mating

• IPA^(key): /ˈmeɪtɪŋ/
• Rhymes: -eɪtɪŋ

mating (not comparable)

1. Fitting into or onto a corresponding part, as a matched plug and socket.

mating (plural matings)

1. (zoology) Pairing of organisms for copulation.
   • 1981, Henry Foster, The Mouse in Biomedical Research, page 96:

     The progeny of backcrosses and intercrosses will form some incrosses and some matings of other types.

2. (zoology) Sexual union; copulation.
   • 2013 May-June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 206-7:

     Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.

• pairing

mating

1. present participle of mate

• taming