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moult

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Moult

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English mouten, from Old English *mutian (attested in bemutian, “to exchange for”), from Latin mūtō (“to (re)move, change, vary, mutate, exchange, abandon”). Doublet of mute and mutate. The unetymological ⟨l⟩ was introduced into the spelling by mistakenly assuming a French origin with -l- as in fault and vault; compare solder, which in contrast has an etymological ⟨l⟩ (from Latin solidāre, “to make solid“) but was historically pronounced without that grapheme's sound.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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moult (plural moults)

  1. The process of shedding or losing a covering of fur, feathers or skin etc.
    Synonyms: ecdysis, moulting
    Some birds change colour during their winter moult.
  2. The skin or feathers cast off during the process of moulting.
    Synonym: exuvia

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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moult (third-person singular simple present moults, present participle moulting, simple past and past participle moulted)

  1. (intransitive) To undergo the process of shedding or losing a covering of hair or fur, feathers, skin, horns, etc, and replacing it with a fresh one; to change by moulting.
    Synonym: shed
    Hyponym: slough
    Birds moult periodically.
    • 1899, The Chautauquan, volume 29, page 134:
      […] molted into a new suit so that he could fly.
    • 1906, The Avicultural Magazine, volume 4, page 80:
      […] ; but each bird, Red or Black, male or female, has invariably moulted true to colour - a Black has never moulted into a Red.
    • 1911, Report of the Director of Veterinary Research, page 212:
      The engorged nymphae were collected on the 2nd August, 1910, and moulted into adults on the 19th September, 1910. Later, they were placed on cattle […]
    • 2010, Robin Restall, Munias and Mannikins, page 19:
      […] One of the few Streak-headed Mannikins which I kept moulted into its second-year plumage with a pair of white feathers on its breast and a Scaly-breasted Munia grew several white primaries, as did a White-spotted Mannikin.
    • 2020, Kurone Kanzaki, Demon Lord, Retry! Volume 4:
      […] to grow and molt into a new version of herself.
    • 2022, Christoph C. Pfisterer, Nicole Rathgeb, Eva Schmidt, Wittgenstein and Beyond: Essays in Honour of Hans-Johann Glock, page 1994:
      With the personnel changes at Oxford, Reading could moult into a new centre for Wittgenstein studies, which also included John Preston and Max de Gaynesford .
    • 2025, Andrew Joseph White, chapter 2, in You Weren't Meant to Be Human: A Novel:
      Tammy will get the girl a phone and some clothes, […] Some woman from a Georgia hive will build a fake ID and ship it up in a few weeks. Whoever Jess was before will shrivel away, and a new person will molt—so to speak—into its place.
  2. (transitive) To shed in such a manner.
    • 1929, Percy MacKaye, Claude Merton Wise, The Sphinx: A Comedy in One Act, page 35:
      Turtle-droves […] moulted their feathers.

Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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  • A cicada moulting
    A cicada moulting
  • A cockroach moulting
    A cockroach moulting
  • A cicada molting
    A cicada molting
  • A snake moulting

Further reading

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French

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Etymology

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Inherited from Middle French moult, from Old French mut (with a silent ⟨l⟩ inserted per the Latin etymon), from earlier Old French mult~molt, from Latin multus, from Proto-Indo-European *ml̥tos (“crumbled, crumpled”, past passive participle). After having largely disappeared from the spoken language, where it was replaced by beaucoup, the term is now occasionally heard again, often with a spelling-pronunciation.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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moult (feminine moulte, masculine plural moults, feminine plural moultes)

  1. (formerly archaic or regional) many; a lot of
    Synonym: beaucoup

Adverb

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moult

  1. (archaic or regional) much; a lot

Usage notes

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Used both as invariable and variable adjective:

Après moult hésitations, il prit cette décision. (invariable)
After much hesitation he made this decision.
Et, pour finir, moulte chose
Blanche et noire, effet et cause […] (variable)[1]
And, to finish, many a thing
White and black, effect and cause […]

References

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  1. ^ Paul Verlaine (1896), “Prologue”, in Chair, published 1901

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Middle French

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Alternative forms

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  • mlt (manuscript abbreviation)

Etymology

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From Old French molt, mout, from Latin multus.

Adverb

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moult

  1. much; a lot

Descendants

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  • French: moult
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