mat·a·dor

[mat-uh-dawr]
noun
1.
the principal bullfighter in a bullfight who passes the bull with a muleta and then, in many countries, kills it with a sword thrust; a torero.
2.
one of the principal cards in skat and certain other games.
3.
( initial capital letter ) a jet-powered U.S. surface-to-surface missile.

Origin:
1665–75; < Spanish, equivalent to mata(r) to kill (perhaps < Vulgar Latin *mattāre, presumed derivative of Late Latin mattus soft, weak; cf. matte1) +-dor -tor

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source Link To matador
00:10
Matador is always a great word to know.
So is gobo. Does it mean:
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
Collins
World English Dictionary
matador (ˈmætədɔː) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n
1.  the principal bullfighter who is appointed to kill the bull
2.  (in some card games such as skat) one of the highest ranking cards
3.  a game played with dominoes in which the dots on adjacent halves must total seven
 
[C17: from Spanish, from matar to kill]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

matador
1674, from Sp. matador, lit. "killer," from matar "to kill or wound," probably from Arabic mata "he died," from Persian (see second element in checkmate).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Example sentences
Along the way the car ends up in a bullring playing the role of matador, the best of several incongruous adventures.
Copyright © 2013 Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
  • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature
FAVORITES
RECENT