matter

name

1. A surname.

noun

Etymology: From Middle English matere, mater, from Anglo-Norman matere, materie, from Old French materie, matiere, from Latin māteria (“wood”), from māter (“mother”), in which case cognate with Old Armenian մայր (mayr, “cedar”) and մայրի (mayri, “forest”). Doublet of Madeira, mata, mater, matrix, and mother. Displaced Middle English andweorc, andwork (“material, matter”), from Old English andweorc (“matter, substance, material”), Old English intinga (“matter, affair, business”).

1. Material; substance.
2. Material; substance.
3. Material; substance.

   “vegetable matter”

4. Material; substance.

   “He always took some reading matter with him on the plane.”

5. Material; substance.
6. An affair, condition, or subject, especially one of concern or (especially when preceded by the) one that is problematic.

   “Something is the matter with him.”

   “The diplomats met to discuss state matters.”

7. An approximate amount or extent.

   “I stayed for a matter of months.”

   “No small matter of British forces were commanded over sea the year before.”

8. Legal services provided by a lawyer or firm to their client in relation to a particular issue.

   “Please find attached an invoice for three outstanding matters.”

9. Essence; pith; embodiment.

   “He is the matter of virtue.”

10. (The) inducing cause or reason, especially of anything disagreeable or distressing.

    “And this is the matter why interpreters upon that passage in Hosea will not consent it to be a true story, that the prophet took a harlot to wife.”

11. Pus.
12. Importance.

    “What matter if we unrewarded must strive, / If Wall Street and gamblers around it may thrive? / What matter if we doubly pay for our food / To support the monopolist kings of the road?”

verb

Etymology: From Middle English matere, mater, from Anglo-Norman matere, materie, from Old French materie, matiere, from Latin māteria (“wood”), from māter (“mother”), in which case cognate with Old Armenian մայր (mayr, “cedar”) and մայրի (mayri, “forest”). Doublet of Madeira, mata, mater, matrix, and mother. Displaced Middle English andweorc, andwork (“material, matter”), from Old English andweorc (“matter, substance, material”), Old English intinga (“matter, affair, business”).

1. To be important.

   “The only thing that matters to Jim is being rich.”

   “Sorry for pouring ketchup on your clean white shirt! - Oh, don't worry, it does not matter.”

2. To care about, to mind; to find important.

   “Besides, if it had been out of doors I had not mattered it so much; but with my own servant, in my own house, under my own roof […]”

   “He matter'd not that, he said; coy maids made the fondest wives […].”

3. To form pus or matter, as an abscess; to maturate.

   “Each slight sore mattereth.”