mating
mating — verb
1. when two animals come together to have sex so that the female can become pregnan
when two animals come together to have sex so that the female can become pregnant and produce babies; when a person pairs animals so that this happens, such as on a farm or in a zoo.
The two pandas at Taipei Zoo began mating in early March.
intransitive: [animal]s mate
The farmer decided to mate his best sheep with a champion ram from a neighbouring farm.
transitive: mate [animal] with [animal]
These seabirds return to the same cliff every spring to mate and raise their chicks.
Ritu watched the sea turtles mate at the conservation centre on the coast.
The zoo's breeding programme lets the rarest eagles mate in a quiet, safe enclosure.
文法句型
mate (intransitive)
mate [animal] with [animal] (transitive)
用法筆記
Primarily used of animals and other non-human living things. Describing humans as 'mating' sounds clinical or deliberately dehumanising; for people, use 'have sex' or the more formal 'engage in sexual intercourse'. In transitive use (when a person causes animals to reproduce), the object is always an animal species.
常見錯誤
mating — noun
1. the act or process of a male and a female animal coming together to produce youn
the act or process of a male and a female animal coming together to produce young, including the special behaviours, sounds, or signals they show when ready to reproduce.
The mating of the zoo's two rare clouded leopards was captured on a night-vision camera.
the mating of [animal]s
Ritu observed the mating habits of the tree frogs near the pond all spring.
collocation: mating habits
Mating season for grey wolves in this region usually begins in late February.
The male bird of paradise performs an elaborate dance as part of its mating ritual.
Shanti heard the frogs' mating call coming from the pond behind her house.
- breeding
more general; can include raising young, not just the sex act
- copulation
strictly about the physical act; formal and technical
- reproduction
covers the whole process from mating to birth
文法句型
mating + [noun] — used as a modifier (mating season, mating call)
the mating of [animals]
用法筆記
Uncountable — do not say 'a mating' or 'mating s'. The word appears frequently as a modifier in compound nouns: mating season (the time of year when a species reproduces), mating call (a sound made to attract a partner), mating ritual (a set of behaviours before or during mating). Not used for human sexual activity — use 'sex' or 'intercourse' instead.