moult

[mohlt]

verb (used with or without object), noun British.

molt

[mohlt]

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

Examples from the Web for moult

Contemporary Examples of moult

As lobsters grow, they moult their hard exoskeletons—often eating them—which means that they can reach astonishing sizes.
My Big, Buttery Lobster Roll Rumble: We Came, We Clawed, We Conquered
Scott Bixby
June 7, 2014

Historical Examples of moult

You always choose February to moult in, and you will have to be feathered down there.
Love and Lucy
Maurice Henry Hewlett
Jack was caught two or three times, and Dan and Moult as often.
The Innocents Abroad
Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
Head black (with some white after the moult at Christmas), abdomen black.
Indian Birds
Douglas Dewar
From the French muer, and the Latin mutare, to change, of hawks to moult.
The Master of Game
Second Duke of York, Edward
During a moult the cuticle of the head is cast separately from that of the body.
Garden Pests in New Zealand
D. Miller

British Dictionary definitions for moult

moult

US molt

verb

(of birds, mammals, reptiles, and arthropods) to shed (feathers, hair, skin, or cuticle)

noun

the periodic process of moultingSee also ecdysis

Derived Formsmoulter or US molter, noun

Word Origin for moult

C14 mouten, from Old English mūtian, as in bimūtian to exchange for, from Latin mūtāre to change

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 moult

see 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.