molt
(of birds, insects, reptiles, etc.) to cast or shed the feathers, skin, or the like, that will be replaced by a new growth.
to cast or shed (feathers, skin, etc.) in the process of renewal.
an act, process, or an instance of molting.
something that is dropped in molting.
Origin of molt
1- Also especially British, moult .
Other words from molt
- molter, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use molt in a sentence
This coat remains until the following summer or fall, when it is molted and replaced by a new one.
Our Domestic Birds | John H. RobinsonSo valuable have these been considered that it has been a practice to pluck the live geese each year before they molted.
Our Domestic Birds | John H. RobinsonFor example, the designation "4 P old" signifies that all primaries except the distal four have been molted.
Vertebrates from the Barrier Island of Tamaulipas, Mxico | Robert K SelanderThe rope twisted and whipped in the air, and the result was a molted-looking, droop-tailed buzzard.
Mr. Wicker's Window | Carley DawsonUpper wing-coverts and secondaries fuscous-black (freshly molted feathers blacker) narrowly edged with olive-ocher.
Descriptions of Three New Birds from the Belgian Congo | James Chapin
British Dictionary definitions for molt
/ (məʊlt) /
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
Scientific definitions for molt
[ mōlt ]
To shed an outer covering, such as skin or feathers, for replacement by a new growth. Many snakes, birds, and arthropods molt.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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