▪ I. mood, n.1
(muːd)
Forms: 1 mód, 3–5 mod, 3 modd, 4–5 Sc. mud, mwde, 5 modde, moed(e, 4–6 mode, north. and Sc. mude, 5 north. moyde, 6 moud, Sc. moyd, muyd, 5–7 moode, 3– mood.
[Com. Teut.: OE. mód neut. = OFris. môd neut., mind, thought, intention, OS. môd masc., mind, courage (MDu. moet, moed-, Du. moed masc.), OHG. muot masc., mind, thought, courage (MLG. muot, mod.G. mut), ON. móð-r masc., anger, grief (Sw. mod neut., Da. mod courage), Goth. môþ-s, môd- anger, emotion:—OTeut. *mōdo-, f. pre-Teut. root *mō-: mē-: mə- (in Doric Gr. µῶ-σθαι to seek after, OSl. sŭ-měti to venture, Gr. µα-τεύειν to seek).]
† 1. Mind. heart, thought, feeling. Obs.
| a 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. iv. xxx. (1890) 374 God onsende in ðara broðra mod, þæt heo woldan his ban ᵹeneoman. c 1205 Lay. 11 Hit com him on mode & on his mern þonke þet he wolde of Engle þa æðelæn tellen. Ibid. 4489 Heo hauede enne leoue-mon..Þe leof hire weis on mode [c 1275 on heorte]. a 1225 Ancr. R. 240 Nim ofte iðine mode þene grime dom of domesdei. c 1275 Wom. Samaria 22 in O.E. Misc. 84 Wymmon, if þu vnderstode Hwo hit is þat drynke byd, þu woldest beon of oþer mode. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 103/85 Nov ich wot, quath þe Iustise, ȝware-to þou tornest þi mod. c 1300 Seyn Julian 103 (Ashm. MS.) Vor we nabbeþ power no mon to bringe in sunne aȝen is mode. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 163 If thou wolt take into thi mod Reson, thou myht be reson deeme That [etc.]. c 1400 Destr. Troy 515 For to mele with þat maidyn & hir mode here. |
2. With specific colouring. † a. Fierce courage; spirit, stoutness, pride.
| Beowulf 1167 He hæfde mod micel. c 1205 Lay. 25476 Ah cniht he wes wunder god & he hafde swiðe muchel mod. c 1290 Beket 1838 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 159 Heo bi-leueden al heore grete mod and heore þretningue al-so. a 1330 Otuel 1123 Þo was otuwel fol of mood, & fauȝt as he were wood. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 401 Maysterful mod & hyȝe pryde. 1375 Barbour Bruce xix. 622 The erll, that wes of mekill mude. a 1500 Syr Peny 117 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 166 Peny wyll mayster be, Prove nowe man of mode. [1579 Fenton Guicciard. xiii. (1599) 604 Not weighing in their glorious moodes, how farre the daunger exceeded the attempt.] |
† b. Anger. to peck, pick mood: to take offence, become angry. Obs.
| c 1175 Pater Noster 215 in Lamb. Hom. 67 For-ȝif þi wreððe and þi mod, for þenne is þi bode god. c 1205 Lay. 8792 Þat mines æmes muchele mod swa milde is iwurðen. 13.. Seuyn Sag. (W.) 262 And sone sche gan to pekke mod. c 1320 R. Brunne Medit. 345 To turne a waye from hem, fadyr, þy mode. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 3635 His herte wax angry & ful of mod. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 902 Til at the laste aslaked was his mood. c 1412 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 4347 But or þey twynned þens, þei pekkid moode. 1513 Skelton Agst. Scottes, Vnto diuers people 21 Who so therat pyketh mood, The tokens are not good To be true Englysh blood. c 1535 Redforde Play Wit & Sci. etc. (Shaks. Soc.) 101 Lord let thy mercye fall, And mytygate thy moode. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. iv. i. 51 Who, in my moode, I stab'd vnto the heart. 1600 Holland Livy i. x. 9 Mood without might is vain and bootlesse [orig. vanam sine viribus iram esse]. [1819 Scott Ivanhoe xxix, And now my father in his mood may slay this poor bondsman. 1855 Tennyson Maud i. i. xiv, What! am I raging alone as my father raged in his mood?] |
† c. Passionate grief. Obs.
| a 1300 K. Horn 1519 (Cambr. MS.) Rymenhild was ful of mode; He wep teres of blode. 13.. Guy Warw. (A.) 1549 Neyȝe his hert brast for mode, & for sorwe ȝede ner wode. c 1430 Syr Gener. (Roxb.) 1259 She wept, she sobbed, for grete moode. |
3. a. A frame of mind or state of feelings; one's humour, temper, or disposition at a particular time.
In early use not always distinguishable from sense 1.
| Beowulf 50 Him wæs ᵹeomor sefa, murnende mod. 971 Blickl. Hom. 7, & bliþe mode heo sang on þæm cantice. c 1200 Ormin 8945 Witt hafenn sohht te widewhar..Wiþþ serrhfull hertte & sariȝ mod. a 1250 Owl & Night. 8 And eyþer ayeyn oþer swal And let þat vuele mod vt al. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3577 So wurð he wroð, o mode sarp. a 1300 Cursor M. 7701 Dauid. þat was mild o mode. c 1300 Havelok 1703 Þo was Ubbe bliþe of mod, þat he saw him so fayr and hende. 1481 Caxton Reynard iv. (Arb.) 7 Tho spack Grymbart the dasse..with an angrey moed. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. iii. 8 With pittie calmd downe fell his angry mood. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. iii. ii. 272 Fortune is merry, And in this mood will giue vs any thing. 1638 R. Baillie Lett. (Bann. Cl.) I. 37 Thir reasones make the multitude in a high moode to flock to the Counsell-house. 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 382 But like mules they [sheep] are humoursome, and one must..expect their good mood before they will travail. a 1703 Burkitt On N.T. Luke ii. 38 Nature will have her good moods, but grace is steady. 1807 Med. Jrnl. XVII. 8 The self-dubbed Doctor retired in an angry mood. 1839 Keightley Hist. Eng. II. 52 Assailing him with a virulence of scurrility hardly exceeded by Luther in his worst moods. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xix, Miss Ophelia had never seen him in this mood before, and she sat perfectly silent. 1887 Bowen Virg. æneid iv. 424 Only to thee were his moods and his hours of tenderness known. |
| transf. 1816 Byron Siege Cor. xvi, Wildest of waves, in their angriest mood. 1872 Liddon Elem. Relig. ii. 58 Men talked about..the moods of Nature, the religion of Nature. |
b. to change († turn) one's mood: to change one's state of mind. Also, one's mood changes. (Cf. mind n.1 13.)
| a 1300 Siriz 109 Dame, dame, torn thi mod. 13.. K. Alis. 102 Y-chaunged was al his mod. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints l. (Katerine) 485 The emprioure þan changit his mud. ? a 1440 Morte Arth. 3222 Bot be ane aftyre mydnyghte alle his mode changede. 1551 Crowley Pleas. & Payne 19 No fende, therefore, shall chaynge your mode. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xxiv. 170 His mood was entirely changed. |
c. in a mood (for something), in the mood (to do something): disposed, inclined. Also † in the mood (of doing something).
| 1589 [see mood n.2 1 b]. 1613 Fletcher, etc. Captain v. iii, You'r pleasant, but Fabritio know I am not in the mood [printed wood] of Suffering jest. 1838 Thirlwall Greece III. xxv. 393 But the Council was not in a mood for such reflections. 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge ix, She was in no mood for sleep. 1880 M{supc}Carthy Own Times III. xlvii. 426 He saw what men were in the mood to do. |
d. pl. Fits of variable or unaccountable temper; esp. melancholy, gloomy, or bad-tempered fits.
| 1859 Tennyson Elaine 795 Then turn'd Sir Torre, and being in his moods Left them. 1863 ‘Holme Lee’ A. Warleigh II. 307 When first he asked me to marry him did I not say ‘No’..? Have I not told him since I should be dead with moods in a month? |
e. attrib. and as quasi-adj. That is intended to suggest, induce, recall, or depict a particular mood or frame of mind.
| 1898 G. B. Shaw Perfect Wagnerite 124 Beethoven had shown how those inarticulate mood-poems which surge through men who have..no exceptional command of words, can be written down in music as symphonies. 1927 Observer 14 Aug. 8 On the last side of 86 is Joseph Speaight's expressive little mood-picture for quartet, ‘The Lonely Shepherd’. 1940 A. Oboler Fourteen Radio Plays 257 Mood music, music as background to plant mood of scene. 1946 R. Hull in A. L. Bacharach Brit. Music xviii. 230 First-rate powers of argument are to the fore..but the variations themselves admit of mood-contrasts which keep the music free from any danger of dry impersonality. 1948 L. Levy Music for Movies x. 111 The slicker, more expressive phrase, ‘mood music’, which has been imported from the United States. 1955 D. Keene Who was Wilma Lathrop? ii. 19 ‘Would you prefer mood music?’.. Wilma stacked the spindle with records. 1957 Manvell & Huntley Technique Film Music i. 22 To help them in this task, volumes of classified ‘mood’ music began to appear as early as 1913, when the Sam Fox Moving Picture Music Volumes by J. S. Zamecnik were published. 1960 Times 28 Sept. 15/4 The Moon of the Caribbees hardly more than a mood piece. 1962 Listener 27 Dec. 1102/2 They seem to me to be mood-poetry in a pejorative sense. 1969 J. Burmeister Hot & Copper Sky ii. 39 ‘What did you sing?’.. ‘Oldies, {oqq}Body and Soul{cqq}. {oqq}Smoke Gets In Your Eyes{cqq}. {oqq}Blue Moon{cqq}. Strictly mood.’ 1970 Daily Tel. 20 May 16/8 It says much for Mr Wesker's delicate mood-piece that it nevertheless made an effect. 1972 H. Kemelman Monday the Rabbi Took Off xiv. 99 The organ had been playing mood music, a series of mournful cadenzas in a minor key. |
f. Comb. mood swing Psychol., an abrupt change of mood without apparent cause which is associated with some forms of mental instability.
| 1942 Amer. Jrnl. Orthopsychiatry IV. 715 Present methods of examining candidates for the air service are good so far as they go since they inquire into the presence of such symptoms as enuresis, somnambulism, mood swings, or phobias. 1943 J. W. Macfarlane in R. Barker et al. Child Behavior & Devel. xviii. 316/1 At year five, four clusters were apparent. The first included quarrelsomeness, mood swings, negativism,..and competitiveness. 1965 J. Pollitt Depression & its Treatment i. 5 Manic-depressive type... Commoner among those with a family history of mood swings or similar illness. 1970 H. P. Laughlin Ego & Defenses xiii. 201 An interesting..application of the principles of Inversion is encountered in the area of mood and mood swings. |
4. Formerly used in many alliterative collocations: a. with verbs, as to mend, amend, mese one's mood; to mar, meng, meve (= move) one's mood; also marred, meved, etc., in one's mood. Also to mourn in mood, to mean one's mood (mean v.2), mean oneself of one's mood.
| c 1205 Lay. 3407 His mod him gon mengen, he morȝnede swiðe. a 1225 [see meng v. 3]. a 1300 Cursor M. 2259 Bot sua he mengud þam þair mode, Þat naman oþer vndirstode O his spece wat he wald sai. Ibid. 3059 Quils sco hir mened of hir mode Comfort had sco son ful gode. a 1300–1400 [see mean v.2 1 b]. a 1300 [see mend v. 2]. c 1325 Spec. Gy de Warewyke 123 Hit is a derne mourni[n]g in mod. 13.. [see mese v.]. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. x. 263 Why meuestow þi mode for a mote in þi brotheres eye. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 3454 Mane, amende thy mode, or thow myshappene. c 1440 York Myst. xxii. 43 He has fastid, þat marris his mode, Ther fourty dayes with-owten foode. c 1470 Henry Wallace vii. 1099 Als Inglismen sair murnyt in thar mude. a 1510 Douglas K. Hart i. 170 Out of mesour marrit in thair mude. 1513 ― æneis i. ii. 13 Witht sceptour in hand thair muyd to meis and still. a 1518 Skelton Magnyf. 2394 He may mende your mode. a 1529 ― Bowge of Courte 317 Meuyd all in moode. |
† b. (with) mood and main, main and mood, mood and might. (Cf. main n.1 2, might n. 5.)
Cf. OS. môd endi meginkraft (Hel. 156).
| a 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. i. xvi. (1890) 54 Ða ongunnon heo sticce mælum mod & mæᵹen monian. 971 Blickl. Hom. 97 Forðon we sceolan mid ealle mod & mæᵹene to Gode ᵹecyrran. c 1300 Cursor M. 2624 Þou sal hir serue wit mode and mayn. Ibid. 23584 To wirscip þat godd þam had fordight, Þai graid þam bath mode and might. a 1352 Minot Poems (ed. Hall) vi. 77 God..Strenkith him main & mode His reght in France to win. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 555 Þai þat loues god with mayne and mode. c 1460 Towneley Myst. xix. 157 With moyde and mayn. 1560 [see meng v. 3]. |
Senses 3 e–f in Dict. become 3 f–g. Add: [3.] [a.] Also, a general feeling among a group of people, a prevailing temper.
| 1902 Edin. Rev. July 39 Campbell's ‘Soldier's Dream’ is the most beautiful rendering in English verse of the war-weary mood. 1972 B. Moore Catholics i. 10 There were no miracles, there was no hysteria, there was not even a special fervour. The mood was nostalgic. 1989 Daily Tel. 16 Nov. 19/5, I wasn't unhappy to give it [sc. modelling] up. There's a different mood now... It's more a celebrity catwalk than a career. |
e. A pervading atmosphere or tone (as of a specific place or event), esp. one which induces a certain state of mind or emotion.
| 1906 G. B. Shaw in A. L. Coburn Alvin Langdon Coburn, Photographer (1966) iii. 36 In landscape he shows the same power. He is not seduced by the picturesque... His impulse is always to convey a mood and not to impart local information. 1919 E. O'Neill Moon of Caribbees 32 Brooding music, faint and far-off, like the mood of the moonlight made audible. 1976 Outdoor Living (N.Z.) I. ii. 43/3 (Advt.), You can choose a fence that enhances the general mood of your home. 1990 Artist's & Illustrator's Mag. May 25 (caption) The sky, which always determines the mood of the landscape is registered using blue green, blue violet, red crimson, yellow gold and grey. |
g. mood drug colloq., a psychotropic drug; also mood control drug.
| 1970 Time 10 Aug. 44/2 There is some opposition to the use of *mood drugs for children. 1971 Sunday Times 24 Oct. 6/6 Overuse of mood drugs is becoming increasingly acute. 1986 Sun 17 June 2/3 He was treated last week by a doctor specialising in *mood-control drugs. |
mood elevator n. colloq., a mood-elevating drug, spec. an antidepressant; also, anything which improves one's mood or raises one's spirits.
| 1977 Addictive Dis. III. 283 *Mood elevators, or anti depressants, are urged upon the aging patient. 1995 Guardian 18 Feb. (Weekend Suppl.) 8/1 A welcome act of flirtation can act as a mood elevator, enhancing the recipient's well-being, touching him and making him more receptive, generous and open-minded. |
▪ II. mood, n.2
(muːd)
[An alteration of mode n., due to association with mood n.1]
1. Logic. a. (= mode n. 3 a.) Any one of the classes into which each of the four ‘figures’ (see figure n. 23) of valid categorical syllogisms is subdivided on the ground of the several ways in which syllogisms differ with regard to the quality and quantity of their constituent propositions.
The moods have mnemonic names (barbara, celarent, etc.), in which the three vowels represent the quality and quantity of the three propositions: A = universal affirmative, E = universal negative, I = particular affirmative, O = particular negative. (Some of the consonants also have significant functions.) The number of recognized moods is 19, viz. four in the first figure, four in the second, six in the third, and five in the fourth.
A different, probably a historically older, sense of the word occurs in some writers (e.g. Aldrich and Whately) alongside the sense above explained, and without being expressly distinguished from it. In this sense the mood of a syllogism is the type of structure to which it belongs in respect of quality and quantity alone, without regard to the figure; so that, e.g. Celarent in the first figure and Cesare in the second would be not two moods but two varieties of the same mood. (See quot. 1906, where this sense is definitely adopted to the exclusion of the other.)
| [1532: see mode n. 3 a.] 1569 J. Sandford tr. Agrippa's Van. Arts 21 b, A Syllogisme..which ought to be in one of the .xix. Moodes. 1589 Marprel. Epit. E iv b, The moode answereth unto Celarent, elder daughter to Barbara. 1638 Chillingw. Relig. Prot. i. iii. §29. 142 In what mood or figure, would this conclusion follow out of these Premises? 1870 Jevons Elem. Logic xvi. 136 We call each of these triplets of propositions a mood or form of the syllogism. 1884 tr. Lotze's Logic 88 The above rule, which, where both premisses are affirmative, requires one to be universal, prescribes a particular affirmative conclusion, and admits the moods Darapti, Datisi, and Disamis. 1906 Joseph Logic xii. 240 The difference of mood depends on the quantity and quality of the propositions composing the syllogism. This may be the same in different figures, or different in the same figure... The different moods have received distinct names in the various figures wherein they occur; and hence what are called the ‘mood-names’..indicate both figure and mood. |
b. in mood and figure: in due logical form.
| 1589 Pappe w. Hatchet B b j, Tis neither in moode nor figure. [1699: see mode n. 3 a.] |
| attrib. 1693 Dryden Juvenal vi. (1697) 146 O what a midnight Curse has he, whose side Is pester'd with a Mood and Figure-Bride! [Note] A Mood and Figure-Bride, a woman who has learn'd Logick. |
2. Gram. a. Any one of the several groups of forms in the conjugation of a verb which serve to indicate the function in which the verb is used, i.e. whether it expresses a predication, a command, a wish, or the like; that quality of a verb which depends on the question to which of these groups its form belongs.
| 1573 Golding in Baret Alv. To Rdr. viii, How shall men directly fynde The Coniugation, Nomber, Person, Tence, And Moode of Verbes togither in their kynde? 1669 Milton Accedence 17 There be four Moods which express the manner of doing; the Indicative, the Imperative, the Potential or Subjunctive, and the Infinitive. 1751 Harris Hermes i. viii. (1765) 140 Hence..the variety of Modes or Moods. 1824 L. Murray Eng. Gram. (ed. 5) I. 111 Mood is a particular form or state of the verb, showing the manner in which the being, action, or passion, is represented. 1869 J. Martineau Ess. II. 69 A mere grammatical metamorphosis from mood to mood. |
¶ b. with punning reference to mood n.1
| 1621 B. Jonson Gipsies Metam. (1641) 52 All your fortunes we can tell yee,..In the Moodes too, and the Tenses, That may fit your fine five senses. 1682 N. O. Boileau's Lutrin ii. 14 This Baggage once in her mad Moods and Tenses Had Lombard read, the Master o' th' Sentences. 1818 Scott Rob Roy xvii, You are, of course, jealous, in all the tenses and moods of that amiable passion? 1905 Westm. Gaz. 1 July 13/1 The things that were momentous to FitzGerald were the moods and tenses of himself, of nature, and his friends. |
c. attrib.
| 1928 H. Poutsma Gram. Late Mod. Eng. (ed. 2) i. i. 31 Some of these verbs..are also used as modal auxiliaries, i.e. as substitutes for actually existing mood-forms. 1931 M. Callaway Temporal Subjunctive in Old Eng. 19 The use of the Subjunctive of Antecedent Action, in dependent clauses introduced by particles meaning ‘after’..is to be accounted for..by the nature of the main clause... This theory is substantially identical with that advocated by Oskar Erdmann..and by Ernst Bernhardt.., hereafter referred to by me as the Erdmann-Bernhardt theory of mood-syntax. 1962 F. Behre Contrib. Eng. Syntax 59 Certain uses of the indicative that have not earlier been duly considered by writers on mood-syntax. 1965 ― in English Studies XLVI. 90 In both the Old English and Middle English examples the mood-form is indeterminate. |
3. Musical senses. † a. In mediæval music, a term used to indicate the relative duration or time-value of certain notes to each other in the rhythm of a piece; = mode n. 1 b. Obs.
The great mood determined the relation of the ‘long’ to the ‘large’, the lesser mood that of the ‘breve’ to the ‘long’; each of these was called perfect when the greater note was equal to three of the smaller, imperfect when it was equal to two. (Cf. prolation, time.)
| 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. 12 Ma. Degrees of musicke they made three, Moode: Time and Prolation. Phi. What did they tearme a Moode? Ma. The dew measuring of Longes and Larges, and was either greater or lesser. Ibid. 18 There be foure Moodes now in common vse: Perfect of the more prolation, Perfect of the lesse prolation. Imperfect of the more prolation. And Imperfect of the lesse prolation. Ibid., Annot. ¶4 b, If a plainsong consisted al of Longes, it was called the first mood: if of a Long & a Briefe successiuely, it was called the second mood, &c. 1609 Douland Ornith. Microl. 42 A Moode..is the measure of Longs in Larges, or of Breefes in Longs. 1609 C. Butler Fem. Mon. v. (1623) K iij, Now and then she beginneth in duple time some two or three Semibriefes, but alwaies endeth with Minims of the triple Moode. 1782 Burney Hist. Mus. II. 183 As all Discant moves in some particular Measure, Mode, or Mood, he [Franco] first defines a Mood...‘A Mood is the representation of the time of measured sounds, expressed by Longs or Breves.’ |
† b. A written symbol used to indicate ‘mood’ (in the above sense). retorted mood: see retorted ppl. a.
| 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. 2. |
† c. = mode n. 1 a (in the various applications).
| 1597 Morley Introd. Mus., Annot. ¶4 b, By the name of Mood, were signified many thinges in Musicke. First those which the learned call moodes, which afterwards were tearmed by the name of tunes. 1667 C. Simpson Compend. Pract. Mus. 112 That which the Grecians called Mode or Mood, the Latins termed Tone or Tune. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 550 Anon they move In perfect Phalanx to the Dorian mood Of Flutes and soft Recorders. 1694 Holder Harmony 138 The several Moods (some call'd them Tones) of Music. 1706 A. Bedford Temple Mus. iii. 57 Their [sc. the Greeks'] Seven Moods,..were no more than the Seven different Methods of altering their Tunes, by Flats and Sharps placed at the Beginning of a Lesson. 1788 Cavallo in Phil. Trans. LXXVIII. 252 The best keys to be played in are the keys of C, of F, of E flat, of B flat, of G and of D in the major mood, and the keys of C, of D, of A, and of B, in the minor mood. 1844 Beck & Felton tr. Munk's Metres 59 Poems of the Doric mood. |
d. transf. (from c, associated with mood n.1).
| 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. v. 200 And now my death Changes the Moode: For what in me, was purchas'd, Falles vpon thee, in a more Fayrer sort. 1637 Milton Lycidas 87 That strain I heard was of a higher mood. 1671 ― Samson 662 But with th' afflicted in his pangs thir sound..seems a tune, Harsh, and of dissonant mood from his complaint. |
† 4. = mode n. 6. Obs. rare—1.
| 1666 Boyle Orig. Formes & Qual. 10 Whether these Accidents may not conveniently enough be call'd the Moods or primary affections of Bodies. |
† 5. = mode n. 9. Obs. rare—1.
| 1646 Shirley Poems ii. 48 Others, that have..fashionably observ'd the English Scene, Say (but with lesse hope to be understood) Such titles unto Playes are now the mood. |
▪ III. † mood, v. Obs. rare—1.
[? f. mood n.1 (if not an error for brood.]
intr. To reflect moodily.
| 1796 Sir J. Duckworth in Corr. Adm. J. Markham (1904) 81 We returned to Port au Prince to mood upon our absurd indigested and blundering plan. |
▪ IV. mood
dial. (Sheffield) variant of mould n. and v., adopted in certain technical uses.
| 1833 J. Holland Manuf. Metal II. 23 In this state it [sc. the fork] is called, in common with all articles after the first formation by the hammer, a mood. 1860 Tomlinson Arts & Manuf. Ser. ii. Cutlery 49 This mood or mould, as it is called, is shown in the annexed cut. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 1233/1 A length is cut off, and the forger speedily moods this, that is, shapes it roughly into the form of a pocket-knife blade. |
▪ V. mood(e, moodal
obs. ff. mud, modal.