match

noun

1. A competitive sporting event such as a boxing meet (commonly called a "bout"), a baseball game, or a cricket match.

   “My local team are playing in a match against their arch-rivals today.”

   “Can you play billiards? / Yes, do you wish to have a match with me? / Let us simply play (a game) for pleasure. We needn't have a match, as I don't like to gamble.”

2. Any contest or trial of strength or skill, or to determine superiority.

   “Ferrer his Taberd vvith rich Verry ſpred, / VVell knovvne in many a vvarlike match before; […]”

   “A solemn match was made; he lost the prize.”

3. Someone with a measure of an attribute equaling or exceeding the object of comparison.

   “He knew he had met his match.”

   “Government […] makes an innocent man, though of the lowest rank, a match for the mightiest of his fellow subjects.”

   “Dean Ippolito looks like an ordinary kid. But at chess, he is a knight of battle. Most adults are no match for him.”

4. A marriage.
5. A candidate for matrimony; one to be gained in marriage.

   “She […] was looked upon as the richest match of the West.”

6. Suitability.
7. Equivalence; a state of correspondence.

   “The seat to window match is excellent and there are half-size partition screens between bays.”

8. Equality of conditions in contest or competition.

   “It were no match, your nail against his horn.”

9. A pair of items or entities with mutually suitable characteristics.

   “The carpet and curtains are a match.”

   “a match made in heaven”

10. An agreement or compact.

    “Thy hand upon that match.”

    “[I]t hath been obſerv'd, that Love doth ſeldome ſuffer it ſelf to be confin'd by other matches, then thoſe of its ovvne making.”

11. A perforated board, block of plaster, hardened sand, etc., in which a pattern is partly embedded when a mould is made, for giving shape to the surfaces of separation between the parts of the mould.
12. A small wooden stick specially treated with chemicals to produce flame upon contact with another chemical, from the frictional heat produced by striking it against a surface, or both; other similar items made from chemically-treated paper, cardboard, etc.

    “He struck a match and lit his pipe.”

13. (obsolete)Synonym of taper, a thin stick used to transfer flame, as from tender to a candle.
14. (obsolete)Synonym of fuse, a long wick used to transfer flame to an explosive device.

verb

1. (intransitive)To agree; to be equal; to correspond.

   “Their interests didn't match, so it took a long time to agree what to do together.”

   “These two copies are supposed to be identical, but they don't match.”

   “I'll be interested to see how this service does. It will be basic with fares to match, so will be akin to a budget airline taking on a flag-carrier.”

2. (transitive)To agree with; to be equal to; to correspond to.

   “His interests didn't match her interests.”

   “There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.”

   “Soon after the arrival of Mrs. Campbell, dinner was announced by Abboye. He came into the drawing room resplendent in his gold-and-white turban. […] His cummerbund matched the turban in gold lines.”

3. (transitive)To equal or exceed in achievement.

   “She matched him at every turn: anything he could do, she could do as well or better.”

4. (transitive)To make a successful match or pairing.

   “They found out about his color-blindness when he couldn't match socks properly.”

   “Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms. Those that want to borrow are matched with those that want to lend.”

5. (obsolete)To unite in marriage, to mate.

   “[…]Adam's sons are my brethren; and truly, I hold it a sin to match in my kindred.”

   “A senator of Rome survived, Would not have matched his daughter with a king.”

6. To fit together, or make suitable for fitting together; specifically, to furnish with a tongue and groove at the edges.

   “to match boards”

7. (transitive)To be an example of a rule or regex.

   “The behavior matched one or more rules and was rejected by an edit filter.”