Match
[mætʃ]
Definition
(noun.) lighter consisting of a thin piece of wood or cardboard tipped with combustible chemical; ignites with friction; 'he always carries matches to light his pipe'; 'as long you've a lucifer to light your fag'.
(noun.) an exact duplicate; 'when a match is found an entry is made in the notebook'.
(noun.) a burning piece of wood or cardboard; 'if you drop a match in there the whole place will explode'.
(noun.) something that resembles or harmonizes with; 'that tie makes a good match with your jacket'.
(noun.) a formal contest in which two or more persons or teams compete.
(noun.) the score needed to win a match.
(verb.) be equal or harmonize; 'The two pieces match'.
(verb.) make correspond or harmonize; 'Match my sweater'.
(verb.) bring two objects, ideas, or people together; 'This fact is coupled to the other one'; 'Matchmaker, can you match my daughter with a nice young man?'; 'The student was paired with a partner for collaboration on the project'.
(verb.) provide funds complementary to; 'The company matched the employees' contributions'.
(verb.) be compatible, similar or consistent; coincide in their characteristics; 'The two stories don't agree in many details'; 'The handwriting checks with the signature on the check'; 'The suspect's fingerprints don't match those on the gun'.
(verb.) give or join in marriage.
Editor: Upton--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) Anything used for catching and retaining or communicating fire, made of some substance which takes fire readily, or remains burning some time; esp., a small strip or splint of wood dipped at one end in a substance which can be easily ignited by friction, as a preparation of phosphorus or chlorate of potassium.
(v.) A person or thing equal or similar to another; one able to mate or cope with another; an equal; a mate.
(v.) A bringing together of two parties suited to one another, as for a union, a trial of skill or force, a contest, or the like
(v.) A contest to try strength or skill, or to determine superiority; an emulous struggle.
(v.) A matrimonial union; a marriage.
(v.) An agreement, compact, etc.
(v.) A candidate for matrimony; one to be gained in marriage.
(v.) Equality of conditions in contest or competition.
(v.) Suitable combination or bringing together; that which corresponds or harmonizes with something else; as, the carpet and curtains are a match.
(v.) A perforated board, block of plaster, hardened sand, etc., in which a pattern is partly imbedded when a mold is made, for giving shape to the surfaces of separation between the parts of the mold.
(v. t.) To be a mate or match for; to be able to complete with; to rival successfully; to equal.
(v. t.) To furnish with its match; to bring a match, or equal, against; to show an equal competitor to; to set something in competition with, or in opposition to, as equal.
(v. t.) To oppose as equal; to contend successfully against.
(v. t.) To make or procure the equal of, or that which is exactly similar to, or corresponds with; as, to match a vase or a horse; to match cloth.
(v. t.) To make equal, proportionate, or suitable; to adapt, fit, or suit (one thing to another).
(v. t.) To marry; to give in marriage.
(v. t.) To fit together, or make suitable for fitting together; specifically, to furnish with a tongue and a groove, at the edges; as, to match boards.
(v. i.) To be united in marriage; to mate.
(v. i.) To be of equal, or similar, size, figure, color, or quality; to tally; to suit; to correspond; as, these vases match.
Typist: Stanley
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. [1]. Rival, be equal to.[2]. Adapt, suit, fit, proportion.[3]. Marry, give in marriage.
Inputed by Abner
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Equal, mate, companion, contest, competition, tally, equality, pair
ANT:Superior, inferior, mismatch, oddity, disparity, inequality
Edited by Emily
Definition
n. a piece of inflammable material which easily takes or carries fire: a prepared rope for firing a gun &c.: a lucifer.—ns. Match′-box a box for holding matches; Match′lock the lock of a musket containing a match for firing it: a musket so fired; Match′wood wood cut down to a size suitable for making matches: wood broken into small pieces; Quick′-match a match made of threads of cotton and steeped in various inflammable substances so as to burn a yard in thirteen seconds; Safe′ty-match a match which will only light when rubbed on a specially prepared surface; Slow′-match a match made to burn at the rate of from four to five inches in an hour for blasting &c.
n. anything which agrees with or suits another thing: an equal: one able to cope with another: a contest or game: a pairing a marriage: one to be gained in marriage.—v.i. to be of the same make size &c. to correspond: to form a union with.—v.t. to be equal to to set a counterpart to anything: to be able to compete with: to find an equal to: to set against as equal: to suit: to give in marriage.—adj. Match′able.—ns. Match′board a board with a tongue cut along one edge and a groove in the opposite edge their joining being called a Match′-joint; Match′er.—adj. Match′less having no match or equal: superior to all: peerless: unpaired.—adv. Match′lessly.—ns. Match′lessness; Match′-mak′er one who makes matches: one who plans to bring about marriages.
Checked by Erwin
Unserious Contents or Definition
To dream of matches, denotes prosperity and change when least expected. To strike a match in the dark, unexpected news and fortune is foreboded.
Checked by Genevieve
Examples
- There is more in it than thou dost guess, Conrade; thy simplicity is no match for this deep abyss of wickedness. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- I am not a match for you gentlemen. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- Might I ask you, Watson, to open that window, and then to put a match to the edge of the straw? Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- Poririer, a Frenchman, invented a machine for making match boxes of pasteboard. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- If the atmosphere were composed of oxygen alone, the merest flicker of a match would set the whole world ablaze. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- Which side won the last match, Teddy? Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- Canler was a splendid match. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
- My new fan just matches my flowers, my gloves fit to a charm, and the real lace on Aunt's mouchoir gives an air to my whole dress. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- The latest improvement in chemical matches is the Vesta, which consists of small wax, or stearine tapers, with an igniting composition at the end, consisting of chlorate of potass and phosphorus. Frederick C. Bakewell. Great Facts.
- In 1833 phosphorus friction matches were introduced on a commercial scale by Preschel, of Vienna. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- By other means, a swing blade, for instance, the matches were all severed from the block. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- Perhaps I have thrown six--have you any matches? Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- Pray do not make any more matches. Jane Austen. Emma.
- Like considerations would apply to railways, antiseptic surgery, or friction matches. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- But this one living grain in him matched the perfect youth in her. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- These Italians were also very mannered and matched manners with the two we had collected before. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- There they were, matched, ever afterwards! Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- Well, he would about have matched that woman's face, when she said, 'I forbid the banns. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- But Precedent and Precipitate were, under all circumstances, the well-matched pair of battle-horses of this able Circumlocutionist. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- I saw you matched against an Apollyon of a predilection; you fought a good fight, and you overcame! Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- They were armed with crooked sabres, having the hilt and baldric inlaid with gold, and matched with Turkish daggers of yet more costly workmanship. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- He started for the Shivering Sand, at a rate that my legs (though well enough preserved for my time of life) had no hope of matching. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- On Egdon, coldest and meanest kisses were at famine prices, and where was a mouth matching hers to be found? Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
Typed by Agatha