The Collaborative International Dictionary
Matter \Mat"ter\, n. [OE. matere, F. mati[`e]re, fr. L. materia; perh. akin to L. mater mother. Cf. Mother, Madeira, Material.]
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That of which anything is composed; constituent substance; material; the material or substantial part of anything; the constituent elements of conception; that into which a notion may be analyzed; the essence; the pith; the embodiment.
He is the matter of virtue.
--B. Jonson. -
That of which the sensible universe and all existent bodies are composed; anything which has extension, occupies space, or is perceptible by the senses; body; substance.
Note: Matter is usually divided by philosophical writers into three kinds or classes: solid, liquid, and gaseous. Solid substances are those whose parts firmly cohere and resist impression, as wood or stone. Liquids have free motion among their parts, and easily yield to impression, as water and wine. Gaseous substances are elastic fluids, called vapors and gases, as air and oxygen gas.
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That with regard to, or about which, anything takes place or is done; the thing aimed at, treated of, or treated; subject of action, discussion, consideration, feeling, complaint, legal action, or the like; theme. ``If the matter should be tried by duel.''
--Bacon.Son of God, Savior of men! Thy name Shall be the copious matter of my song.
--Milton.Every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge.
--Ex. xviii. 22. -
That which one has to treat, or with which one has to do; concern; affair; business.
To help the matter, the alchemists call in many vanities out of astrology.
--Bacon.Some young female seems to have carried matters so far, that she is ripe for asking advice.
--Spectator. -
Affair worthy of account; thing of consequence; importance; significance; moment; -- chiefly in the phrases what matter? no matter, and the like.
A prophet some, and some a poet, cry; No matter which, so neither of them lie.
--Dryden. -
Inducing cause or occasion, especially of anything disagreeable or distressing; difficulty; trouble.
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.
--Milton. -
Amount; quantity; portion; space; -- often indefinite.
Away he goes, . . . a matter of seven miles.
--L' Estrange.I have thoughts to tarry a small matter.
--Congreve.No small matter of British forces were commanded over sea the year before.
--Milton. Substance excreted from living animal bodies; that which is thrown out or discharged in a tumor, boil, or abscess; pus; purulent substance.
(Metaph.) That which is permanent, or is supposed to be given, and in or upon which changes are effected by psychological or physical processes and relations; -- opposed to form.
--Mansel.-
(Print.) Written manuscript, or anything to be set in type; copy; also, type set up and ready to be used, or which has been used, in printing.
Dead matter (Print.), type which has been used, or which is not to be used, in printing, and is ready for distribution.
Live matter (Print.), type set up, but not yet printed from.
Matter in bar, Matter of fact. See under Bar, and Fact.
Matter of record, anything recorded.
Upon the matter, or Upon the whole matter, considering the whole; taking all things into view; all things considered.
Waller, with Sir William Balfour, exceeded in horse, but were, upon the whole matter, equal in foot.
--Clarendon.
Usage examples of "upon the matter".
Seeing that the Tanner had spied him out, Little John put a bold face upon the matter.
I did not mean to enter upon the matter till to-morrow, but it seems to me that I had better mention it now while my mind is full of the subject.
Partridge, who would have taken the sacrament upon the matter, there is a possibility that the schoolmaster was entirely innocent: for though it appeared clear, on comparing the time when Jenny departed from Little Baddington, with that of her delivery, that she had there conceived this infant, yet it by no means followed of necessity that Partridge must have been its father.
I will not dwell upon the matter overlong, but will tell as speedily as may be of how that stout fellow, Robin Hood, died as he had lived, not at court as Earl of Huntingdon, but with bow in hand, his heart in the greenwood, and he himself a right yeoman.
He might have some thought upon the matter and he'd know what to do.
His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, impatient snarl in reply.
And now I beg that you will lay before us everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the matter.
Thinking briefly upon the matter, the hunter decided that this was no shame to the Monkey warriors.
Fraser, endeavouring if I could to find something that will throw light upon the matter.