Noun

(en-noun)

A whirlwind, whirlpool, or similarly moving matter in the form of a spiral or column.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-03

, author=Frank Fish, George Lauder , title=Not Just Going with the Flow , volume=101, issue=2, page=114 , magazine= citation , passage=An extreme version of vorticity is a vortex'''''. The ' vortex is a spinning, cyclonic mass of fluid, which can be observed in the rotation of water going down a drain, as well as in smoke rings, tornados and hurricanes.}}

(figuratively) Anything that involves constant violent or chaotic activity around some centre.

(figuratively) Anything that inevitably draws surrounding things into its current.

(historical) A supposed collection of particles of very subtle matter, endowed with a rapid rotary motion around an axis which was also the axis of a sun or planet; part of a Cartesian theory accounting for the formation of the universe, and the movements of the bodies composing it.

(zoology) Any of numerous species of small Turbellaria belonging to Vortex and allied genera.

Noun

(en-noun)

The womb.

* 1646 , Sir Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica , III.17:

upon conception the inward orifice of the matrix exactly closeth, so that it commonly admitteth nothing after [...].

* 1969 , Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor , Penguin 2011, p. 296:

In very rare cases, when the matrix just goes on pegging away automatically, the doctor can take advantage of that and ease out the second brat who then can be considered to be, say, three minutes younger [...].

(biology) The material or tissue in which more specialized structures are embedded.

(biology) An extracellular matrix, the material or tissue between the cells of animals or plants.

(biology) Part of the mitochondrion.

(biology) The medium in which bacteria are cultured.

(mathematics) A rectangular arrangement of numbers or terms having various uses such as transforming coordinates in geometry, solving systems of linear equations in linear algebra and representing graphs in graph theory.

(computing) A two-dimensional array.

A table of data.

(geology) A geological matrix, the outer material of a rock consisting of larger grains embedded in a material consisting of smaller ones.

(archaeology and paleontology) The sediment surrounding and including the artifacts, features, and other materials at a site.

(analytical chemistry) The environment from which a given sample is taken.