Quote (dro94 @ Apr 29 2015 04:22pm)
mate1
meɪt/Submit
noun
1.
the sexual partner of a bird or other animal.
"a male bird sings to court a mate"
informal
one of a matched pair.
"a sock without its mate"
2.
a fellow member or joint occupant of a specified thing.
"his table-mates"
It's the primary definition of the word, to be fair.
So, to be fair, you DID mean it that way?
He did not ask for "primary definition" or "denotation" (not that I expect him to know any of those words and concepts anyway), he asked for the meaning and I told him exactly what it means in this context and how everybody uses it here.

To be fair.
