match

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See also: Match

English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /mæt͡ʃ/
  • Audio (UK)
    		(file)
  • Audio (US)
    		(file)
  • Rhymes: -ætʃ

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English matche, metche, macche, mecche, mache, meche, from Old English mæċċa, ġemæċċa, secondary forms of Old English maca, ġemaca (“companion, mate, wife, one suited to another”), from Proto-Germanic *makkô, *gamakkô, *makô, *gamakô (“an equal; comrade”), from Proto-Indo-European *mag- (“to knead, work”). Cognate with Danish mage (“mate”), Icelandic maki (“spouse”).

Noun[edit]

match (plural matches)

  1. (sports) A competitive sporting event such as a boxing meet, a baseball game, or a cricket match.
    My local team are playing in a match against their arch-rivals today.
  2. Any contest or trial of strength or skill, or to determine superiority.
    • (Can we date this quote by Drayton and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
      many a warlike match
    • (Can we date this quote by Dryden and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
      A solemn match was made; he lost the prize.
    • 1886, Lim Hiong Seng, Handbook of the Swatow Vernacular, "lesson XIII. Household Furniture &c."
      Can you play billiards? / Yes, do you wish to have a match with me? / Let us simply play (a game) for pleasure. We needn't have a match, as I don't like to gamble.
  3. Someone with a measure of an attribute equaling or exceeding the object of comparison.
    He knew he had met his match.
    • (Can we date this quote by Addison and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
      Government […] makes an innocent man, though of the lowest rank, a match for the mightiest of his fellow subjects.
  4. A marriage.
  5. A candidate for matrimony; one to be gained in marriage.
    • (Can we date this quote by Clarendon and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
      She […] was looked upon as the richest match of the West.
  6. Suitability.
  7. Equivalence; a state of correspondence.
    • 2019 October 23, Pip Dunn, “The next king of Scotland”, in Rail, page 51:
      The seat to window match is excellent and there are half-size partition screens between bays.
  8. Equality of conditions in contest or competition.
    • (Can we date this quote by Shakespeare and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
      It were no match, your nail against his horn.
  9. A pair of items or entities with mutually suitable characteristics.
    The carpet and curtains are a match.
  10. An agreement or compact.
    • (Can we date this quote by Shakespeare and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
      Thy hand upon that match.
    • (Can we date this quote by Boyle and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
      Love doth seldom suffer itself to be confined by other matches than those of its own making.
  11. (metalworking) A perforated board, block of plaster, hardened sand, etc., in which a pattern is partly embedded when a mould is made, for giving shape to the surfaces of separation between the parts of the mould.
Derived terms[edit]
Related terms
Translations[edit]
See also[edit]

Verb[edit]

match (third-person singular simple present matches, present participle matching, simple past and past participle matched)

  1. (intransitive) To agree; to be equal; to correspond.
    Their interests didn't match, so it took a long time to agree what to do together.
    These two copies are supposed to be identical, but they don't match.
  2. (transitive) To agree with; to be equal to; to correspond to.
    His interests didn't match her interests.
  3. (transitive) To make a successful match or pairing.
    They found out about his color-blindness when he couldn't match socks properly.
    • 2013 June 1, “End of the peer show”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 71:
      Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms. Those that want to borrow are matched with those that want to lend.
  4. (transitive) To equal or exceed in achievement.
    She matched him at every turn: anything he could do, she could do as well or better.
  5. (obsolete) To unite in marriage, to mate.
    • 1599, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act 2 Scene 1:
      […] Adam's sons are my brethren; and truly, I hold it a sin to match in my kindred.
    • (Can we date this quote by Joseph Addison and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
      A senator of Rome survived, / Would not have matched his daughter with a king.
  6. To fit together, or make suitable for fitting together; specifically, to furnish with a tongue and groove at the edges.
    to match boards
Derived terms[edit]
Terms derived from match (etymology 1, verb)
Translations[edit]
See also[edit]
A match.

Etymology 2[edit]

From Middle English macche, mecche, from Old French mesche, meische, from Vulgar Latin micca (compare Catalan metxa, Spanish mecha, Italian miccia), which in turn is probably from Latin myxa (“nozzle, curved part of a lamp”), from Ancient Greek μύξα (múxa, “lamp wick”).

Noun[edit]

match (plural matches)

  2. A device made of wood or paper, at the tip coated with chemicals that ignite with the friction of being dragged (struck) against a rough dry surface.
    Synonym: spunk (obsolete)
    He struck a match and lit his cigarette.
Derived terms[edit]
Terms derived from match (fire-starter)
Translations[edit]
See also[edit]

French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From English match.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

match m (plural matches or matchs)

  1. (sports) match

Usage notes[edit]

Sometimes translated as rencontre (sportive).

Derived terms[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Italian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English match.

Noun[edit]

match m (invariable)

  1. match (sports event)
  2. horserace involving only two horses

Norwegian Bokmål[edit]

Verb[edit]

match

  1. imperative of matche

Spanish[edit]

Noun[edit]

match m (plural matches)

  1. match

Swedish[edit]

Noun[edit]

match c

  1. match

Declension[edit]

Declension of match 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative match matchen matcher matcherna
Genitive matchs matchens matchers matchernas
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