[mate] vt mat.ed ; mat.ing [ME, fr. MF mater, fr. OF mat, n., checkmate, fr. Ar mat (in shah mat)] (14c): checkmate
2.
[2]mate n (14c): checkmate 1 [3]mate n [ME, prob. fr. MLG mat; akin to OE gemetta guest at one's table, mete food--more at meat] (14c) 1 a (1): associate, companion (2) chiefly Brit: an assistant to a more skilled worker: helper (3) chiefly Brit: friend, buddy--often used as a familiar form of address b archaic: match, peer
2: a deck officer on a merchant ship ranking below the captain
3: one of a pair: as a: either member of a couple and esp. a married couple b: either member of a breeding pair of animals c: either of two matched objects [4]mate vb mat.ed ; mat.ing vt (1509) 1 archaic: equal, match
2: to join or fit together: couple 3 a: to join together as mates b: to provide a mate for ~ vi 1: to become mated "gears that ~ well"
2: copulate [5]ma.te n [F & AmerSp; F mate, fr. AmerSp mate mate, vessel for drinking it, fr. Quechua mati vessel] (1758) 1: a tealike beverage drunk esp. in So. America
2: a So. American shrub or tree (Ilex paraguariensis) of the holly family whose leaves and shoots are used in making mate; also: these leaves and shoots