Definition of "mate" []

• One of a matched pair: the mate to this glove. (noun)
• A spouse. (noun)
• Either of a pair of animals or birds that associate in order to propagate. (noun)
• Either of a pair of animals brought together for breeding. (noun)
• A person with whom one is in close association; an associate. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "He is also, ex-officio, the wit of the crew; for the captain does not condescend to joke with the men, and the second mate no one cares for; so that when “the mate” thinks fit to entertain “the people” with a coarse joke or a little practical wit, every one feels bound to laugh."
• "A bushman may have many mates in his roving, but there is always one his mate, "my mate;" and it is common to hear a bushman, who is, in every way, a true mate to the man he happens to be travelling with, speak of _his mate's mate_ -- "Jack's mate" -- who might be in Klondyke or South Africa."
• "The R&B star gives propes to his label mate Kanye West ..."