▪ I. ˈmoulting, vbl. n.
[f. moult v. + -ing1.]
1. The action of the verb moult, lit. and fig.
| 1399 Langl. Rich. Redeles ii. 12 Þe seson was paste ffor hertis..To make ony myrthe ffor mowtynge þat nyghed. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 347/2 Mowtynge, deplumacio, plutura. 1626 Bacon Sylva §851 Some Birds there be, that vpon their Moulting doe turne Colour. a 1661 Fuller Worthies xxiv. (1662) i. 69 Yet have our wars..been a main cause of the moulting of many Eminent and Worthy persons of this Profession. 1756 Foote Eng. fr. Paris i. Wks. 1799 I. 101, I suppose..your parrot died in moulting. 1860 Pusey Min. Proph. 303 The moulting of the eagle involves some degree of weakness. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 1040 After the second moulting it passes into a sort of larval state. |
b. Applied to the change of voice at puberty. [So Du. muiten.]
| 1835–6 Todd's Cycl. Anat. I. 70/2 At this epoch [i.e. puberty] occurs the moulting of the voice. |
† 2. concr. What is shed in the process of moulting.
| 1610 P. Barrough Meth. Physick iv. v. (1639) 228 A bath..bringeth forth excrements or moltings, if any sticke within the skinne. |
3. attrib. in moulting season, moulting sickness, moulting time.
| 1457 Sc. Acts Jas. II, c. 94 (1566) 44 That na man..slay wylde foulis in mouting tyme. 1622 Drayton Poly-olb. xxv. 120 The multitudes of Fowle in Mooting time they draw. 1687 [see benting vbl. n.]. 1710 Act 9 Anne c. 27 §5 In any of the Fens..or other Places of resort for Wild Fowl in the molting Season. 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 238 On the fourth day they [sc. silkworms] labour under the moulting sickness. |
▪ II. ˈmoulting, ppl. a.
[f. moult v. + -ing2.]
That moults.
| 1635 Quarles Embl. iii. xv. 34 Or be thy moulting wings vnapt to flie? 1694 Motteux Rabelais v. vii. (1737) 25 Crest-fallen, and drooping, like a Mooting Duck. 1778 R. Lowth Transl. Isaiah xl. 31 (ed. 12) 75 They shall put forth fresh feathers like the moulting eagle. 1869 ‘Mark Twain’ Innoc. Abr. ii, Looking as droopy..as..molting chickens. 1887 Besant The World went xxiv, Sitting mum, like a moulting canary-bird. |