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Mate vs Digger - What's the difference?

mate | digger |

As nouns the difference between mate and digger

is that mate is a fellow, comrade, colleague, partner or someone with whom something is shared, e.g. shipmate, classmate while digger is a large piece of machinery that digs holes or trenches; an excavator.

As a verb mate

is to match, fit together without space between.

mate

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl), from (etyl) ). More at (l), (l).

Noun

(en noun)
  • A fellow, comrade, colleague, partner or someone with whom something is shared, e.g. shipmate, classmate.
  • (especially of a non-human animal) A breeding partner.
  • (colloquial, British, Australia, New Zealand) A friend, usually of the same sex.
    • I'm going to the pub with a few mates .
    He's my best mate .
  • (colloquial, British, Australia, New Zealand) a colloquial "sir"; an informal and friendly term of address to a stranger, usually male
    • Excuse me, mate , have you got the time?
  • (nautical) In naval ranks, a non-commissioned officer or his subordinate (e.g. (w, Boatswain's Mate), (w, Gunner's Mate), Sailmaker's Mate, etc).
  • (nautical) A ship's officer, subordinate to the master on a commercial ship.
  • (nautical) A first mate.
  • A technical assistant in certain trades (e.g. gasfitter's mate'', ''plumber's mate ); sometimes an apprentice.
  • The other member of a matched pair of objects.
    • ''I found one of the socks I wanted to wear, but I couldn't find its mate .
  • A suitable companion; a match; an equal.
  • * Milton
    • Ye knew me once no mate / For you; there sitting where you durst not soar.
    Synonyms
    (checksyns) * fellow * friend * buddy * sir * partner * See also
    Derived terms
    (Derived terms) * bedmate * bunkmate * cellmate * classmate * crewmate * flatmate * floormate * housemate * mateship * office mate * roommate * shipmate * teammate * tourmate * workmate

    Verb

  • To match, fit together without space between.
    • The pieces of the puzzle mate perfectly.
  • To copulate.
  • To pair in order to raise offspring
  • To arrange in matched pairs.
  • To introduce (animals) together for the purpose of breeding.
  • To marry; to match (a person).
  • * Shakespeare
    • If she be mated with an equal husband.
  • To match oneself against; to oppose as equal; to compete with.
  • * Francis Bacon
    • There is no passion in the mind of man so weak but it mates and masters the fear of death.
  • * Shakespeare
    • I, / Dare mate a sounder man than Surrey can be.
  • To fit (objects) together without space between.
  • (aerospace) To move (a space shuttle orbiter) onto the back of an aircraft that can carry it.
    • Synonyms
    (checksyns) * couple * match * pair
    Antonyms
    * (aerospace) demate
    Derived terms
    * mating

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) verb maten, (etyl) mater, from (etyl) noun .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (chess) Short for checkmate.

    • Verb

  • To win a game of chess by putting the opponent in checkmate
  • To confuse; to confound.
    • (Shakespeare)

    Etymology 3

    See

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • ).
  • The abovementioned plant; the leaves and shoots used for the tea

    • Anagrams

    * * * * ----

    digger

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A large piece of machinery that digs holes or trenches; an excavator.
  • A tool for digging.
  • * 2009 , Sharon Bomgaars, The Best Clubhouse Ever , page 143,
    • The post hole digger did look ancient. I was pretty certain myself that it hadn?t dug any holes for a long, long time.
  • A spade (playing card).
  • One who digs.
  • * 1997 , Barbara J. Wrede, Civilizing Your Puppy , page 75,
    • You?ve tried the supposedly sure method of squirting the digger' with water from a hose, and that hasn?t worked.This step will discourage 99 percent of the ' diggers .
  • * 2005 , Gary R. Sampson, Dick Wolfsie, Dog Dilemmas: Simple Solutions to Everyday Problems , page 130,
    • Most retrievers are not inveterate diggers — that?s a trait usually reserved for other breeds like wire-haired terriers and schnauzers.
  • (Australia, obsolete) A gold miner, one who digs for gold.
  • * 1853 , (editor), Household Words , Volume 21, page 64,
    • A successful Australian digger — successful, not merely in siftings and washings, but bearing the title, and its best credentials, of a “nuggetter” ? came down from Forest Creek recently and took up his abode in a low lodging-house in Little Bourke Street, Melbourne.
  • (Australia, dated) An informal nickname for a friend; used as a term of endearment .
  • (Australia, informal) An Australian soldier.
  • * 1998 , Helen Gilbert, Sightlines: Race, Gender, and Nation in Contemporary Australian Theatre , page 191,
    • Costume played a key part in his differentiation from British soldiers as the Digger uniform came to embody Australian versions of masculinity and mateship.
  • * 2002 , Jeff Doyle, Jeffrey Grey, Peter Pierce, Australia's Vietnam War , page xxiii,
    • For many, the congruencies of the Anzac legend and the diggers who served in Vietnam were slight, too slight, and the legend seemed unable to accommodate them.
  • * 2004 , Lisanne Gibson, Joanna Besley, Monumental Queensland: Signposts on a Cultural Landscape , page 99,
    • Like many other Queensland communities, the workers from the North Ipswich Railway Workshops chose a statue of a soldier, or digger , to honour their fellow workers.

    Derived terms

    * gold digger, golddigger * gravedigger * mini digger

    Anagrams

    * English agent nouns