matte1
adjective, noun, & verb
Variant spelling of matt.
Rhymes
matte2
/mat
/noun [mass noun]
An impure product of the smelting of sulphide ores, especially those of copper or nickel.Botswana exports are dominated by diamonds, copper/nickel matte, beef and animal products; also exported are textiles and soda ash....
- It is thought that further mineral wealth awaits discovery; other exports are copper-nickel matte and beef.
- This will be designed to separate the matte / slag product transferred from the furnace.
Origin
Mid 19th century: from French (in Old French meaning 'curds'), feminine of mat (adjective) 'matt', used as a noun.
matte3
/mat/noun
A mask used to obscure part of an image in a film and allow another image to be substituted, combining the two.Virtually inventing methods of composite mattes in film made the invisible man truly come alive and real....
- There were a lot, and I mean a lot of space scenes where you could actually see the mattes around the ships, sun and earth.
- Because of limited special effects technology at that time, you can easily tell that these are two mattes put together (with outlines around the ship showing like a beacon in the night).
Origin
Mid 19th century: from French, perhaps from mat (see matt).