Definition of "matey" in English

adjective

1. (UK) Sociable or friendly.

   • You've been very matey with that new bird.
   • 2002, Jon Latimer, Alamein, page 128, he wrote: ‘They took a bit of getting used to. I was dressed as a general and they treated me in the most matey way, but despite this it was easy to see that there was nothing wrong with their battle discipline.’

noun

1. (informal) Diminutive of mate, friend.

   • Hello, matey, just back from the pub?
   • 1920, Francis Stevens (Gertrude Barrows Bennett), Claimed, 2009, Munsey′s, page 49, And take my advice, matey. When yer buys it, don′t yer make Lutz′s mistake and think yer can wriggle out easy.

2. (nautical, slang) A fellow sailor; often used affectedly, especially when portraying a pirate.

   • Ahoy mateys, scrub the deck!
   • c. 1906, Herbert Strang (pseudonym), In Clive′s Command, 2006, Echo Library, page 35, “Well, we are and we en′t, eh, mateys? The Waterman′s Rest en′t exactly the kind of place to spend shore leave; it en′t a patch on Wapping or Rotherhithe. […] ”

3. (nautical, slang) A dockyard worker.