▪ I. mote, n.1
(məʊt)
Forms: 1–5 mot, 4 moot, 4–6 moote, 6 moet, moit, motte, 6–7 moate, (? moth), 6–8 moat, 7 mothe, mott, 9 (sense 3 b) moit, moiet, 4– mote.
[OE. mot neut. (dat. mote), perh. cogn. w. Du. mot dust from turf, sawdust, grit (MDu. found only in combs. steenmot, turfmot), also fine rain, LG. (EFris.) mut dust, grit; connexion with smut is possible. With sense 3 b cf. Sp. mota, knot in cloth, which however is of uncertain origin.]
1. a. A particle of dust; esp. one of the innumerable minute specks seen floating in the sunbeam; an irritating particle in the eye or throat.
a mote in the eye: often fig. (a) with allusion to Matt. vii. 3, a relatively trifling fault observed in another person by one who ignores a greater fault of his own (cf. beam n.1 3 c); † (b) a cause of irritation or annoyance.
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. vii. 3 To hwi ᵹesihst þu þæt mot on þines broþer eᵹan. c 1050 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 355/24 Atomo, mote. 1340 Ayenb. 175 Þet y-zyeþ þet mot ine þe oþres eȝe. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xx. (Blasius) 345 Quhasa-euire in þare throt seknes has, awne ore mot [etc.]. Ibid. xxviii. (Margaret) 494 As motis ar in Sown-beme fare. 1481 Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 84 What man loked in the glasse had he ony dissease of prickyng or motes smarte or perles in his eyen he shold be anon heled of it. 1513 Douglas æneis, Direction 66 Quhilk in myne E fast staris a moit to spy. 1546 Bale 1st Exam. Anne Askew 21 b, Johan Frith is a great moate in their eyes. 1563 T. Gale Antidot. ii. 8 Pouders..made subtile and fyne lyke mootes of the sonne, as they call them. 1627 Abp. Abbot in Rushw. Hist. Coll. (1659) I. 454 The first of these is Sir Dudley Diggs, a very great Mote in the Dukes Eye, as I am informed. 1632 Milton Penseroso 8 As the gay motes that people the Sun Beams. 1789 W. Buchan Dom. Med. (1790) 259 Sometimes he imagines his eyes are full of motes. 1800 H. Wells Constantia Neville (ed. 2) II. 243 He pretended to shew to his brethren the moat that he had discovered in their's. 1821 Shelley Hellas 781 All that it inherits Are motes of a sick eye, bubbles and dreams. 1880 W. Wallace Epicureanism viii. 192 Moving freely about like the motes we see in the sunbeam. |
b. A minute solid particle of foreign matter in food or drink. ? Now chiefly dial. † to make no motes of: not to scruple at.
| c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 284/204 And Ine blessede nouȝt mi drinke: and a swuch mot þare was Inne, And with þat drinke þat ich dronk: it schet me sone with-Inne. c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 272 Ne put youre fyngurs in the cuppe mootes for to seche. 1816 Scott Antiq. xxiii, I ne'er noticed it afore, and it's nae sic mote neither but what ane might see it in their parritch. 1842 J. Aiton Domest. Econ. (1857) 221 A corn sickle is then drawn through the butter several cross ways, in order to take out any hairs that may remain in it; and if any other motes appear, they are also taken out. |
| fig. 1637 Rutherford Lett. (1664) 114, I speak it for your encouragement, that ye may make the best out of your joyes ye can, albeit ye finde them mixed with motes. 1637–50 Row Hist. Kirk (Wodrow Soc.) 422 Some made no motts of it to subscryve simplie and absolutelie. 1822 Galt Sir A. Wylie I. vii. 51 The ragged coat o' the callant was ne'er a mot in the man's marriage. |
† c. A minute particle of anything, an atom; something very minute or trivial, a trifle. (not) a mote: (not) a jot. Obs.
| a 1300 Body & Soul 266 in Map's Poems (Camden) 343 That no mon cou nou fynden a mote Of hem, ne of mooder that hem bar. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 1554 (1603) It myghte nought a mot in þat suffise. c 1412 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 943 Nat wold I rekke as mochel as a mote. c 1550 Bale K. Johan 1826 Whie wert thu cast in preson?.. For conjurynge, calkynge, and coynynge of newe grotes, For clippynge of nobles, with such lyke pratye motes. 1611 Beaum. & Fl. Maid's Trag. ii. i, Let me know the man that wrongs me so, That I may cut his body into motes. 1632 Massinger City Madam v. iii, I presume the sight Would move you to compassion. Luke. Not a mote. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Milk, Where not the least Mote of any Filth may by any means appear. |
† d. = atom n. 2. Obs.
| 1580 Sir E. Dyer Prayse of Nothing Poems (Grosart) 75 For whilst they traueyled (Curiositie being their guide) to find out in the numbers of Pythagorus the moets of Epicure [etc.]. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 136 He saith that this diuersitie proceedeth from those little motes or bodies that go to the making of all things. |
† 2. A spot, a blemish. Obs.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 763 For mote ne spot is non in þe. c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) iv. 1329 In your conscience..is noȝt so great mot. 1530 Palsgr. 246/2 Mote on a gowne or garment, povtie. c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. lxix. iii, Mote, nor spott, nor least disgrace, But for thee, could taint my face. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iv. i. 189 Therefore should euery Souldier..wash euery Moth out of his Conscience. a 1711 Ken Hymns Evang. Poet. Wks. 1721 I. 71 In your bright souls endure no wilful Mote. |
3. † a. A tuft of wool forming the nap on cloth. Obs.
| 1583 Leg. Bp. St. Androis 779 in Satir. Poems Reform., To sponge his cloak durst not be done. It hurte the woole, and wrought it bair, Puld off the mottes, and did no mair. |
b. An imperfection in wool or cotton.
| 1842 in J. S. Bassett Southern Plantation Overseer (1925) 166 The gin dos not doo good work it draws too many motes through. 1851 Catal. Gt. Exhib. II. 490 Burry and motey wool, with the same cleaned from the burs and motes. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 340/1 Many wools contain peculiar seeds called ‘burrs’ and ‘moiets’ very difficult to remove, as they are covered with prickles. 1902 W. Hannan Textile Fibres 102 The fragmental portions of cotton seeds carry a tuft of attached fibres on the outer membrane; this is termed a bearded mote, and is regarded as an imperfection or impurity. 1903 F. M. Lupton in Eng. Dial. Dict., Moit, the seed of an Australasian plant, which clings to wool, and is unravelled by the scribbler, without being separated from the wool. |
4. a. ‘A single straw or a single stalk of hay; a part of a single straw; a slender twig’ (E.D.D.). Now only dial.
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens iv. xiii. 467 Otes..in grassie leaues, and knottie straw or motes, are somwhat like to wheate. 1747 Gould Eng. Ants 69 The Hill Ants collect a vast Quantity of Pieces of dry Sticks, Chips, Straw-Motes, and other Rubbish. 1930 H. Williamson Village Bk. 328 It had looked like a sheaf of reed motts—the unbruised wheaten stalks used for thatching. 1959 Times 19 Aug. 9/7 The ‘motts’ (or stems) are carefully bumped together, butts down, before being tied in bundles for thatching. |
b. Mining. (See quot. 1883.)
| 1881 in Raymond Mining Gloss. 1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal Mining 171 Mote or Moat, a straw filled with gun⁓powder for igniting a shot. |
5. Comb. mote-laden, mote-like adjs.; mote-knife, a knife in a carding machine for removing motes from textile fibres.
| 1592 Nashe Four Lett. Confut. H 2, Thou impotent moate-catching carper. |
| 1896 W. S. Taggart Cotton Spinning I. 132 The cotton is no sooner taken from the feed than it is carried past one or two bars C and D with sharp edges, known as mote knives. 1951 S. Spender World within World iii. 123 The characters of his novels radiate round him under a glowing cloud of dirty varnish, not unlike the mote-laden lighting of Fräulein Thurau's apartment. 1956 H. Gold Man who was not with It (1965) xii. 102 The mote-laden rays striking guide-rope and stand. |
| a 1889 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 194 Swayed about Mote-like in thy mighty glow. 1929 W. Faulkner Sartoris iii. 168 It oozed chaff and a sifting dust, motelike in the sun. |
▪ II. mote, n.2 Obs. exc. Hist.
(məʊt)
Forms: 3–7, 9 mote, 5, 8 mot, 9 arch. moat(e.
[ME. mote, a. OF. mote, motte clod, hillock, mound, castle-hill, castle (mod.F. motte clod, mound), whence med.L. mota, motta, MDu. mote mound, castle-hill, castle; cf. Pr. mota (Levy) hill, castle, Sp. mota embankment, dam, Pg. mota terrace, rampart, dam; the It. motta (obs.) landslip, and mota mud, are commonly cited as cognate, but this is doubtful. See moat n.1, which seems to be orig. the same word.
The Rom. word is commonly supposed to be of Teut. origin; cf. Mid.Ger. mot moor, bog, HG. dial. mott peaty soil, peat, stack of peats (? cogn. w. Eng. mud).]
1. a. A mound, eminence, hill, esp. as the seat of a camp, city, castle, fort, or other building; also, an embankment. Cf. motte n.2
| a 1272 Luue Ron 121 in O.E. Misc. 97 Hit stont vppon a treowe mote þar hit neuer truke ne schal. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 165 Doun of the kastelle mote Isaac douhter cam, & felle R. to fote gretand. 1419 in Surtees Misc. (1888) 14 That nane entir..to defoule the walles na the motes, bot thay that has taken tham to ferme, the whilke sall kytte the herbage that grewys apon the mote. 1533 Bellenden Livy v. xvii. (S.T.S.) II. 206 Ane litill mote [L. editus locus] in quhilk was laid ane buschement full of armit men. c 1630 Risdon Surv. Devon §225 (1810) 241 Above the clifts appear the banks and motes rudely cast up, called Clovelly Dikes. 1768 Ross Helenore iii. 116 Frae aff a rising mot, He cry'd to stop, an' crying stampt the ground, Until the hillock gae a trembling sound. 1884 G. T. Clark Mediæval Military Archit. in England I. ii. 27 Many of these mounds under the name of motes (motæ) retained their timber defences to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. 1898 D. Christison Early Fortifications Scotl. i. i. 3 The motes of which I have to speak are..fortresses..and consist essentially of conical flat-topped mounds, which were defended by palisades. 1919 Proc. Soc. Antiquaries Scotl. LIII. 43 Alexander Elphinstone in 1507 took up his residence upon the old deserted Norman mote. |
† b. poet. A castle, fortress; a city. Obs.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 936 Þat mote þou menez in Iudy londe, Þat is þe cite þat [etc.]. 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 635 Voyded of vche vylany, wyth vertuez ennourned in mote. a 1400 Min. Poems fr. Vernon MS. 489/173 Boþe þe Mot and þe molde Schon al on red golde. |
2. A barrow, tumulus.
| 1513 Douglas æneis vii. i. 13 Enee..Apon the sepulture, as custum was and gise, An hepe of erd and litle mote gart wpraise. 1724 Macfarlane's Geog. Collect. (S.H.S. 1906) I. 8 Hard by this Church..stands a remarkable artificial Mote or little hill rising up like a Piramide. 1886 G. T. Stokes Irel. & Celtic Ch. (1888) 72 The interior chamber of the New Grange Moat. |
3. Comb., as mote-castle = motte-castle (motte n.2 2).
| 1919 Proc. Soc. Antiquaries Scotl. LIII. 42 Such a fortress is well represented in the mote-castles of Dinan, Hastings and Rennes, in the Bayeux tapestry. |
▪ III. mote, n.3 Hunting. Obs. exc. arch.
Forms: 4 moot, 4–6 mote, 4, 7 mot, 5 ? motye, 6 mott, 8–9 arch. moot, 9 arch. mot.
[a. F. mot (see mot1), similarly used in French hunting.]
A note of a horn or bugle.
| 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1364 Baldely þay blw prys..Strakande ful stoutly mony stif motez. c 1369 Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 376 The mayster hunte..With his horne blewe thre mote At the vncouplynge of his houndes. 1470–85 Malory Arthur vii. viii. 223 There he blewe thre dedely motys. 15.. Chevy Chace 16 in Wright Songs & Ballads (1860) 24 The blwe a mot uppone the bent. 1575 Turberv. Venerie 86 Blowyng two motts with his horne to call in his fellowes and to cause the reste of the kenell to approche. 1819 Scott Ivanhoe xli, Three mots on this bugle will..bring round..a jolly band of yonder honest yeomen. |
▪ IV. † mote, n.4 Astr. Obs.
[ad. L. mōtus (u stem), f. mō-, movēre to move.]
Motion (of a heavenly body).
| c 1391 Chaucer Astrol. ii. §44 That thou findest in directe wryte in thy slate under thy rote, and adde hit to-geder, and that is thy mene mote. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) I. 89 [The sun's] proper muyn and his mot raptyue. 1839 Bailey Festus xix. (1852) 299 As motion in an atom leads at last To a world's orbit—mote and motion given. |
▪ V. † mote, n.5 Gardening. Obs.
[a. F. motte († mote) clod.]
The soil clinging to the roots of a plant.
| 1693 Evelyn De La Quint. Compl. Gard. II. 61 Not that the Water of Rains often penetrates the Body of the Mote. |
▪ VI. mote, n.6
(məʊt)
(See quots.)
| 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Mote,..a name for the nut of the Carapa guineensis, used for extracting oil in Sierra-Leone. 1887 Bentley Man. Bot. (ed. 5) 508 An oil of a similar nature is also obtained from Carapa Touloucouna; it has been imported under the name of mote-grease. |
▪ VII. mote, v.1 arch.
(məʊt)
Forms: α. 1 mót (pl. móton, subj. móte, pl. móten), 2–9 mot (2–5 pl. mote(n, 2–4 subj. sing. mote), 4–5 moot(e, mut, 5 mowte, mutt, 5–6 mott(e, 6 moit, (mothe), 6–7 mought, 6, 8 Sc. mat, 4– mote; β. 2nd sing. 1 móst, 2–5 most, 4–5 moste, 4 must.
[A WGer. and Gothic preterite-present verb (wanting in Scandinavian): OE. mót corresp. to OFris. môt, OS. môt, muot may, must (Du. moet must), OHG., MHG. muoȥ may, must (mod.G. muss must), Goth. ga-mōt (it) has room, related to OHG. muoȥa (mod.G. musse) leisure:—OTeut. type *mōtā.
The primary sense seems to be that preserved in Gothic, from which the sense ‘is permitted, may’ can easily have been developed. The transition from this to the sense ‘is obliged, must’ is more difficult to explain; it may have arisen from the use in negative contexts, where the two senses (‘may not’, ‘must not’) are nearly coincident. Normally, OTeut. *mōt should be the perfect of a verb *mat-, but there is no trace of a vb. of this form with a suitable sense; the word may be related to *met- to measure (see mete v.).
If the verb had come down to mod. English, its form would have been moot. Exc. in northern dialects, it seems not to have survived in colloquial use beyond the 15th c., or at latest the middle of the 16th c. In the 16th c. it was often confused with mought (see may v.), with which it was prob. identical in sound. In the early part of the 16th c., the verb was still used correctly as a present tense, though commonly misspelt mought. In the archaistic use of Spenser and later writers, on the other hand, it is, even when written mote, almost always a preterite except in traditional phrases.
The pa. tense (OE. móste) is treated under must. The survival of the inflected 2nd person (OE. móst) is doubtful after the early part of the 15th c., on account of its formal coincidence with the pa. tense, which by that time had already assumed the function of a present.]
1. Expressing permission or possibility; = may.
† In early use sometimes with ellipsis of a verb of motion.
| Beowulf 347 ᵹif he us ᵹeunnan wile, þæt we hine swa godne gretan moton. a 1000 Cædmon's Gen. 2473 (Gr.) Onfoð þæm fæmnum, lætað frið agon ᵹistas mine, þa ic for gode wille ᵹemundbyrdan, ᵹif ic mot, for eow! c 1200 Ormin 1266 ᵹif þu..ᵹeornesst tatt tu mote sket Uppcumenn inntill heoffne. a 1300 X Commandm. 2 in E.E.P. (1862) 15 Ȝif vs grace to wirch workis gode to heuen þat we mot enter inn. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 903 (Thisbe) We preyen ȝow.. That in on graue that we motyn lye. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 6 God grante I mot it wel achieve. 1437 Libel Eng. Policy in Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 188, I beseche God that some prayers devoute Mutt lett the seyde apparaunce probable Thys disposed wythought feyned fable. 1562 Winȝet Cert. Tractatis i. Wks. (S.T.S.) I. 10 To the intent that all errour and abuse being cuttit away, we al on baith sydis mot knaw the veritie. 1596 Spenser F.Q. vi. viii. 46 Now mote ye understand that [etc.]. 1812 Byron Ch. Har. i. i, Nor mote my shell awake the weary Nine To grace so plain a tale. |
| β Beowulf 1671 Ic hit þe þonne ᵹehate þæt þu on Heorote most sorhleas swefan. |
¶ b. Used as pa. tense (ind. or subj.) = might, could.
| c 1440 Alphabet of Tales 93 He was so strang in his selfe, þat he mott withstond any temptacion of þe devull. 1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. ii. 8 Therefore he her did court, did serve, did wooe, With humblest suit that he imagine mot. 1600 Fairfax Tasso iii. xiii, Within the postern stood Argantes stout To rescue her, if ill mote her betide. 1763–5 Churchill Prophecy of Fam. Poems 1769 I. 116 And from that day Mote never Sawny tune the merry lay. |
c. In wishes, forming a periphrastic subjunctive; = may. Often in asseverative phrases, so mote I thee, so mote I go, etc.
| c 1275 Passion Our Lord 71 in O.E. Misc. 39 Iblessed hi seyde mote he beo þe cumeþ on godes nome. a 1300 Cursor M. 5150 ‘Sais þou soth?’ ‘yaa, sa mot i the’. c 1386 Chaucer Frankl. T. 49 Lerneth to suffre or elles so moot I goon Ye shul it lerne. 1471 Marg. Paston in P. Lett. III. 25 Goddes blissyng and myn mut ye have both. a 1518 Skelton Magnyf. 2072 Ye, mary, is it, ye, so mote I goo. 1533 More Apol. 158 The kynge our souerayne lorde that now is and longe mote be, hath [etc.]. 1546 Primer Hen. VIII 72 Our sin forgive, Lord gratious, And our darknes mought lightened be. 1573 Satir. Poems Reform. xxxix. 271 Long moit thir countreis leue in pace togidder. 1586 J. Ferne Blaz. Gentrie 22 All is too litile for himzelfe and our yong maisters his zon full ill mought they both thee. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. i. 33 Well mote yee thee, as well can wish your thought. 1595 Duncan App. Etymol. (E.D.S.) 71 Mehercle, hercle; so Hercules mot be my helpe. 1598 R. Bernard tr. Terence, Heauton. v. iv. 261 So mought thou liue after me and my husband Chremes, as thou art his and mine. 1775 W. Preston Illustr. Masonry (1781) 37 Amen. So mote it be. a 1800 Sang Outlaw Murray xix. in Scott Minstr. Scott. Bord. (1869) 62 God mot thee save, brave Outlaw Murray. |
| β c 1374 Chaucer To Scriv. 3 Adam scryveyne if euer it þee byfalle Boece or Troylus to wryten nuwe Vnder þy long lokkes þowe most haue þe scalle But affter my makyng þowe wryte more truwe. |
2. Expressing necessity or obligation: = must.
In early use sometimes with ellipsis of verb, esp. of a verb of motion.
| Beowulf 2886 Londrihtes mot þære mæᵹburᵹe monna æᵹhwylc idel hweorfan. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 19 And þarto moten fif þing to bileuen in god. c 1205 Lay. 1051 Ah heo mot nede beien Þe mon þe ibunden bið. a 1225 Ancr. R. 64, & hwon ᵹe alles moten uorð, creoiseð ful ᵹeorne our muð, earen, & eien. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 261 For ar I haue bred of mele ofte mote I swete. c 1386 Chaucer Man of Law's T. 196 Bot forth she moot wher so she wepe or synge. a 1450 Ibid. 11587 (Laud MS.) Ye mote nedis [MS. Cotton For yow behoues] alle thre Into Egipt lond fle. 1470–85 Malory Arthur i. xxi. 67, I merueylle moche of thy wordes that I mote dye in bataille. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. vii. 154 But shepheard mought be meeke and mylde, Well-eyed, as Argus was. |
| β a 1225 Ancr. R. 102 Cheos nu þu on of þeos two; vor þet oðer þu most leten. c 1386 Chaucer Man of Law's Prol. 6 Maugree thyn heed thou most for Indigence Or stele, or begge, or borwe thy despence. a 1450 Myrc 14 Ȝef thou plese thy sauyoure, Ȝef thow be not grete clerk, Loke thow moste on thys werk. |
¶ b. Incorrectly used as pa. tense
| 1596 Spenser F.Q. v. viii. 5 However loth he were his way to slake, Yet mote he algates now abide, and answere make. 1685 H. More Paralip. Prophet. xiv. 115 Sith he mought needs sail by Judaea. |
▪ VIII. mote, v.2
(məʊt)
Also (sense 2) 7 moat, 9 moit.
[f. mote n.1]
† 1. intr. ? To pick motes, to find fault. Obs. rare—1.
| 1513 Douglas æneis, Exclam. aganis Detractouris 28 Far eithar is, quha list syt doun to mote, Ane othir sayaris faltis to spy and note. |
2. trans. To remove motes from wool.
| 1681, 1876 [see vbl. n. below]. |
3. intr. Of wool: To show or form motes.
| 1880 MS. Cotton Rep. U.S. Census, The lint rating about the same from old or fresh land, the former motes worse in ginning. |
Hence ˈmoting vbl. n. (also attrib.). Also ˈmoter, a workman who removes motes from wool.
| 1681 in New Mills Cloth Manuf. (S.H.S.) Introd. 86 The refuse and losse upon moating and scouring of the Spanish wooll. 1843 Penny Cycl. XXVII. 551/2 Such are afterwards picked out by boys or women, called ‘wool-moaters’, or ‘wool-pickers’. 1876 W. Cudworth Round about Bradford 373 Extensive premises..containing willeying, moiting,..and condensing machinery. 1881 Instr. Census Clerks (1885) 64 Woollen cloth manufacture... Moater. |
▪ IX. mote, v.3 colloq.
(məʊt)
[Back-formation from motor.]
intr. To drive, or ride in, a motor car. Hence ˈmoting vbl. n.
| 1890 Prospectus of ‘Gen. Electric Power & Traction’ Co. June, This practical demonstration of ‘Moting’ is likely to prove very attractive. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 18 Jan. 4/1 Leaving London about midday we shall mote to Ascot. |
▪ X. mote
obs. f. moat, moot, mot, moth.