match

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See also: Match

English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

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.
    • Drayton
      many a warlike match
    • Dryden
      A solemn match was made; he lost the prize.
  3. Someone with a measure of an attribute equaling or exceeding the object of comparison.
    He knew he had met his match.
    • Addison
      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.
    • Clarendon
      She […] was looked upon as the richest match of the West.
  6. Suitability.
  7. Equivalence; a state of correspondence. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
  8. Equality of conditions in contest or competition.
    • Shakespeare
      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.
    • Shakespeare
      Thy hand upon that match.
    • Boyle
      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]
Terms derived from match (etymology 1, noun)
Translations[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 to.
    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, to be equal, to correspond to.
    His interests didn't match her interests.
    • 1915, Mrs. Belloc Lowndes, The Lodger, chapter II:
      There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.
    • 1927, F. E. Penny, chapter 4, in Pulling the Strings:
      Soon after the arrival of Mrs. Campbell, dinner was announced by Abboye. He came into the drawing room resplendent in his gold-and-white turban. […] His cummerbund matched the turban in gold lines.
  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.
  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 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)

  1. 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.
    He struck a match and lit his cigarette.
Synonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Terms derived from match (fire-starter)
See also[edit]
Translations[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]

Borrowing 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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