Word.ws English Dictionary

matross

UK/məˈtɹɒs/

matross noun: an artilleryman next in rank to a gunner; a gunner's mate, especially one who assists the gunners in loading, firing, and sponging the guns.

Noun

matross (plural matrosses)

  1. (historical) An artilleryman next in rank to a gunner; a gunner's mate, especially one who assists the gunners in loading, firing, and sponging the guns.
    • [T]he matrosses, in their annual gesture of amity, had torn the sky with the largest piece of ordnance in the Great Keep […].1980, Gene Wolfe, chapter V, in The Shadow of the Torturer (The Book of the New Sun; 1), New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 48

Forms of matross

pluralmatrosses

Origin of matross

From Dutch matroos (“sailor, seaman”), essentially from French matelot (“seaman”), from Middle Dutch mattenoot. Compare German Matrose, Swedish matros, Danish matros, and Crimean Tatar matros. Doublet of matelot.

Questions about matross

What does matross mean?
Matross means an artilleryman next in rank to a gunner; a gunner's mate, especially one who assists the gunners in loading, firing, and sponging the guns.
What part of speech is matross?
Matross is a noun.
How do you pronounce matross?
Matross is pronounced /məˈtɹɒs/ (UK).
What is the plural of matross?
The plural of matross is matrosses.

Words near matross in the dictionary

  1. matronymically
  2. matronymics
  3. matronyms
  4. Matroosberg
  5. matrophobia
  6. matross
  7. matrosses
  8. matrotroph
  9. matrotrophic
  10. matrotrophs
  11. matrotrophy

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: matross (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “matross.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/matross. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.