match

Etymology 1

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”).

noun

1. (sports) A competitive sporting event such as a boxing meet, a baseball game, or a cricket match.
   My local team are playing in a match against their arch-rivals today.
2. Any contest or trial of strength or skill, or to determine superiority.
   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.
3. Someone with a measure of an attribute equaling or exceeding the object of comparison.
   He knew he had met his match.
   Dean Ippolito looks like an ordinary kid. But at chess, he is a knight of battle. Most adults are no match for him. 1991, Boys' Life, volume 81, number 4
4. A marriage.
5. A candidate for matrimony; one to be gained in marriage.
6. Suitability.
7. Equivalence; a state of correspondence.
   The seat to window match is excellent and there are half-size partition screens between bays. October 23 2019, Pip Dunn, “The next king of Scotland”, in Rail, page 51
8. Equality of conditions in contest or competition.
9. A pair of items or entities with mutually suitable characteristics.
   The carpet and curtains are a match.
   a match made in heaven
10. An agreement or compact.
11. (metalworking) 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.

verb

1. (intransitive) To agree; to be equal; to correspond.
   Their interests didn't match, so it took a long time to agree what to do together.
   These two copies are supposed to be identical, but they don't match.
   I'll be interested to see how this service does. It will be basic with fares to match, so will be akin to a budget airline taking on a flag-carrier. June 30 2021, Philip Haigh, “Regional trains squeezed as ECML congestion heads north”, in RAIL, number 934, page 52
2. (transitive) To agree with; to be equal to; to correspond to.
   His interests didn't match her interests.
   Soon after the arrival of Mrs. Campbell, dinner was announced by Abboye. He came into the drawing room resplendent in his gold-and-white turban. […] His cummerbund matched the turban in gold lines. 1927, F. E. Penny, chapter 4, in Pulling the Strings
3. (transitive) To make a successful match or pairing.
   They found out about his color-blindness when he couldn't match socks properly.
   Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms. Those that want to borrow are matched with those that want to lend. 2013-06-01, “End of the peer show”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 71
4. (transitive) To equal or exceed in achievement.
   She matched him at every turn: anything he could do, she could do as well or better.
5. (obsolete) To unite in marriage, to mate.
6. To fit together, or make suitable for fitting together; specifically, to furnish with a tongue and groove at the edges.
   to match boards
7. (programming) To be an example of a rule or regex.
   The behavior matched one or more rules and was rejected by an edit filter.

Etymology 2

From Middle English macche, mecche (“wick (of a candle)”), from Old French mesche, meische, from Vulgar Latin micca (compare Catalan metxa, Spanish mecha, Italian miccia), which in turn is probably from Latin myxa (“nozzle, curved part of a lamp”), from Ancient Greek μύξα (múxa, “lamp wick”).

noun

1. A device made of wood or paper, at the tip coated with chemicals that ignite with the friction of being dragged (struck) against a rough dry surface.
   He struck a match and lit his cigarette.