match
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /mæt͡ʃ/
rhymes: -ætʃ
Forms: form: matches
Etymology: From Middle English macche, mecche, from Old English mæċċa, ġemæċċa (“companion, mate, wife, one suited to another”), from Proto-West Germanic *makkjō, *gamakkjō (“partner, equal”), from Proto-Germanic *makô, from Proto-Indo-European *mag- (“to knead, work”). Compare Danish mage (“mate”), Icelandic maki (“spouse”).
Senses: examples: text: My local team are playing in a match against their arch-rivals today.
text: 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.
ref: 1886, Lim Hiong Seng, Handbook of the Swatow Vernacular, Singapore: Koh Yew Hean Press:
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A competitive sporting event such as a boxing meet (commonly called a "bout"), a baseball game, or a cricket match.
examples: text: Ferrer his Taberd vvith rich Verry ſpred, / VVell knovvne in many a vvarlike match before; […]
ref: 1630, Michaell Draiton [i.e., Michael Drayton], “The Second Booke of the Barrons Warres”, in Poems: […], London: […] [Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] Ling, →OCLC, stanza 22, page 31:
text: A solemn match was made; he lost the prize.
ref: 1697, Virgil, “(please specify the page)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
glosses: Any contest or trial of strength or skill, or to determine superiority.
examples: text: He knew he had met his match.
text: Government […] makes an innocent man, though of the lowest rank, a match for the mightiest of his fellow subjects.
ref: 1716 February 10 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison, “The Free-holder: No. 12. Monday, January 30. [1716.]”, in The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison, Esq; […], volume IV, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], published 1721, →OCLC:
text: Dean Ippolito looks like an ordinary kid. But at chess, he is a knight of battle. Most adults are no match for him.
ref: 1991, Boys' Life, volume 81, number 4:
glosses: Someone with a measure of an attribute equaling or exceeding the object of comparison.
glosses: A marriage.
examples: text: She […] was looked upon as the richest match of the West.
ref: (Can we date this quote?), Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, (please specify |book=I to XVI), in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641, Oxford: The Theater:
glosses: A candidate for matrimony; one to be gained in marriage.
glosses: Suitability.
examples: text: The seat to window match is excellent and there are half-size partition screens between bays.
ref: 2019 October 23, Pip Dunn, “The next king of Scotland”, in Rail, page 51:
glosses: Equivalence; a state of correspondence.
examples: text: It were no match, your nail against his horn.
ref: c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene v]:
glosses: Equality of conditions in contest or competition.
examples: text: The carpet and curtains are a match.
text: a match made in heaven
glosses: A pair of items or entities with mutually suitable characteristics.
examples: text: Thy hand upon that match.
ref: c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene v]:
text: [I]t hath been obſerv'd, that Love doth ſeldome ſuffer it ſelf to be confin'd by other matches, then thoſe of its ovvne making.
ref: 1648 August 16 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Robert Boyle, Some Motives and Incentives to the Love of God. […] [Seraphick Love], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], published 1659, →OCLC, page 6:
english: Seraphick Love
translation: Seraphick Love
glosses: An agreement or compact.
topics: arts
crafts
engineering
hobbies
lifestyle
metallurgy
metalworking
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: 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: aftermatch
beer match
be no match for
cage match
cockmatch
deathmatch
exhibition match
first class match
football match
friendly match
game, set, match
grudge match
hair match
hatch, match and dispatch
intermatch
ladder match
looksmatch
love match
man of the match
match ball
matchboard
matchbreaker
match cut
match day
match dissolve
match factor
match fixing
matchgate
matchless
matchlike
match made in heaven
match made in hell
matchmake
matchmaker
matchmaking
matchmark
match moving
match penalty
match play
matchplay
matchplayer
match point
matchpot
match race
match racing
match referee
match wagon
matchweek
matchwinner
matchwinning
meet one's match
midmatch
mirror match
mismatch
needle match
nonmatch
odds match
one-day match
overmatch
parlor match
pissing match
player of the match
post-match
postmatch
pre-match
prematch
price match
rematch
return match
rubber match
screaming match
shitting match
shooting match
shouting match
slanging match
steel cage match
stretcher match
submatch
television match official
test match
Test match
tour match
whole shitting match
whole shooting match
wildmat
Related terms: competition
game
set
tournament