molt
[mohlt]
- (of birds, insects, reptiles, etc.) to cast or shed the feathers, skin, or the like, that will be replaced by a new growth.
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- to cast or shed (feathers, skin, etc.) in the process of renewal.
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- 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
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for molting
Contemporary Examples
BORN THIS WEEK Natalie Portman (June 9, 1981) The molting one herself is a Gemini ruled by winged Mercury.
Historical Examples
Exuviation: the act of molting: the cast-off skin or exuvium.
Explanation of Terms Used in EntomologyJohn. B. Smith
By far the greater number of birds are caught during the molting season.
The Central EskimoFranz Boas
Get the eggs; watch the hatching, the molting, the transformations.
The molting is an interesting process, and can be readily observed.
Elementary Zoology, Second EditionVernon L. Kellogg
In the last years of Elizabeth, Puritanism was molting, not dying.
The Beginners of a NationEdward Eggleston.
molt
- the usual US spelling of moult
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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 molting
molt
v.
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.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
molt
(mōlt)- To shed periodically part or all of a coat or an outer covering, such as feathers, cuticle, or skin, which is then replaced by a new growth.
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- The act or process of molting.
- The material cast off during molting.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
molt
[mōlt]
- To shed an outer covering, such as skin or feathers, for replacement by a new growth. Many snakes, birds, and arthropods molt.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.