matey

adj

1. (UK)Sociable or friendly.

   “You've been very matey with that new bird.”

   “She asked in what sort of accident I had broken my back, and when I told her that I had been shot down she became much more matey.”

   “We decided that it would be more matey to have communal meals, so all the guests and hosts foregathered at the hotel for lunches and dinners, and at every sitting there were about 40 of us, all in high spirits.”

   “2002, Jon Latimer, Alamein, page 128, he wrote: ‘They took a bit of getting used to. I was dressed as a general and they treated me in the most matey way, but despite this it was easy to see that there was nothing wrong with their battle discipline.’”

   “His opening salvo, “If you didn′t care what happened to me, and I didn′t care for you,” gives way to a more matey mood at the end: “You know that I care what happens to you. And I know that you care for me.””

noun

1. (diminutive, form-of, informal)Diminutive of mate, friend.

   “Hello, matey, just back from the pub?”

   ““No, no, matey, I means no harm. Ye see, I think I done ye a bad turn onst, an′ I′m minded t′ do ye right afore I goes off. You bring a writer here, matey, an′ I′ll tell ye what.””

   “1920, Francis Stevens (Gertrude Barrows Bennett), Claimed, 2009, Munsey′s, page 49, And take my advice, matey. When yer buys it, don′t yer make Lutz′s mistake and think yer can wriggle out easy.”

   ““You've got great legs, matey,” he said to me. “You know that?” They were good straight legs, and could run, but I had always thought them too much on the lean side.”

   ““I couldn't bloody believe it when Charmaine said we were seeing the Rat Pack. I mean, what a coincidence. My old mateys performing here, tonight!””

2. (slang)A fellow sailor; often used affectedly, especially when portraying a pirate.

   “Ahoy mateys, scrub the deck!”

   “c. 1906, Herbert Strang (pseudonym), In Clive′s Command, 2006, Echo Library, page 35, “Well, we are and we en′t, eh, mateys? The Waterman′s Rest en′t exactly the kind of place to spend shore leave; it en′t a patch on Wapping or Rotherhithe. […] ””

   ““Well, Mateys,” he said, “heave to. Rum for all.” The pirates grabbed their bottles, and as they drank they began to sing and laugh and shout at each other.”

   “Soon the talking skull came into view and gave us a warning, “Avast there, it be to late to alter course mateys and there be plundering pirates lurking in every cove waiting to board.[…]””

   ““Ahoy, mateys!” The chorus came from all sides, and he fought the urge to snicker. She nudged him with her elbow, and he looked down to find her eyes twinkling. “Hope you brushed up on your pirate lingo. The desk is over there. I gotta go use the little wench′s room.” He watched her go with a grin and nearly laughed again when he saw the signs on the bathroom doors. Wenches and Mateys. Good God.”

3. (slang)A dockyard worker.

   “He got the dockyard 'mateys' to install a primitive form of steam heating which he had seen in Navy ships […]”

   “Mediterranean peoples are thought to be excitable, but the Maltese stood up to the blitz with great aplomb, especially the dghaisa men who plowed back and forth across the harbours regardless of the raids, the mateys who made the devastated dockyard work, and all who served in units of the armed forces.”

4. (alt-of, alternative)Alternative form of maty (“native house servant in India”).

name

1. A surname from the Slavic languages.