molt

[mohlt]

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verb (used without object)

(of birds, insects, reptiles, etc.) to cast or shed the feathers, skin, or the like, that will be replaced by a new growth.

verb (used with object)

to cast or shed (feathers, skin, etc.) in the process of renewal.

noun

an act, process, or an instance of molting.

something that is dropped in molting.

Also especially British, moult.

Origin of molt

1300–50; earlier mout (with intrusive -l-; cf. fault, assault), Middle English mouten, Old English -mūtian to change (in bi-mūtian to exchange for) < Latin mūtāre to change; see mutate

Related formsmolt·er, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for molt

exuviate, decorticate, peel, slough, doff

Examples from the Web for molt

Historical Examples of molt

The young ticks have only six legs (Fig. 15) but after the first molt they all have eight.
Insects and Diseases
Rennie W. Doane
That commission is performed; if he wants any of it, Molt shall use him fairly.
The Journal to Stella
Jonathan Swift
This places the period of molt as September, October, and November.
The Avifauna of Micronesia, Volume 3
Rollin H. Baker
Most of the specimens examined, that were taken in this period, are in molt.
The Avifauna of Micronesia, Volume 3
Rollin H. Baker
Some of the specimens obtained in November and December are in molt.
The Avifauna of Micronesia, Volume 3
Rollin H. Baker

British Dictionary definitions for molt

molt

verb, noun

the usual US spelling of moult

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for molt

also moult, mid-14c., mouten, of feathers, "to be shed," from Old English *mutian "to change" (cf. bemutian "to exchange"), from Latin mutare "to change" (see mutable). Transitive sense, of birds, "to shed feathers" is first attested 1520s. With parasitic -l-, late 16c., on model of fault, etc. Related: Molted, moulted; molting, moulting. As a noun from 1815.