mat

mat

¹

a. a heavy net of cable or rope laid over a blasting site to prevent the scatter of debris

b. a heavy mesh of reinforcement in a concrete slab

c. (esp US) a steel or concrete raft serving as a footing to support a post

---

mat

²

Art a border of cardboard, cloth, etc., placed around a picture to act as a frame or as a contrast between picture and frame

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

mat

[mat]

(civil engineering)

A steel or concrete footing under a post.

Mesh reinforcement in a concrete slab.

A heavy steel-mesh blanket used to suppress rock fragments during blasting.

(materials)

Randomly distributed felt or glass fibers used in reinforced-plastics lay-up molding.

(mining engineering)

An accumulation of broken mine timbers, rock, earth, and other debris coincident with the caving system of mining.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

mat

1. See matte.

2. See mattress.

3. A very heavy, flexible blanket of steel mesh, woven wire rope, or chain; used to confine fragments of rock during blasting.

---

matte, mat, matt

A surface finish which is dull, with little or no gloss or sheen, and with low light reflectivity.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Mat

 

a quaking bog, a growth of vegetation floating on the surface of a body of water. It is formed primarily of mosses or other swamp plants (for example, sedges and buckbean). As the thickness of the mat increases (up to 1 to 2 m), its lower layers decay and fall to the bottom, forming peat.

---

Mat

 

in sports, a soft padding that protects athletes against injuries when they fall from equipment or execute jumps.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.