MOULT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does moult mean? 

• MOULT (noun)
  The noun MOULT has 1 sense:

1. periodic shedding of the cuticle in arthropods or the outer skin in reptiles

  Familiarity information: MOULT used as a noun is very rare.

• MOULT (verb)
  The verb MOULT has 1 sense:

1. cast off hair, skin, horn, or feathers

  Familiarity information: MOULT used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MOULT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Periodic shedding of the cuticle in arthropods or the outer skin in reptiles

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Synonyms:

ecdysis; molt; molting; moult; moulting

Hypernyms ("moult" is a kind of...):

shedding; sloughing (the process whereby something is shed)

Derivation:

moult (cast off hair, skin, horn, or feathers)

• MOULT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they moult    ... he / she / it moults   
Past simple: moulted   
Past participle: moulted   
-ing form: moulting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cast off hair, skin, horn, or feathers

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

exuviate; molt; moult; shed; slough

Context example:

our dog sheds every Spring

Hypernyms (to "moult" is one way to...):

cast; cast off; drop; shake off; shed; throw; throw away; throw off (get rid of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "moult"):

desquamate; peel off (peel off in scales)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

moult (periodic shedding of the cuticle in arthropods or the outer skin in reptiles)

moulter (an animal (especially birds and arthropods and reptiles) that periodically shed their outer layer (feathers or cuticle or skin or hair))

moulting (periodic shedding of the cuticle in arthropods or the outer skin in reptiles)

 Context examples 

Yet here you bring me to a shred of a man, peaky and ill-nourished, with eyes like a moulting owl, who must needs, forsooth, take counsel with his mother ere he buckle sword to girdle.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This is how it runs: 'A le moult puissant et moult honorable chevalier, Sir Nigel Loring de Christchurch, de son tres fidele ami Sir Claude Latour, capitaine de la Compagnie blanche, chatelain de Biscar, grand seigneur de Montchateau, vavaseur de le renomme Gaston, Comte de Foix, tenant les droits de la haute justice, de la milieu, et de la basse.'

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)