molt

[ mohlt ]

/ moʊlt /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR molt ON THESAURUS.COM

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.

Nearby words

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

Examples from the Web for molt

The changes in color are effected by molt, one in autumn and one in spring.
American Weasels|E. Raymond Hall
After the molt, autumn finds him once more in flock, and with the first frosts he is off again to the South.
Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 1 (of 6)|Havelock Ellis
The Sharp-tailed Sparrow has a complete pre-nuptial, as well as a complete postnuptial, molt.
Comparative Breeding Behavior of Ammospiza caudacuta and A. maritima|Glen E. Woolfenden
Thereafter, molt proceeds posteriorly over the shoulder region and more or less evenly along the back and sides.
Mammals of Northwestern South Dakota|Kenneth W. Andersen

Half or more of the dorsum is oftentimes involved in the same stage of molt at once.
Mammals of Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado|Sydney Anderson

British Dictionary definitions for molt

molt

/ (məʊlt) /

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

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.