Matter (root: matter)

• POS: Noun, Verb (intransitive)
• HYPHEN: mat=ter

CIDE DICTIONARY

Matter, n. [OE. matere, F. matière, fr. L. materia; perh. akin to L. mater mother. Cf. Mother, Madeira, Material.].

•  That of which anything is composed; constituent substance; material; the material or substantial part of anything; the constituent elements of conception; that into which a notion may be analyzed; the essence; the pith; the embodiment.  [1913 Webster]

  "He is the matter of virtue."  [1913 Webster]
•  That of which the sensible universe and all existent bodies are composed; anything which has extension, occupies space, or is perceptible by the senses; body; substance.  [1913 Webster]

  " Matter is usually divided by philosophical writers into three kinds or classes: solid, liquid, and gaseous. Solid substances are those whose parts firmly cohere and resist impression, as wood or stone. Liquids have free motion among their parts, and easily yield to impression, as water and wine. Gaseous substances are elastic fluids, called vapors and gases, as air and oxygen gas."  [1913 Webster]
•  That with regard to, or about which, anything takes place or is done; the thing aimed at, treated of, or treated; subject of action, discussion, consideration, feeling, complaint, legal action, or the like; theme.  Bacon.  [1913 Webster]

  "Son of God, Savior of men! Thy name
  Shall be the copious matter of my song."  [1913 Webster]

  "Every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge."  [1913 Webster]
•  That which one has to treat, or with which one has to do; concern; affair; business.  [1913 Webster]

  "To help the matter, the alchemists call in many vanities out of astrology."  [1913 Webster]

  "Some young female seems to have carried matters so far, that she is ripe for asking advice."  [1913 Webster]
•  Affair worthy of account; thing of consequence; importance; significance; moment; -- chiefly in the phrases what matter? no matter, and the like.  [1913 Webster]

  "A prophet some, and some a poet, cry;
  No matter which, so neither of them lie."  [1913 Webster]
•  Inducing cause or occasion, especially of anything disagreeable or distressing; difficulty; trouble.  [1913 Webster]

  "And this is the matter why interpreters upon that passage in Hosea will not consent it to be a true story, that the prophet took a harlot to wife."  [1913 Webster]
•  Amount; quantity; portion; space; -- often indefinite.  [1913 Webster]

  "Away he goes, . . . a matter of seven miles."  [1913 Webster]

  "I have thoughts to tarry a small matter."  [1913 Webster]

  "No small matter of British forces were commanded over sea the year before."  [1913 Webster]
•  Substance excreted from living animal bodies; that which is thrown out or discharged in a tumor, boil, or abscess; pus; purulent substance.  [1913 Webster]
•  That which is permanent, or is supposed to be given, and in or upon which changes are effected by psychological or physical processes and relations; -- opposed to form.  Mansel.  [1913 Webster]
•  Written manuscript, or anything to be set in type; copy; also, type set up and ready to be used, or which has been used, in printing.  [1913 Webster]

  "Waller, with Sir William Balfour, exceeded in horse, but were, upon the whole matter, equal in foot."  [1913 Webster]

Dead matter (Print.), type which has been used, or which is not to be used, in printing, and is ready for distribution. -- Live matter (Print.), type set up, but not yet printed from. -- Matter in bar, Matter of fact. See under Bar, and Fact. -- Matter of record, anything recorded. -- Upon the matter, or Upon the whole matter, considering the whole; taking all things into view; all things considered.

Matter, v. i. 

•  To be of importance; to import; to signify.  [1913 Webster]

  "It matters not how they were called."  [1913 Webster]
•  To form pus or matter, as an abscess; to maturate.  Sir P. Sidney.  [1913 Webster]

Matter, v. t. 

 To regard as important; to take account of; to care for.  [1913 Webster]
"He did not matter cold nor hunger."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Matter, n. & v.
--n.
1 a physical substance in general, as distinct from mind and spirit. b that which has mass and occupies space.
2 a particular substance (colouring matter).
3 (prec. by the; often foll. by with) the thing that is amiss (what is the matter?; there is something the matter with him).
4 material for thought or expression.
5 a the substance of a book, speech, etc., as distinct from its manner or form. b Logic the particular content of a proposition, as distinct from its form.
6 a thing or things of a specified kind (printed matter; reading matter).
7 an affair or situation being considered, esp. in a specified way (a serious matter; a matter for concern; the matter of your overdraft).
8 Physiol. a any substance in or discharged from the body (faecal matter; grey matter). b pus.
9 (foll. by of, for) what is or may be a good reason for (complaint, regret, etc.).
10 Printing the body of a printed work, as type or as printed sheets.
--v.intr.
1 (often foll. by to) be of importance; have significance (it does not matter to me when it happened).
2 secrete or discharge pus.

Idiom

as a matter of fact in reality (esp. to correct a falsehood or misunderstanding). for that matter (or for the matter of that)
1 as far as that is concerned.
2 and indeed also. in the matter of as regards.
a matter of
1 approximately (for a matter of 40 years).
2 a thing that relates to, depends on, or is determined by (a matter of habit; only a matter of time before they agree). a matter of course see COURSE. a matter of fact 1 what belongs to the sphere of fact as distinct from opinion etc.
2 Law the part of a judicial inquiry concerned with the truth of alleged facts (see also MATTER-OF-FACT). a matter of form a mere routine. a matter of law Law the part of a judicial inquiry concerned with the interpretation of the law. a matter of record see RECORD.
no matter
1 (foll. by when, how, etc.) regardless of (will do it no matter what the consequences).
2 it is of no importance. what is the matter with surely there is no objection to. what matter? that need not worry us.

Etymology

ME f. AF mater(i)e, OF matiere f. L materia timber, substance, subject of discourse

THESAURUS

Matter

activities, activity, ado, affair, affairs, air, ambition, amount, amount to something, amplitude, annoyance, anxiety, argument, article, aspect, aspiration, atom, atomic particles, atoms, autograph, bag, basis, be featured, be prominent, be somebody, be something, being, besetment, body, bother, brainchild, brute matter, building block, bulk, burden, business, calling, can of worms, carry weight, case, cause, chapter, chemical element, chyle, circumstance, colostrum, commerce, complication, component, composed matter, composition, computer printout, concern, concernment, condition, consequence, consideration, constituent, content, context, copy, core, count, cut ice, cut some ice, datum, dead matter, detail, difficulty, dilemma, disadvantage, discharge, distillate, distillation, document, doing, draft, earth, edited version, element, elementary particle, elementary unit, elixir, employ, employment, engrossment, enigma, enterprise, entity, episode, essay, essence, essentials, event, evil, extent, fabric, facet, fact, factor, fair copy, fester, festering, fiction, final draft, finished version, fire, first draft, flimsy, focus of attention, focus of interest, force, function, fundamental particle, get top billing, gist, gleet, goal, great ado, grievance, ground, guiding light, guiding star, head, headache, heading, heart, holograph, humor, hyle, hypostasis, ichor, ideal, implication, import, importance, incident, incidental, inconvenience, individual, inspiration, instance, intention, interest, issue, item, job, kernel, labor, lachryma, lactation, letter, leukorrhea, literae scriptae, literary artefact, literary production, literature, live matter, living issue, lodestar, lookout, lucubration, lymph, magnitude, main point, mainspring, manuscript, marrow, mass, material, material world, materiality, matter in hand, mattering, mean, meaning, meaningfulness, measure, measurement, meat, medium, milk, minor detail, minutia, minutiae, molecule, moment, monad, motif, motive, mucor, mucus, natural world, nature, neighborhood, nonfiction, nub, numbers, object, occasion, occupation, occurrence, opus, order, original, paper, parchment, particular, peccant humor, peck of troubles, penscript, phlegm, physical world, piece, piece of writing, pith, play, plenum, poem, point, point at issue, point in question, predicament, principle, printed matter, printout, problem, proceeding, production, purport, purulence, pus, puzzle, quandary, quantity, quantum, question, quintessence, range, rankle, rankling, reading matter, reason, recension, regard, respect, rheum, ripen, rubric, run, running, sake, saliva, sanies, sap, score, screed, scrip, script, scrive, scroll, sea of troubles, second draft, sense, serous fluid, serum, service, significance, signification, signify, situation, snot, soul, source, spirit, spring, stand out, standing matter, star, strength, stuff, subject, subject matter, subject of thought, substance, substratum, sum, sum and substance, suppurate, suppuration, sweat, tangible, tear, teardrop, tell, text, the four elements, the whites, the written word, theme, thing, to-do, topic, transaction, transcript, transcription, trouble, tune, typescript, ulterior motive, undertaking, unit of being, upset, upshot, urine, version, vicinity, vocation, water, weep, weigh, weight, whole, work, worry, writing

ROGET THESAURUS

Matter

Printing

N printing, block printing, type-printing, plate printing, (engraving), the press, composition, print, letterpress, text, context, note, page, column, typography, stereotype, electrotype, aprotype, type, black letter, font, fount, pi, pie, capitals, brevier, bourgeois, pica boldface, capitals, caps, catchword, composing-frame, composing room, composing rule, composing stand, composing stick, italics, justification, linotype, live matter, logotype, lower case, upper case, make-up, matrix, matter, monotype, 4-1/2 point, 5 point, 5-1/2 point, 6 point, 7 point, 8 point, press room, press work, reglet, roman, running head, running title, scale, serif, shank, sheet work, shoulder, signature, slug, underlay, folio, copy, impression, pull, proof, revise, author's proof, galley proof, press proof, press revise, printer, compositor, reader, printer's devil copyholder, printed, in type, typographical, solid in galleys.

Substantiality

N substantiality, hypostasis, person, being, thing, object, article, item, something, a being, an existence, creature, body, substance, flesh and blood, stuff, substratum, matter, corporeity, element, essential nature, groundwork, materiality, substantialness, vital part, world, plenum, substantive, substantial, hypostatic, personal, bodily, tangible, corporeal, substantially, bodily, essentially.

Business

N business, occupation, employment, pursuit, what one is doing, what one is about, affair, concern, matter, case, matter in hand, irons in the fire, thing to do, agendum, task, work, job, chore, errand, commission, mission, charge, care, duty, part, role, cue, province, function, lookout, department, capacity, sphere, orb, field, line, walk, walk of life, beat, round, routine, race, career, office, place, post, chargeship, incumbency, living, situation, berth, employ, service, engagement, undertaking, vocation, calling, profession, cloth, faculty, industry, art, industrial arts, craft, mystery, handicraft, trade, exercise, work, avocation, press of business, businesslike, workaday, professional, official, functional, busy, on hand, in hand, in one's hands, afoot, on foot, on the anvil, going on, acting, in the course of business, all in one's day's work, professionally Adj, a business with an income at its heels, amoto quaeramus seria ludo, par negotiis neque supra.

Importance

VB be important, be somebody, be something, import, signify, matter, boot, be an object, carry weight, make a figure, be in the ascendant, come to the front, lead the way, take the lead, play first fiddle, throw all else into the shade, lie at the root of, deserve notice, merit notice, be worthy of notice, be worthy of regard, be worthy of consideration, attach importance to, ascribe importance to, give importance to, value, care for, set store upon, set store by, mark, mark with a white stone, underline, write in italics, put in italics, print in italics, print in capitals, print in large letters, put in large type, put in letters, of gold, accentuate, emphasize, lay stress on, make a fuss about, make a fuss over, make a stir about, make a piece of work about, make much ado about, make much ado of, make much of.

Uncleanness

N uncleanness, impurity, immundity, immundicity, impurity, defilement, contamination, defoedation, soilure, soiliness, abomination, leaven, taint, tainture, fetor, decay, putrescence, putrefaction, corruption, mold, must, mildew, dry rot, mucor, rubigo, slovenry, slovenliness, squalor, dowdy, drab, slut, malkin, slattern, sloven, slammerkin, slammock, slummock, scrub, draggle-tail, mudlark, dust-man, sweep, beast, dirt, filth, soil, slop, dust, cobweb, flue, smoke, soot, smudge, smut, grit, grime, raff, sossle, sozzle, sordes, dregs, grounds, lees, argol, sediment, settlement heeltap, dross, drossiness, mother, precipitate, scoriae, ashes, cinders, recrement, slag, scum, froth, hogwash, ditchwater, dishwater, bilgewater, rinsings, cheeseparings, sweepings, offscourings, outscourings, off scum, caput mortuum, residuum, sprue, fecula, clinker, draff, scurf, scurfiness, exuviae, morphea, fur, furfur, dandruff, tartar, riffraff, vermin, louse, flea, bug, chinch, mud, mire, quagmire, alluvium, silt, sludge, slime, slush, slosh, sposh, spawn, offal, gurry, lientery, garbage, carrion, excreta, slough, peccant humor, pus, matter, suppuration, lienteria, faeces, feces, excrement, ordure, dung, crap, shit, sewage, sewerage, muck, coprolite, guano, manure, compost, dunghill, colluvies, mixen, midden, bog, laystall, sink, privy, jakes, toilet, john, head, cess, cesspool, sump, sough, cloaca, latrines, drain, sewer, common sewer, Cloacina, dust hole, sty, pigsty, lair, den, Augean stable, sink of corruption, slum, rookery, dirty, filthy, grimy, unclean, impure, soiled, not to be handled with kid gloves, dusty, snuffy, smutty, sooty, smoky, thick, turbid, dreggy, slimy, mussy, slovenly, untidy, messy, uncleanly, unkempt, sluttish, dowdy, draggle-tailed, uncombed, unscoured, unswept, unwiped, unwashed, unstrained, unpurified, squalid, lutose, slammocky, slummocky, sozzly, nasty, coarse, foul, offensive, abominable, beastly, reeky, reechy, fetid, decayed, moldy, musty, mildewed, rusty, moth-eaten, mucid, rancid, weak, bad, gone bad, etercoral, lentiginous, touched, fusty, effete, reasty, rotten, corrupt, tainted, high, flyblown, maggoty, putrid, putrefactive, putrescent, putrefied, saprogenic, saprogenous, purulent, carious, peccant, fecal, feculent, stercoraceous, excrementitious, scurfy, scurvy, impetiginous, gory, bloody, rotting, rotten as a pear, rotten as cheese, crapulous, gross, fimetarious, fimicolous, they that touch pitch will be defiled.

Eventuality

N eventuality, event, occurrence, incident, affair, matter, thing, episode, happening, proceeding, contingency, juncture, experience, fact, matter of fact, naked fact, bare facts, just the facts, phenomenon, advent, business, concern, transaction, dealing, proceeding, circumstance, particular, casualty, accident, adventure, passage, crisis, pass, emergency, contingency, consequence, opportunity (occasion), the world, life, things, doings, affairs in general, things in general, affairs in general, the times, state of affairs, order of the day, course of things, tide of things, stream of things, current of things, run of things, march of things, course of events, ups and downs of life, vicissitudes of life, chapter of accidents, situation, happening, going on, doing, current, in the wind, in the air, afloat, on foot, afoot, on the tapis, at issue, in question, incidental, eventful, stirring, bustling, full of incident, memorable, momentous, signal, eventually, in the event of, in case, just in case, in the course of things, as things, times go, as the world goes, wags, as the tree falls, cat jumps, as it may turn out, happen, that's the way the ball bounces, that's the way the cookie crumbles, you never know what may turn up, you never know what the future will bring, the plot thickens, breasts the blows of circumstance, so runs round of life from hour to hour, sprinkled along the waste of years.

Materiality

N materiality, materialness, corporeity, corporality, substantiality, substantialness, flesh and blood, plenum, physical condition, matter, body, substance, brute matter, stuff, element, principle, parenchyma, material, substratum, hyle, corpus, pabulum, frame, object, article, thing, something, still life, stocks and stones, materials, physics, somatology, somatics, natural philosophy, experimental philosophy, physicism, physical science, philosophie positive, materialism, materialist, physicist, somatism, somatist, material, bodily, corporeal, corporal, physical, somatic, somatoscopic, sensible, tangible, ponderable, palpable, substantial, objective, impersonal, nonsubjective, neuter, unspiritual, materialistic.

Topic

N topic, subject of thought, material for thought, food for the mind, mental pabulum, subject, subject matter, matter, theme, noemata, topic, what it is about, thesis, text, business, affair, matter in hand, argument, motion, resolution, head, chapter, case, point, proposition, theorem, field of inquiry, moot point, problem, thought of, uppermost in the mind, in petto, under consideration, in question, in the mind, on foot, on the carpet, on the docket, on the tapis, relative to.

Meaning

N meaning, signification, significance, sense, expression, import, purport, force, drift, tenor, spirit, bearing, coloring, scope, substance, gist, essence, marrow, spirit, matter, subject, subject matter, argument, text, sum and substance, general meaning, broad meaning, substantial meaning, colloquial meaning, literal meaning, plain meaning, simple meaning, natural meaning, unstrained meaning, true meaning, honest meaning, &c 543 prima facie meaning, letter of the law, literally, after acceptation, synonym, implication, allusion, suggestion, figure of speech, acceptation, meaning, expressive, suggestive, allusive, significant, significative, significatory, pithy, full of meaning, pregnant with meaning, declaratory, intelligible, literal, synonymous, tantamount, implied, explicit, to that effect, that is to say.