatable airtight sack adapted to serve as a mattress when inflated and to collapse into a small space (as for packing) when not in use
2.
a. obsolete : a protective covering especially for plants : mat
b. : a mass of interwoven brush and poles to protect a bank from erosion
c. : a supplementary or reinforcing foundation (as of brush, stumps, logs) to distribute a heavy load over soft ground
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-es )
: to provide, support, or protect with a mattress or mattresses
mattressed the curve of the bank to prevent undercutting