Mat

Mat (măt), n. [Cf. Matte.] A name given by coppersmiths to an alloy of copper, tin, iron, etc., usually called white metal. [Written also matt.]

Mat, a. [OF. See 4th Mate.] Cast down; dejected; overthrown; slain. [Obs.]

When he saw them so piteous and so maat. Chaucer.

Mat, n. [AS. matt, meatt, fr. L. matta a mat made of rushes.] 1. A fabric of sedge, rushes, flags, husks, straw, hemp, or similar material, used for wiping and cleaning shoes at the door, for covering the floor of a hall or room, and for other purposes.

2. Any similar fabric for various uses, as for covering plant houses, putting beneath dishes or lamps on a table, securing rigging from friction, and the like.

3. Anything growing thickly, or closely interwoven, so as to resemble a mat in form or texture; as, a mat of weeds; a mat of hair.

4. An ornamental border made of paper, pasterboard, metal, etc., put under the glass which covers a framed picture; as, the mat of a daguerreotype.

Mat grass. (Bot.) (a) A low, tufted, European grass (Nardus stricta). (b) Same as Matweed. — Mat rush (Bot.), a kind of rush (Scirpus lacustris) used in England for making mats.

Mat, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Matted; p. pr. & vb. n. Matting.] 1. To cover or lay with mats. Evelyn.

2. To twist, twine, or felt together; to interweave into, or like, a mat; to entangle.

And o'er his eyebrows hung his matted hair. Dryden.

Mat, v. i. To grow thick together; to become interwoven or felted together like a mat.