Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Mate \Mate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Mated}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Mating}.]
   1. To match; to marry.

            If she be mated with an equal husband. --Shak.

   2. To match one's self against; to oppose as equal; to
      compete with.

            There is no passion in the mind of man so weak but
            it mates and masters the fear of death. --Bacon.

            I, . . . in the way of loyalty and truth, . . . Dare
            mate a sounder man than Surrey can be. --Shak.

Source : WordNet®

mating
     n : the act of pairing a male and female for reproductive
         purposes; "the casual couplings of adolescents"; "the
         mating of some species occurs only in the spring" [syn: {coupling},
          {pairing}, {conjugation}, {union}, {sexual union}]