matador

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: mat=a=dor

CIDE DICTIONARY

matador, n. [Sp. matador, prop., a killer, fr. matar to kill, L. mactare to sacrifice, kill.].

•  The killer; the man appointed to kill the bull in bullfights; a bullfighter; a toreador.  [1913 Webster]
•  In the game of quadrille or omber, the three principal trumps, the ace of spades being the first, the ace of clubs the third, and the second being the deuce of a black trump or the seven of a red one.  [1913 Webster]

  "When Lady Tricksey played a four,
  You took it with a matadore."  [1913 Webster]
•  The jack of clubs, or any other trump held in sequence with it, whether by the player or by his adversaries.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
•  A certain game of dominoes in which four dominoes (the 4-3, 5-2, 6-1, and double blank), called matadors, may be played at any time in any way.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

matador, n.
1 a bullfighter whose task is to kill the bull.
2 a principal card in ombre, quadrille, etc.
3 a domino game in which the piece played must make a total of seven.

Etymology

Sp. f. matar kill f. Pers. mat dead

THESAURUS

matador

Cain, apache, assassin, assassinator, banderillero, bloodletter, bloodshedder, bravo, burker, butcher, button man, cannibal, cutthroat, desperado, eradicator, executioner, exterminator, garroter, gorilla, gun, gunman, gunsel, hatchet man, head-hunter, hit man, homicidal maniac, homicide, killer, man-eater, man-killer, manslayer, massacrer, murderer, pesticide, picador, poison, poisoner, slaughterer, slayer, strangler, thug, toreador, torero, torpedo, trigger man

ROGET THESAURUS

matador

Killing

N killing, homicide, manslaughter, murder, assassination, trucidation, iccusion, effusion of blood, blood, blood shed, gore, slaughter, carnage, butchery, battue, massacre, fusillade, noyade, thuggery, Thuggism, deathblow, finishing stroke, coup de grace, quietus, execution, judicial murder, martyrdom, butcher, slayer, murderer, Cain, assassin, terrorist, cutthroat, garroter, bravo, Thug, Moloch, matador, sabreur, guet-a-pens, gallows, executioner, man-eater, apache, hatchet man, highbinder, regicide, parricide, matricide, fratricide, infanticide, feticide, foeticide, uxoricide, vaticide, suicide, felo de se, hara-kiri, suttee, Juggernath, immolation, auto da fe, holocaust, suffocation, strangulation, garrote, hanging, lapidation, deadly weapon, Aceldama, slaughtering, phthisozoics, sport, sporting, the chase, venery, hunting, coursing, shooting, fishing, pig- sticking, sportsman, huntsman, fisherman, hunter, Nimrod, slaughterhouse, meat packing plant, shambles, abattoir, fatal accident, violent death, casualty, killing, murderous, slaughterous, sanguinary, sanguinolent, blood stained, blood thirsty, homicidal, red handed, bloody, bloody minded, ensanguined, gory, thuggish, mortal, fatal, lethal, dead, deadly, mortiferous, lethiferous, unhealthy internecine, suicidal, sporting, piscatorial, piscatory, in at the death, assassination has never changed the history of the.