mate

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the partner of an animal, especially a sexual partner

   The horse's mate was a thoroughbred champion.

2. 2
   noun

   a fellow member of a team

   It was my first start against my former teammates.

3. 3
   noun

   one of a pair

   They lost the mate to their shoe.

4. 4
   verb

   place an opponent's king under an attack from which it cannot escape and thus ending the game

   The grandmaster checkmated their opponent after only a few moves.

5. 5
   verb

   engage in sexual intercourse

   Birds mate in the Spring

6. 6
   noun

   A fellow, comrade, colleague, partner or someone with whom something is shared, e.g. shipmate, classmate.

   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.

7. 7
   noun

   A breeding partner.

   Such overt displays of avowed sexual prowess – or at least, desperate availability – are not limited to the countryside. Even in the city, birds and animals and stockbrokers and nurses find ways of signalling their suitability as a mate.

8. 8
   noun

   A friend, usually of the same sex.

   I'm going to the pub with a few mates.

Etymology

From Middle English mate, a borrowing from Middle Low German mate (“messmate”) (replacing Middle English mett, mette (“table companion, mate, partner”), from Old English ġemetta (“sharer of food, table-guest”)), from Old Saxon gimato, derived from Proto-Germanic *gamatjô, itself from *ga- (“together”) (related to German and Dutch ge-) + *matjô (from *matiz (“food”)), related to Old English mete (“food”)). From the same Middle Low German source stems German Low German Maat (“journeyman, companion”), German Maat (“naval non-commissioned officer”). Cognates include Saterland Frisian Moat (“friend…