different between match vs sneak

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mæt??/
• Rhymes: -æt?

Etymology 1

From Middle English matche, metche, macche, mecche, mache, meche, from Old English mæ??a, ?emæ??a, secondary forms of Old English maca, ?emaca (“companion, mate, wife, one suited to another”), from Proto-Germanic *makkô, *gamakkô, *makô, *gamakô (“an equal; comrade”), from Proto-Indo-European *mag- (“to knead, work”). Cognate with Danish mage (“mate”), Icelandic maki (“spouse”).

Noun

match (plural matches)

1. (sports) A competitive sporting event such as a boxing meet, a baseball game, or a cricket match.

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

2. Any contest or trial of strength or skill, or to determine superiority.
   • 1603, Michael Drayton. The Barons' Wars

     many a warlike match

   • 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.
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.
8. Equality of conditions in contest or competition.
9. A pair of items or entities with mutually suitable characteristics.

   The carpet and curtains are a match.

10. An agreement or compact.
    • 1660 (first published), Robert Boyle, Seraphic Love

      Love doth seldom suffer itself to be confined by other matches than those of its own making.

11. (metalworking) 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.

Derived terms

Descendants

Translations

See also

• competition
• game
• set
• tournament

Verb

match (third-person singular simple present matches, present participle matching, simple past and past participle matched)

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

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

   • 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.
3. (transitive) To make a successful match or pairing.
4. (transitive) To equal or exceed in achievement.

5. (obsolete) To unite in marriage, to mate.
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act 2 Scene 1:

     […] 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.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• mate

Etymology 2

From Middle English macche, mecche, from Old French mesche, meische, from Vulgar Latin micca (compare Catalan metxa, Spanish mecha, Italian miccia), which in turn is probably from Latin myxa (“nozzle, curved part of a lamp”), from Ancient Greek ???? (múxa, “lamp wick”).

Noun

match (plural matches)

2. A device made of wood or paper, at the tip coated with chemicals that ignite with the friction of being dragged (struck) against a rough dry surface.

   Synonym: spunk (obsolete)

Derived terms

Descendants

Translations

See also

• fire, lighter, cigarette lighter
• strike (to strike a match)

French

Etymology

From English match.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mat?/

Noun

match m (plural matchs)

1. (sports) match, game

Usage notes

Sometimes translated as rencontre (sportive).

Derived terms

• match nul
• Paris Match

Further reading

• “match” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English match.

Noun

match m (invariable)

1. match (sports event)
2. horserace (involving only two horses)

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

match

1. imperative of matche

Spanish

Noun

match m (plural matches)

1. match (sporting event)

Swedish

Noun

match c

1. match

Declension

English

Etymology

Possibly from Middle English sniken (“to creep, crawl”), from Old English sn?can (“to creep, crawl”), from Proto-West Germanic *sn?kan, from Proto-Germanic *sn?kan? (“to creep, crawl”), which is related to the root of snake. Compare Danish snige (“to sneak”), Swedish snika (“to sneak, hanker after”), Icelandic sníkja (“to sneak, hanker after”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sni?k/
• Rhymes: -i?k

Noun

sneak (plural sneaks)

1. One who sneaks; one who moves stealthily to acquire an item or information.

2. The act of sneaking
3. A cheat; a con artist.

   Synonyms: con artist, trickster; see also Thesaurus:confidence trickster, Thesaurus:deceiver

4. An informer; a tell-tale.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:informant

5. (obsolete, cricket) A ball bowled so as to roll along the ground; a daisy-cutter
6. (US) A sneaker; a tennis shoe.
   • 2014, Faye McKnight, Goodnight, Bob (page 9)

     We would have been laughed off the street in Philadelphia if we were seen wearing sneaks. In the big city, the young population wore loafers or boots.

7. (American football) A play where the quarterback receives the snap and immediately dives forward.

Translations

Verb

sneak (third-person singular simple present sneaks, present participle sneaking, simple past and past participle sneaked or snuck)

1. (intransitive) To creep or go stealthily; to come or go while trying to avoid detection, as a person who does not wish to be seen.

   Synonym: skulk

2. (transitive) To take something stealthily without permission.

3. (ditransitive) To stealthily bring someone something.

4. (transitive, dated) To hide, especially in a mean or cowardly manner.
   • 1701, William Wake, A rationale upon some texts of Scripture

     [Slander] sneaks its head.

5. (intransitive, informal, with on) To inform an authority of another's misdemeanours.

   Synonyms: grass, snitch, tell tales

Usage notes

• The past and past participle snuck is primarily found in North American English, where it originated in the late 19th century as a dialectal form. It is still regarded as informal by some, but its use appears to be increasing in frequency and acceptability. It is occasionally found in British and Australian/Hiberno-English, too, though regarded as an American form. (See Oxford Dictionaries, The Cambridge Guide to English Usage, Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, Webster's New World College Dictionary.)
• Informally, snook is also often found as the past tense. It is considered nonstandard.
• To sneak (take) something is not the same as to steal something. In this sense, sneak typically implies trying to avoid a supervisor's or guardian's mild displeasure or mild discipline, while steal indicates a more serious action and often the person stealing does not know the owner of the item being stolen.

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

sneak (not comparable)

1. In advance; before release to the general public.

2. In a stealthy or surreptitious manner.

Derived terms

• sneak attack
• sneak peek
• sneak preview

Anagrams

• Kasen, Keans, Snake, akens, asken, kaens, kenas, nakes, skean, snake

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English sneak

Verb

sneak

1. first-person singular present indicative of sneaken
2. imperative of sneaken