MAT'TER, n. [L. materia; Heb. to measure; L. metior.]

1. Substance excreted from living animal bodies; that which is thrown out or discharged in a tumor, boil or abscess; pus; purulent substance collected in an abscess, the effect of suppuration more or less perfect; as, digested matter; sanious matter.
2. Body; substance extended; that which is visible or tangible; as, earth, wood, stone, air, vapor, water.
3. In a more general and philosophic sense, the substance of which all bodies are composed; the substratum of sensible qualities, though the parts composing the substratum may not be visible or tangible. Encyc. Matter is usually divided by philosophical writers into four kinds or classes; solid, liquid, aeriform, and imponderable. Solid substances are those whose parts firmly cohere and resist impression, as wood or stone; liquids have free motion among their parts, and easily yield to impression, as water and wine. Aeriform substances are elastic fluids, called vapors and gases, as air and oxygen gas. The imponderable substances are destitute of weight, as light, caloric, electricity and magnetism.
4. Subject; thing treated; that about which we write or speak; that which employs thought or excites emotion; as, this is matter of praise, of gratitude, or of astonishment. Son of God, Savior of men, thy name / Shall he the copious matter of my song. Milton.
5. The very thing supposed or intended. He grants the deluge to have come so very near the matter, that few escaped. Tillotson.
6. Affair; business; event; thing; course of things. Matters have succeeded well thus far; observe how matters stand; thus the matter rests at present; thus the matter ended. To help the matter, the alchimists call in many vanities from astrology. Bacon. Some young female seems to have carried matters so far, that she is ripe for asking advice. Spectator.
7. Cause of any event, as of any disturbance, or of a disease, or of a difficulty. When a moving machine stops suddenly, we ask, what is the matter? When a person is ill, we ask, what is the matter? When a tumult or quarrel takes place, we ask, what is the matter?
8. Subject of complaint; suit; demand. If the matter should be tried by duel between two champions. Bacon. Every great matter they shall bring to thee, but every small matter they shall judge. Exod. xviii.
9. Import; consequence; importance; moment. A prophet some, and some a poet cry, / No matter which, so neither of them lie. Dryden.
10. Space of time; a portion of distance. I have thoughts to tarry a small matter. Congreve. Away he goes, a matter of seven miles. L'Estrange. Upon the matter, considering the whole; taking all things into view. This phrase is now obsolete; but in lieu of it, we sometimes use, upon the whole matter. Waller, with Sir William Balfour, exceeded in horse, but were, upon the whole matter, equal in foot. Clarendon. Matter of record, that which is recorded, or which may be proved by record.

1. To be of importance; to import; used with it, this, that, or what. This matters not; that matters not; chiefly used in negative phrases; as, what matters it? It matters not how they are called, so we know who they are. Locke.
2. To maturate; to form pus; to collect, as matter in an abscess. Each slight sore mattereth. [Little used.] Sidney. [We now use maturate.]

To regard. [Not used.]

1. That of which anything is composed; constituent substance; material; the material or substantial part of anything; the constituent elements of conception; that into which a notion may be analyzed; the essence; the pith; the embodiment.
   
   

   He is the matter of virtue. B. Jonson.

2. To be of importance] to import; to signify.
   
   

   It matters not how they were called. Locke.

3. To regard as important; to take account of; to care for.
   
   
   [Obs.]

   He did not matter cold nor hunger. H. Brooke.

4. That of which the sensible universe and all existent bodies are composed; anything which has extension, occupies space, or is perceptible by the senses; body; substance.
   
   

   * Matter is usually divided by philosophical writers into three kinds or classes: solid, liquid, and aëriform. Solid substances are those whose parts firmly cohere and resist impression, as wood or stone. Liquids have free motion among their parts, and easily yield to impression, as water and wine. Aëriform substances are elastic fluids, called vapors and gases, as air and oxygen gas.

5. To form pus or matter, as an abscess; to maturate.
   
   
   [R.] "Each slight sore mattereth." Sir P. Sidney.
6. That with regard to, or about which, anything takes place or is done; the thing aimed at, treated of, or treated; subject of action, discussion, consideration, feeling, complaint, legal action, or the like; theme.
   
   
   "If the matter should be tried by duel." Bacon.

   Son of God, Savior of men ! Thy name
   Shall be the copious matter of my song. Milton.

   Every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge. Ex. xviii. 22.

7. That which one has to treat, or with which one has to do; concern; affair; business.
   
   

   To help the matter, the alchemists call in many vanities out of astrology. Bacon.

   Some young female seems to have carried matters so far, that she is ripe for asking advice. Spectator.

8. Affair worthy of account; thing of consequence; importance; significance; moment; -- chiefly in the phrases what matter ? no matter, and the like.
   
   

   A prophet some, and some a poet, cry;
   No matter which, so neither of them lie. Dryden.

9. Inducing cause or occasion, especially of anything disagreeable or distressing; difficulty; trouble.
   
   

   And this is the matter why interpreters upon that passage in Hosea will not consent it to be a true story, that the prophet took a harlot to wife. Milton.

10. Amount; quantity; portion; space; -- often indefinite.
    
    

    Away he goes, . . . a matter of seven miles. L' Estrange.

    I have thoughts to tarry a small matter. Congreve.

    No small matter of British forces were commanded over sea the year before. Milton.

11. Substance excreted from living animal bodies; that which is thrown out or discharged in a tumor, boil, or abscess; pus; purulent substance.
12. That which is permanent, or is supposed to be given, and in or upon which changes are effected by psychological or physical processes and relations; -- opposed to form.
    
    
    Mansel.
13. Written manuscript, or anything to be set in type; copy; also, type set up and ready to be used, or which has been used, in printing.
    
    

    Dead matter (Print.), type which has been used, or which is not to be used, in printing, and is ready for distribution. -- Live matter (Print.), type set up, but not yet printed from. -- Matter in bar, Matter of fact. See under Bar, and Fact. -- Matter of record, anything recorded. -- Upon the matter, or Upon the whole matter, considering the whole; taking all things into view.

    Waller, with Sir William Balfour, exceeded in horse, but were, upon the whole matter, equal in foot. Clarendon.