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.
    • 1603, Michael Drayton. The Barons' Wars
      many a warlike match
    • 1697, “Pastorals”, in Virgil; John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 403869432:
      A solemn match was made; he lost the prize.
    • 1886, Lim, Hiong Seng, Handbook of the Swatow Vernacular, Singapore: Koh Yew Hean Press:
      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.
    • 2021 February 10, Joseph Addison, “The Free-holder: No. 12. Wednesday, January 30. [2021.] [Julian calendar]”, in The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison, Esq; […], volume IV, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], published 1721, OCLC 1056445272:
      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.
  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.
  9. A pair of items or entities with mutually suitable characteristics.
    The carpet and curtains are a match.
  10. An agreement or compact.
  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]
Descendants[edit]
  • → Catalan: matx
  • → Dutch: match
  • → French: match
  • → German: Match
  • → Hindi: मैच (maic)
  • → Hungarian: meccs
  • → Latvian: mačs
  • → Russian: матч (matč)
  • → Swahili: mechi
  • → Turkish: maç
  • → Welsh: matsh
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.
    • 2021 June 30, Philip Haigh, “Regional trains squeezed as ECML congestion heads north”, in RAIL, number 934, page 52:
      I'll be interested to see how this service does. It will be basic with fares to match, so will be akin to a budget airline taking on a flag-carrier.
  2. (transitive) To agree with; to be equal to; to correspond to.
    His interests didn't match her interests.
    • 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter II, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, OCLC 7780546; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], OCLC 2666860, page 0091:
      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 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)
Descendants[edit]
Translations[edit]

See also[edit]

French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From English match.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

match m (plural matchs)

  1. (sports) match, game

Usage notes[edit]

Sometimes translated as rencontre (sportive).

Derived terms[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Italian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English match.

Pronunciation[edit]

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 (sporting event)

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

Related terms[edit]

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