From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishmatmat1 /mæt/ ●●○ noun [countable] 1 
DHHa small piece of thick rough material which covers part of a floor Wipe your feet on the mat.2 DHHa small flat piece of wood, cloth etc which protects a surface, especially on a table a beer mat (=a mat for putting a glass of beer on) a mouse mat (=for a computer mouse) → place mat3 DSOa piece of thick soft material used in some activities for people to sit on, fall onto etc a yoga mat a prayer mat4 → go to the mat (for somebody/something)5 AMOUNTa thick mass of something such as hairs or leaves → mattedmat of a floating mat of vegetation → matting
DHHa small piece of thick rough material which covers part of a floor Wipe your feet on the mat.2 DHHa small flat piece of wood, cloth etc which protects a surface, especially on a table a beer mat (=a mat for putting a glass of beer on) a mouse mat (=for a computer mouse) → place mat3 DSOa piece of thick soft material used in some activities for people to sit on, fall onto etc a yoga mat a prayer mat4 → go to the mat (for somebody/something)5 AMOUNTa thick mass of something such as hairs or leaves → mattedmat of a floating mat of vegetation → mattingExamples from the Corpus
mat• There was a smell of polished wood, hymnals, and rubber floor mats.• Painted-over windows, freshly laundered towels neatly folded, and a paper mat outside the tiny shower highlight the bathroom.• a plastic place mat• They kneel on straw mats in their dark clothing and chant in unison with a Buddhist priest.• Even drunks at parties manage to crawl off the mats to be ill.• The newspaper slowly unfolded itself on the mat, flopping open to reveal some glossy law magazine that had been placed inside.• You can leave the key under the mat.• To satisfy this need, the owners of the local establishments have rolled out the welcome mat.• Shopkeepers beckoned us into their premises where we were tempted by sparkling silver jewellery and traditional greek hand woven mats.beer mat• She sat crumbling a beer mat between her fingers.• Penguin has produced a beer mat to help promote it.• The Samaritans has tried to target men by advertisements on beer mats and in changing rooms.• It was more like a saucer or a small beer mat.• My eyes glued to the beer mat I tried to take in what was being said.matmat2 adjective x-refanother spelling of mattExamples from the Corpus
mat• Indeed, the signal from the mat flux episodes may have to be filtered out to permit conventional Milankovitch band analysis.• This represents the very abrupt onset of a period of sustained high productivity and diatom mat flux.• So maybe it was somewhere on mat land me chopper has put down.Origin mat1 (700-800) Late Latin matta 