molt

[ mohlt ]

/ moʊlt /

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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.

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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

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

BORN THIS WEEK Natalie Portman (June 9, 1981) The molting one herself is a Gemini ruled by winged Mercury.
Horoscopes for June 5-11, 2011|Starsky + Cox|June 4, 2011|DAILY BEAST
I could bear the cage myself, I'd learned to do that; but I didn't want another she‑bird molting around.
The Silver Butterfly|Mrs. Wilson Woodrow
The molting season had not yet arrived, nor would she have shed all these feathers at the same moment.
Bird Lore, Volume I--1899|Various
The specimens were molting (3-4 P old) into winter plumage and showed little or no subcutaneous fat.
Vertebrates from the Barrier Island of Tamaulipas, Mxico|Robert K Selander

He thinks this seems to indicate that Loons lose the ability to fly during molting, as do the Anseres.
Journal of Entomology and Zoology: Volume 6, Number 4, December 1914|Various
A certain melting and molten and molting lady had told him that he had poet's eyes like Julian Street's and was almost as witty.
We Can't Have Everything|Rupert Hughes

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

Scientific definitions for molt

molt

[ mōlt ]

To shed an outer covering, such as skin or feathers, for replacement by a new growth. Many snakes, birds, and arthropods molt.

molt

Origin of molt

OTHER WORDS FROM molt

Words related to molt

How to use molt in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for molt

Scientific definitions for molt