different between mattress vs mastress

English

Etymology

From Middle English materas, from Old French, from Arabic ???????? (ma?ra?, “place where something is thrown”), from ??????? (?ara?a, “to throw”). Compare divan, from Persian via Turkish (both of Middle Eastern origin, due to the local custom of lying on padding on floor being foreign to Europeans).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?mæt??s/

Noun

mattress (plural mattresses)

1. A pad on which a person can recline and sleep, usually having an inner section of coiled springs covered with foam or other cushioning material then enclosed with cloth fabric.
2. A form of retaining wall used to support foundations or an embankment

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• bottom sheet
• futon

Verb

mattress (third-person singular simple present mattresses, present participle mattressing, simple past and past participle mattressed)

1. (transitive) To cover with a thick layer, like a mattress; to blanket.
   • 1997, Andrew R. M. Patterson, A planet through a field of stars (page 123)

     A comfortable litter of pine needles had mattressed the ground and spreading branches had been a canopy overhead.

Anagrams

• smart set, smartest, smatters

English

Noun

mastress (plural mastresses)

1. Obsolete form of mistress.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Chaucer to this entry?)

Anagrams

• rest mass, restmass