▪ I. mole, n.1
(məʊl)
Forms: 1 maal, mál, 5 mool, 6 moole, 6–7 moll, moale, 7 molle, moal, 9 Sc. dial. maele, mail, 4– mole.
[OE. mál ? neut., corresp. to OHG. meil neut., meila str. and wk. fem. (MHG. meil neut., meile str. and wk. fem.), Goth. mail neut.]
† 1. A discoloured spot, esp. on cloth, linen, etc. iron-mole: see the corrupted form iron-mould. Obs.
| c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 125/19 Stigmentum, ful maal on ræᵹel. c 1050 Voc. ibid. 446/10, 523/15 Maculam, mal. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 315 Þi best cote, haukyn, Hath many moles and spottes. 14.. in Rel. Ant. I. 108 To done away mool or spoot from clothe. a 1535 Fisher Serm. Wks. (1876) 402 Any moole in your kerchiues. 1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 39 One yron mole defaceth the whole peece of Lawne. 1588 L. M. tr. Bk. Dyeing 6 Weat it still againe, till ye see the moll go forth. 1807 Hogg Mount. Bard Poet. Wks. 1838 II. 262 That mantle bears the purple dye. And all the waters in Liddisdale,..Can ne'er wash out the wondrous maele! 1825–80 Jamieson, Mail, a spot in cloth, especially what is caused by iron; often, an irne mail. |
2. spec. A spot or blemish on the human skin; in
mod. use, an abnormal pigmented prominence on the skin, sometimes accompanied by a close hairy growth.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vii. xvi. (1495) 235 Whan a mole of the eye is fresshe and lytyl redde popy sede suffyceth to helpe it. 1571 T. Hill Physiognomie (title-p,), A little Treatise of Moles, seen on any part eyther of man or woman. 1588 Greene Pandosto (1843) 15 One moale staineth the whole face. 1598 R. Barckley Felic. Man iii. (1603) 203 His wife had a little blacke spot (a mole some call it) behind in her necke. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. v. i. 249 My father had a moale vpon his brow. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 76 Pimples, wems, and molls that be eye-sores. Ibid. 299 The haire growing in any molle or wert vpon the face. a 1618 Raleigh Mahomet (1637) 74 An hairy moale as big as a pease. 1672 Sir T. Browne Let. Friend §10 In consumptive Diseases some eye the complexion of Moals. 1693 [see nævus]. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 130 ¶4 The several Moles and Marks by which the Mother used to describe the Child. 1835 J. Green Dis. Skin 335 A small mole upon the cheek is sometimes held rather as a heightener of female beauty than otherwise. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 819 It is very difficult to discriminate warts from moles. 1900 E. Glyn Visits Elizabeth (1906) 32 We saw a..family of elderly girls..and they all had moustaches or moles on the cheek. |
† b. An ulcerated sore on an animal.
Obs.| 1522 Skelton Why not to Court 243 A mayny of marefoles, That occupy theyr holys, Full of pocky molys. |
† c. fig. (
a) A blemish, fault; (
b) a distinguishing or identifying mark.
Obs.| 1644 Bulwer Chiron. 103 Reckoned by Quintilian among the moales of Rhetoricke. 1651 N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. ii. xxxvii. (1739) 167 A Mole in the fair Face of Church-government. 1660 Sharrock Vegetables 9 There is a great controversie..whether this be a seed, or onely particular mole, and character of Plants of that nature. 1699 Bentley Phal. 393 A few particular marks and moles in the Letters. 1715 Pope Iliad I. Pref. E 4, There are two Peculiarities in Homer's Diction that are a sort of Marks or Moles, by which every common Eye distinguishes him at first sight. 1743 Whitehead On Ridicule 217 The random pencil haply hit the mole; Ev'n from their prying foes such specks retreat. |
3. attrib. and
Comb., as
mole-like,
mole-marked adjs.| 1876 Trans. Clinical Soc. IX. 45 On the arms and hands were several mole-like specks of discoloration. 1906 Blackw. Mag. May 637/1 Such masculine flotsam as our mole-marked friend. |
▪ II. mole, n.2 (
məʊl)
Forms: α. 4–7
molle, 5
mooll,
mulle, 6
moal,
mowl,
mol, 6–7
moale,
moole,
moule,
mowle, 6–7
moll, 7
moul, 4–
mole; β. 5–6
molde, 5–7
mold,
mould, 6
moold.
[ME. mulle, molle, corresponding to MDu. mol, moll(e, MLG., LG. mol, mul masc.; an early Frankish form (? 7th c.) appears in the Reichenau glosses in latinized form: ‘talpas, muli qui terram fodiunt’. Some scholars regard the word as a shortening of
OTeut. *moldowerpon-,
-worpon- mouldwarp; according to others it is an independent derivative from the root of
mould n.,
mull. The word resembles in form a
WGer. word for ‘lizard’:
OS.,
OHG. mol,
MHG. mol,
molm,
molch,
mod.G.
molch; the two can hardly be identical, but they may be from the same root, or they may be hypocoristic shortenings of different compounds of
*moldâ mould, earth.]
1. a. Any one of the small mammals of the family Talpidæ;
esp. the common mole of the Old World,
Talpa europæa, a small animal about six inches in length, having a velvety fur, usually blackish, exceedingly small but not blind eyes, and very short strong fossorial fore-limbs with which to burrow in the earth in search of earthworms and to excavate the galleried chambers in which it dwells.
| α 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. i. (1495) 739 The molle that hathe eyen closyd wythin a webbe. 14.. Stockh. Med. MS. i. 411 in Anglia XVIII. 305 Take & fle a mole owte of þe skynne. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 18390 For low in erthe, on euery syde, Lyche a molle, they abyde. 1481–90 Howard Househ. Bks. (Roxb.) 359 My Lady gaff Braby for takynge of mulles xij.d. 1486 [see labour n. 1 d]. 1530 Palsgr. 246/1 Mole a beest, talpe. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 86 Go strike off the nowles of deluing mowles. 1584 Lyly Sappho ii. 131 Talke [not] with any neere the hill of a mowle. 1611 Bible Lev. xi. 30 These also shalbe vncleane vnto you,..the Lyzard, and the Snaile, and the Molle. 1714 Gay Sheph. Week, Friday 157 While Moles the crumbled Earth in Hillocks raise. 1819 Warden United States I. 194 The Red mole of Seba, Talpa rubra Americana. 1886 J. Dallas in Jrnl. Anthrop. Inst. XV. 323 The distribution of the moles is also noteworthy. 1898 Daily News 21 Sept. 6/6 That leader, instead of burrowing underground like the mole, should appear on the surface. |
| β c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. iv. 130 The molde & other suche as diggeth lowe Anoy hem not, in hard lond yf they growe. 1570 Levins Manip. 160/21 A Mold, talpa. Ibid. 218/40 A Mould, talpa. 1576 Nottingham Rec. IV. 164 Payd to Bacon..for takyng of mouldes in the felde xiijs. 1592 Lyly Entertainm. Wks. 1902 I. 478 Me he terrified..saying that he would turne me..to a molde. |
b. In allusion to the blindness attributed to the European mole in classic and later times.
| 1563 Mirr. Mag., Rivers lxiv, Blynde as molles. 1598 F. Rous Thule L 4 b, Like blinde Moles into our bane we goe. 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. i. ii. Imposture 376 In heav'nly things ye are more blinde then Moals. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 266 The blind laborious Mole In winding Mazes works her hidden Hole. 1713 Bentley Rem. Disc. Freethink. ii. xlix. 269 In the whole Compass and last Tendency of Passages he is as blind as a mole. |
2. transf. and
fig. a. One who works in darkness.
| 1601 Dent Pathw. Heaven 76, I woonder..that these Moules and Mucke-wormes of this earth, should so minde these shadowish things [sc. riches]. 1602 Shakes. Ham. i. v. 161 Well said old Mole, can'st worke i'th' ground so fast? A worthy Pioner. 1742 Young Nt. Th. ix. 949 The miser earths his treasure; and the thief, Watching the mole, half-beggars him ere morn. 1855 J. R. Leifchild Cornwall Mines 151 The miners there must have been generations of human moles pursuing their slow but certain advances in mysterious candlelight. |
b. One whose (physical or mental) vision is deemed defective.
| 1610 Shakes. Temp. iv. i. 194 Pray you tread softly, that the blinde Mole may not heare a foot fall. 1677 W. Hughes Man of Sin i. iii. 11 A very mole must see, and Papist can't gainsay the Truth propounded. |
c. colloq. A secret intelligence agent who gradually achieves a position deep within the security defences of a country or organization. Also
loosely, anyone within an organization or in a position of trust who betrays confidential information.
Cf. sleeper 2 d,
mole v.
2 2.
| [1925 J. Buchan House of Four Winds xi. 234, I also have certain moles at my command{ddd}When the Cirque Doré mobilizes itself it has many eyes and ears. 1960 G. Bailey Conspirators (1961) vi. 124 [In 1935] Fedossenko traveled at Magdenko's invitation to Berlin, where he was introduced to this ‘Ivanov’. The latter displayed such a disconcerting knowledge of the innermost workings of the White military organizations that Fedossenko decided to join his network..in order to discover the source of his information. He was recruited under the alias of ‘The Mole’.] 1974 ‘J. le Carré’ Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy viii. 62 Ivlov's task was to service a mole. A mole is a deep penetration agent so called because he burrows deep into the fabric of Western imperialism. 1976 ― in Listener 22 Jan. 90 A ‘mole’ is, I think, a genuine KGB term for somebody who burrows into the fabric of a bourgeois society and undermines it from within. 1977 Time 11 July 10/3 He also introduced a secret computer system to ferret out even ‘sleepers’ and ‘moles’, deepcover agents whose meticulous disguises are planned for long-term use. 1979 Daily Tel. 3 Dec. 20 Brown says his men are searching for the ‘mole’ who betrayed their 1900 catalogue into the hands of foreign scientists. They are also checking on the patent. 1979 A. Boyle Climate of Treason viii. 242 There were no ‘moles’ at large in Washington: ‘Indifference, not treachery, was at the root of America's attitude to the [German] conspiracy.’ 1980 National Times (Austral.) 10 Aug. 3/2 The death has sparked off speculation that Paisley was the mole long suspected of penetrating the CIA. 1984 Times 30 Nov. 3/8 Clearly therefore, we suggest, this points to a ‘mole’ within British Telecom Prestel headquarters. |
3. a. Applied, usually with defining prefix, to other animals, as
Cape mole, (
a) the mole-rat
Bathyergus maritimus (
Cent. Dict. 1890); (
b) the golden mole;
duck-mole (see
duck n.1 12 b);
gold-,
golden mole, the Cape chrysochlore,
Chrysochloris aureus;
marsupial mole, a small pouched burrowing animal,
Notoryctes typhlops, native of Australia;
radiated or
star-nosed mole,
Condylura cristata. See also shrew-mole,
water-mole.
| 1731 Medley Kolben's Cape G. Hope II. 123 Moles..are pretty numerous at the Cape. 1781 Pennant Hist. Quad. II. 487 Linnæus places this [Brown Mole] and our radiated Mole, in his class of Sorex or Shrew. 1855 W. S. Dallas in Syst. Nat. Hist. II. 490 The peculiar metallic lustre of their coats, which has given rise to the name of Golden Mole (Chrysochloris aurea), applied to the best known species. 1859 Wood Illustr. Nat. Hist. I. 429 Radiated Mole, or Star-nosed Mole.—Astromyctes cristatus. 1898 Guide Mammalia 113 Marsupial Mole (Notoryctes typhlops). 1904 Q. Rev. Oct. 470 The golden moles, recognisable by the iridescent sheen of their fur. |
† b. Short for
mole-cricket (see 9 b).
Obs.| 1714 Derham Phys.-Theol. iv. xiii. (ed. 2) 234 note, Their two Fore-legs are formed somewhat like those of the ordinary Moles, or Gryllotalpa. 1761 Ann. Reg. 113 The gardeners round Lambeth are pestered with vermin called flying moles. |
† 4. French mole:
app. a translation of F.
taupe, ‘a sort of tumour formed under the integuments of the head, which are raised like the earth mined by the mole’ (Littré).
Obs.| 1607 C. Tourneur Rev. Trag. Wks. 1878 II. 10 Ile hold her by the fore-top fast enough, Or like the French moale heave up hair and all. |
5. The borer of a
mole-plough.
| 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. Plate xlvii, Fig. 1. is the beam, 2. the mole, to which segments for lengthening it screw on at 3. 1834 Brit. Husb. I. 453 The mole, or borer, is a well-tempered cast-iron conical share, of about three inches diameter at the largest end. |
6. pl. Moleskin trousers. Also
mole trousers.
| 1881 H. W. Nesfield Chequered Career vii. 75 We..met men in rough flannels and dirty soil-stained moles. 1888 G. O. Preshaw Banking under Difficulties xxvi. 163 These moles are 12s. a pair. 1890 Times 16 Sept. 10/4 The missing man..was wearing..dark gray waistcoat, white mole trousers. 1900 H. Lawson Over Shiprails 164 Tom stood up in his clean, white moles and white flannel shirt. |
7. A shade of grey. Also as
adj.| 1908 Westm. Gaz. 29 Aug. 13/2 Mole has always been recognised..as a shade universally harmonious. Ibid. 26 Sept. 13/2 How charming with a mole suit is a mole hat, massed with roses! 1914 [see beaver1 2 c]. 1923 [see brick n.1 4 c]. 1971 Vogue 15 Sept. 49 Rich autumn colours like wine, mole and teak. |
8. attrib. and
Comb. a. Simple
attrib., as
mole-earth,
mole-heap,
mole-hillock,
mole-hole,
mole-run,
mole-track (
† mole-tract); also
mole-grains,
mole-spade,
mole-spear,
mole-staff,
† mole-tine,
mole-trap, implements used in the destruction of moles.
| 1904 Westm. Gaz. 26 Nov. 16/1 There are some interesting diagrams of *mole-earths. |
| 1658 Evelyn Fr. Gard. (1675) 100 They are destroyed likewise with *mole-graines, which is a set of sharp iron-points, skrewed upon a staff. |
| 1617 Minsheu Ductor, Mole-hill, or *Mole-heape. 1879 G. Macdonald P. Faber II. xii. 234 Some mere moleheap, of which her lovelily sensitive organization,..made a mountain. |
| 1523 Fitzherb. Surv. xxvii. (1539) 50 The moss wyll rotte, and the *moll hyllockes wyll amende the ground wel. 1824 Scott Redgauntlet ch. viii, A stumble..over an obstacle so inconsiderable as a mole-hillock, cost the haughty rider his life. |
| 1579 Langham Gard. Health (1633) 350 Put Leekes into the *moldholes to make them come forth. 1613–16 W. Browne Brit. Past. ii. v. 86 Or in the bancke the water hauing got Some Mole-hole, runs, where he expected not. |
| 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm I. 604 A small opening in the soil..in the form of a *mole-run. |
| 1587 L. Mascall Govt. Cattle (1596) 291 Then take your *mole-spade and cast her vp. 1589 Greene Menaphon (Arb.) 33 Poore Menaphon neither asked his swaynes for his sheepe, nor tooke his mole-spade on his necke to see his pastures. |
| 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 38 Sharp *moul-spare with barbs, that the mowles do so rue. 1617–18 W. Lawson Orch. & Gard. xiii. (1623) 47 You must watch her well with a Mole-speare. |
| 1587 L. Mascall Govt. Cattle (1596) 289 Be readie with your *mole-staffe to strike at the first..putting up the earth. |
| 1676 T. Glover in Phil. Trans. XI. 633 They strike with an Instrument of Iron somewhat like *Mole-tines. |
| 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) I. 318 A deep Earthen Vessel set in the ground, with the brim even with the bottom of the *Mole-tracts. 1712 J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 174 Traps should be laid about half a Foot deep in the Mole-Tracks. |
| 1651 R. Child in Hartlib's Legacy (1655) 91 A *Moal-trap which the Gardiners frequently use about London. 1712 J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 174 The surest way to catch them, is by..Boxes, or Cases, called Mole-Traps, made of Elder-Boughs slit in two. |
b. Similative, as
mole-colour,
mole-eye;
mole-blind,
mole-eyed,
mole-grey,
mole-like,
mole-sighted adjs.;
mole-blindedly,
mole-like,
mole-wise adverbs.
| a 1660 Contemp. Hist. Irel. (Ir. Archæol. Soc.) II. 98 How are the Irish soe *mould-blinde that they canot see those abuses. 1820 A. Rodger Poems & Songs (1838) 246 Scores o' mole-blind fools forby. |
| 1882 C. F. Woolson Anne 502 As the prosecution *mole-blindedly averred. |
| 1906 Westm. Gaz. 13 Oct. 13/1 The neutral tones, *mole-colour and grey. |
| 1629 N. Carpenter Achitophel iii. (1640) 149 The child of nature, whose *mole eyes..can hardly pierce so farre as its own spheare. |
| 1610 Healey St. Aug. Citie of God 149 But farre mistaken was hee, and *mole-eid in this matter. 1897 E. K. Chambers in Bookman Jan. 113/1 The German dissertation..has..the narrowness of mole-eyed outlook. |
| 1906 Daily Chron. 15 Oct. 8/2 A simple skirt in *mole-grey velveteen. |
| 1662 Hibbert Body Div. i. 262 They are sharp-sighted abroad..but *mole-like blind at home. 1837–9 Hallam Hist. Lit. (1847) III. v. §23. 472 A purblind mole-like pedantry. 1891 Daily News 18 June 5/8 The blind mole-like marsupial recently discovered in South Australia. |
| 1813 J. Quincy in Life (1867) 285 It is now apparent to the most *mole-sighted. |
| 1833 Carlyle Diderot Misc. Ess. (1872) V. 30 He digs unweariedly, *molewise, in the Encyclopaedic field. |
c. Objective, as
mole-seeker,
mole-taker.
| c 1515 Cocke Lorell's B. 10 Harde ware-men, *mole sekers, and ratte takers. |
| Ibid. 5 With Ielyan Ioly at sygne of the bokeler, And mores *moule taker. 1541 in Vicary's Anat. (1888) App. ii. 109 Item, for John Whatson, molletaker, ix s. iiijd. |
9. a. Special combinations:
mole-cast, a mole-hill;
mole-catcher, (
a) one whose business it is to catch moles;
† (
b) used as a vague term of abuse or contempt; so also
mole-catching a.;
mole ditch = mole drain; so
mole-ditching vbl. n.;
mole-diver, the Little Grebe,
Tachybaptes fluviatilis;
mole drain v., to make drainage courses with the
mole-plough; a drain made by a mole-plough;
mole-drainer = mole-plough;
mole-plant = mole-tree;
mole-stone, a stone of a particular character regarded as an amulet (
cf. toadstone);
mole-tree, the caper-spurge,
Euphorbia Lathyris;
molewort, the genus
Arabis or wall-cress. Also
mole-hill.
| 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) I. 330 An Instrument much used in the West Country for the spreading of *Mole casts. 1880 Daily Tel. 9 Dec., A fresh mole-cast, apparently just thrown up. |
| 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 90 Get *mowle catcher cunninglie mowle for to kill. 1603 Dekker Wonderfull Year D 2 That God would blesse the labors of those mole-catchers [sextons]. 1629 Shirley Wedding iii. G, Whorson mole-catcher. 1851 D. Jerrold St. Giles xiv. 138 A mole-catcher of tolerable parts. |
| a 1693 Urquhart's Rabelais iii. xlviii. 391 The *Mole-catching Symmysts have been..incensed. |
| 1868 Rep. Comm. Agric. 1867 (U.S. Dept. Agric.) 232 Under draining wet, heavy places, with ‘*mole ditches’, or blind drains. |
| 1868 Rep. Iowa Agric. Soc. 1867 154 Under-draining by *mole-ditching has been tried. |
| 1887 A. C. Smith Birds Wilts. 505 In Sussex it [sc. the Little Grebe] is called the ‘*Mole Diver’. |
| 1939 Webster Add., *Mole drain. 1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. June 534/1 A number of standard mole drains was drawn with the 3 in. plug at depths of 18 to 20 in. 1957 E. Blunden Poems of Many Years 280 Waters drawn together From gully and moledrain by contour, chance and weather. |
| 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm I. 606 An acre of ground can be *mole-drained for 13s. 6d. |
| 1859 Trans. Ill. Agric. Soc. III. 361 Dragging the *mole drainer all over our lands. |
| 1842 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 7) VIII. 139/2 The drain thus made is like a large mole gallery, and hence it is called *mole-draining. |
| 1700 E. Lhwyd Let. 12 Mar. in Rowlands Mona Antiqua (1723) 338 Besides, the Snake-Stones..the Highlanders have their Snail-Stones, Paddoc-Stones, *Mole-Stones..and to all which they attribute their several Virtues. |
| 1846–50 A. Wood Class-bk. Bot. 487 Euphorbia Lathyris. *Mole-tree. Caper Spurge. |
| 1770 J. Hill Herb. Brit. II. 269 Genus iv. Arabis. *Mole-wort. |
b. In the names of animals, as
mole-cricket [
cf. Du. molkrekel], any one of the fossorial orthopterous insects of the genus
Gryllotalpa,
esp. G. vulgaris;
mole hog-louse, a cheliferous crustacean,
Apseudes talpa;
mole-rat, (
a) any one of the myomorphic rodents of the family Spalacidæ,
esp. Spalax typhlus; (
b)
dial., the common mole;
mole shrew, (
a) the American genus
Blarina of Soricidæ; (
b) the genus
Urotrichus of Myogalinæ;
mole snake, a non-venomous colubrid snake,
Pseudaspis cana, native to Southern and E. Africa, and feeding on rats and mice.
| 1714 Derham Phys.-Theol. iv. xiii. (ed. 3) 233 note, The *Mole-Cricket (Gryllotalpa). 1879 Todhunter Alcestis 18 In the glowing leas The shy mole-cricket shrilled. |
| 1850 A. White List Crustacea Brit. Mus. 67 Apseudes talpa, *Mole Hog-louse. |
| 1781 Pennant Hist. Quad. II. 469 Blind *Mole-Rat. 1836–9 Todd's Cycl. Anat. II. 176/2 The mole-rat (Aspalax zemni). 1849 Sk. Nat. Hist., Mammalia IV. 89 The Mole-Rat..Spalax typhlus [etc.]. 1855 W. S. Dallas in Syst. Nat. Hist. II. 463 The Georhychidæ, or Mole-Rats, form another family nearly allied to the Muridæ. 1885 Riverside Nat. Hist. (1888) V. 101 The Mole-rats, or family Spalacidæ. Ibid. 102 There are some half-dozen species of the latter [sc. Bathyergus], all of South Africa, among them the Strand Mole-rat (B. maritimus). |
| 187. Cassell's Nat. Hist. I. 376 The Hairy-tailed *Mole-shrew Urotrichus talpoides. 1885 Riverside Nat. Hist. (1888) V. 148 The typical species, called the Mole-shrew, Blarina brevicauda. |
| 1893 J. Noble Illustr. Official Handbk. Cape & S. Afr. 84 The Colubrinæ include the large and abundant ‘black’ or ‘*mole’ snake. 1911 East London (Cape Province) Dispatch 1 Sept. 7 When alarmed the mole snake is very pugnacious. 1931 Discovery Mar. 74/2 The South African mole snake is a non-poisonous species. It constricts its prey and swallows it whole. 1951 R. Campbell Light on Dark Horse ii. 36 A mole-snake has not only an apparent immunity [to bites from other snakes] but also the power to strangle other snakes. 1966 E. Palmer Plains of Camdeboo xiii. 220 Sometimes we see a long, graceful, chinless snake in the veld, with a dark muscular body shining as if carefully polished. This is the mole snake and is harmless to man, killing its prey by constriction. 1970 [see boomslang]. |
Hence
ˈmoleism nonce-wd., mole-like character.
| 1787 A. Seward Lett. (1811) I. 378 Darwin is a mole to Milton, and that you will say is indeed a molism. 1796 Ibid. IV. 189 She, not aware of his moleism, relied upon it that all was well. |
Add:
[5.] b. Mining. A remotely operated or automatic machine capable of tunnelling or crawling underground.
| 1960 Engineering & Mining. Jrnl. Mar. 86/1 Several years ago, when the first Robbins Mechanical Mole was able to bore a 29.5-ft dia tunnel in shale at about 10 ft per hr, it was seen that here was a tunneling method potentially competitive with present day cyclic operations... It appears that the Mole will be suited for a wider range of rock types than at first thought possible. 1975 D. Beaty Electric Train 99, I don't exactly wield the shovel... I'm on the boring machine. The mole. 1993 Harrowsmith Dec. 43/2 (caption) Alcan's $1 billion project boasts some hefty equipment, including a 600-tonne ‘mole’ with a cutter head the size of a two-lane highway. It is drilling a 16-kilometre water tunnel at Kemano. |
[9.] [a.] mole drain: so
mole drainage.
| 1939 in Webster Add. 1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Apr. 365/3 A considerable amount of mole, tile, and open drainage is required. 1992 C. Culpin Farm Machinery (ed. 12) xxii. 369 A type of implement favoured where mole drainage is regularly practised has a long (3.7 m) floating beam with skids at front and rear, a pneumatic-tyred carriage and hydraulic (or winch) lift. |
▪ III. mole, n.3 (
məʊl)
Also 6
molle, 7–8 (in sense 2)
mould,
mold; 7 in Latin form
moles.
[In sense 1, ad. L. mōlēs fem., mass; cf. OF. mole. In senses 2 and 3, a. F. môle masc., ad. L. mōlēs. It. and Sp. have mole fem., (from the Latin) in the sense ‘mass’; the sense ‘pier, breakwater’ (= 2 below) is expressed by Sp. muelle, Pg. molhe, It. molo (whence G. molo, beside mole from Fr.), the relation of which to L. mōlēs is uncertain.] † 1. A great mass, large piece; the collective mass of any object.
| a 1552 Leland Itin. (1769) VII. 52 Kent Ryver is of a good Depthe not wel to be occupied with Botes for rowllyng Stones and other Moles. 1555 Eden Decades 27 When they sawe soo greate a mole to moue as it were by it selfe without ores. 1578 Banister Hist. Man i. 1, If he note..how the whole mole, and pack of members are sustayned by them [sc. bones]. 1596 F. Sabie Adam's Compl., etc. G 2, O mightie Founder of the earthly mole. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 153 The very mole and quantity of his [i.e. the elephant's] body is sufficient to arme him against the fear of death. 1611 Coryat Crudities 486 That Superlatiue moles vnto which I now bend my Speech. 1637 Heywood Royal Ship 27 How else could such a mighty Mole be rais'd? 1657 Tomlinson Renou's Disp. 549 Whole roots..should be condited, for their mole hinders not. 1677 Hale Contempl. ii. 92 The Guilt grows to such a moles, that a Man is desperately given over to all kind of Villany. 1711 G. Hickes Two Treat. Chr. Priesth. (1847) II. 108 The victim to be slain was brought to the mole (or bulk) of the altar. |
2. A massive structure,
esp. of stone, serving as a pier or breakwater, or as a junction between two places separated from each other by water. Hence metonymically, the water-area contained within the mole; an artificial harbour, a port.
| a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 204 The Turkeiplier with .vi. English Knyghtes were appoynted to defende the Molle or Peere at the hauen mouthe. 1579 Fenton Guicciard. vi. (1599) 231 The other..retired to the mole of Naples. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 12 The sea-ruined wall of the Mould. Ibid. 255 The Mole, that from the South windes defendeth the hauen. 1632 Lithgow Trav. x. 448 A French ship..that was lying in the Mould. 1695 Blackmore Pr. Arth. iv. 483 As when a Mold repels th' Invading Seas. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. xv. §12 He anchored in their very mole. 1727 A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. I. vi. 53 It has..a pretty good Mould, or Bason, for the Easterly [monsoons]. 1773 Brydone Sicily vii. (1809) 69 A stream of lava running into the sea, formed a mole, which no expence could have furnished them. 1791 W. Bartram Carolina 253 A long point of flat rocks, which defended the mole from the surf. 1840 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. III. 265/2 The extremity of the mole, called the chop, in which the sea made a large breach. 1847 E. Cresy Encycl. Civil Engineer. I. 67 The Mole, which united Chalcis in the island of Eubœa with Aulis in Bœotia. 1862 Merivale Rom. Emp. (1865) VI. xlviii. 64 A complete mole or break⁓water. 1872 Yeats Growth Comm. 42 Democrates..connected Pharos with the mainland by a jetty or mole. 1893 Sloane-Stanley Remin. Midshipm. Life xx. 264 We took up our position off the New Mole. Ibid. 267 Landing at the Old Mole..we emerged into Warport Street. |
† 3. Antiq. A Roman form of mausoleum.
Obs.| 1700 J. Monro in Misc. Cur. (1708) III. 401 D.M. at the head of an Inscription, argues the Moles, the Sepulchre, the Monument, &c. was in the primary intention made for and dedicated to the Soul. 1715 Pope Ep. Addison 21 Huge Moles, whose shadow stretch'd from shore to shore, Their ruins perish'd, and their place no more! 1726 Leoni Alberti's Archit. II. 56/1 The Sepulchres of the Ancients are..in several other forms, as Moles and the like. 1818 Byron Ch. Har. iv. clii, Turn to the Mole which Hadrian rear'd on high. 1842 Gwilt Archit. 1005 The mole of Adrian. |
▪ IV. † mole, n.4 Antiq. Obs. [ad. L. mola (Gr. µύλη): see mola1.] A cake made of grains of spelt coarsely ground and mixed with salt (
mola salsa) which was customarily strewn on the victims at sacrifices.
| a 1547 Surrey æneid iv. 694 She with the mole all in her handes devout Stode neare the aulter. 1621 Molle Camerar. Liv. Libr. iii. xviii. 206 This mole, lumpe, or seasoned dough. 1697 Dryden Virg. Past. viii. 115 Crumble the sacred Mole of Salt and Corn. |
▪ V. mole, n.5 Path. (
məʊl)
Also 7
moale.
[a. F. môle, ad. L. mola (Gr. µύλη): see mola1.] A false conception;
= mola1 1.
| 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Frere, Freres des Lombards, Moles, or Mooncalues. 1615 Crooke Body of Man 298 The Coagmentation therefore of the Mole is neuer made without copulation. a 1617 Bayne Lect. (1634) 117 Living births are strangers here, moales and abortives are otherwise. 1770 Hewson in Phil. Trans. LX. 382 Those large clots which..have often been called moles or false conceptions. c 1850 Arab. Nts. (Rtldg.) 721 They showed a piece of wood, which they falsely affirmed to be a mole, of which the sultana had been delivered. 1881 Trans. Obstet. Soc. Lond. XXII. 44 The patient..had not menstruated..A fortnight afterwards the mole..was expelled. |
▪ VI. † mole, n.6 Obs. [a. F. mole. See mola1 2 and molebut.] 1. The sunfish,
Orthagoriscus mola. (
Cf. molebut.)
| 1601 Holland Pliny I. 249 The Mole or Lepo called Phycis, doth alter her hue. 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 233 Mole. Mola...The whole Fish is of a ferine savour, and very unpleasant. |
2. dial. [Perh. a different word.] The rock goby,
Gobius niger.
▪ VII. mole, n.7 Physical Chem. (
məʊl)
Also
mol (formerly as an alternative spelling, now
usu. as an
abbrev.).
[a. G. mol (W. Ostwald Grundlinien d. anorg. Chem. (1900) viii. 163), f. mol-ekül molecule.] That amount of any particular substance having a mass in grammes numerically the same as its molecular or atomic weight; now defined equivalently in the International System of Units as the quantity of specified elementary entities (molecules, ions, electrons, or the like) that in number equals the number of atoms in 0·012 kilogramme of carbon 12.
| 1902 A. Findlay tr. Ostwald's Princ. Inorg. Chem. viii. 156 When one gram-molecule or one mole (the molar or molecular weight of a substance expressed in grams) of any substance is dissolved in a litre or 1000 gm. of water, the solution produced freezes at -1·850°. 1923 Lewis & Randall Thermodynamics iii. 22 The mol is not defined unless the chemical formula is established by universal usage or is definitely stated. 1954 Physiol. Rev. XXXIV. 342 Estimations of the molar concentration (mols per kilogram of water or osmols if the salts are known..). 1959 N. Feather Introd. Physics Mass, Length & Time xv. 282 A mass equal to ‘the molecular weight in grammes’, which we define as 1 mole of a substance, contains the same number of molecules (Avogadro's constant), whatever the substance. 1963 W. J. Moore Physical Chem. (ed. 4) ix. 326 One mole of electrons would be one faraday of electrical charge. 1970 [see molality]. 1971 G. D. Christian Analytical Chem. i. 8 Each mole of silver ion will react with one mole of chloride ion. 1972 Physics Bull. Jan. 40/1 The 14th General conference of Weights and Measures (CGPM) met in Paris on 4–7 October 1971... Amongst the main decisions taken by the conference were the final adoption of the ‘mole’ (mol) as an si base unit. 1973 Block & Holliday Mod. Physical Chem. xi. 256 In the chemical reaction occurring in the Daniell cell..two moles of electrons are required to convert one mole of copper (II) to one mole of zinc (II). |
2. Comb. mole fraction, the ratio of the number of moles of a component in a solution to the total number of moles of all components present.
| 1923 Lewis & Randall Thermodynamics xxii. 261 The mol fraction of bromine in a solution containing 160 grams bromine and 154 grams carbon tetrachloride is ½ if we are considering the formula Br2. 1973 A. W. Adamson Textbk. Physical Chem. ix. 345 The partial pressure of a component becomes proportional to its mole fraction in the limit of zero concentration. |
▪ VIII. ‖ mole, n.8 (
ˈməʊliː)
[Mexican Sp., ad. Nahuatl mulli, molli sauce, stew.] A highly spiced sauce made chiefly from chilli and chocolate and served with various meats.
| 1932 H. W. Bentley Dict. Sp. Terms in Eng. 169 Mole.., a sauce used in Mexican cookery in connection with the serving of meats. 1948 Sat. Even. Post 2 Oct. 52/3 Señora Gonzalez does her stuff on such fabulous and sustaining dishes as chicken mole—boiled chicken bathed in a sauce of exotic Mexican spices, cinnamon, chili, mashed-up peanuts and even a dash of chocolate [etc.]. 1957 ‘B. Buckingham’ Boiled Alive xviii. 121 Turkey swimming in mole, a hot sauce made of chilli and chocolate, stuffed sweet peppers and mounds of pink-brown beans. 1966 Punch 9 Mar. 364/2 We were..sated with rich turkey mole. |
▪ IX. † mole, v.1 Obs. Chiefly
dial. 7–9
male, 9
mail.
[f. mole n.1] trans. To spot, stain, discolour,
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 275 He hadde a cote..Ac it was moled in many places with many sondri plottes. 1677 W. Nicolson Gloss. Brigantinum in Trans. Roy. Soc. Lit. Ser. ii. (1870) IX. 315 Male, to stain. 1691 Ray Collect. Words 145 To Mäle, decolorare. c 1700 Kennett MS. Lansd. 1033 (Halliwell), To male, to discolour, to spot, Northumb. 1808–18 Jamieson, To Mail, Male, to stain. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xvii, A bit rag we hae at hame that was mailed wi' the bluid of a bit skirling wean that was hurt some gate. |
▪ X. mole, v.2 (
məʊl)
[f. mole n.2] 1. trans. To free from mole-hills (Webster 1832) or moles (
Cassell's Encycl. Dict. 1885).
| a 1800 Pegge Suppl. to Grose (1814), Moling, clearing the ground from mole-hills. York. 1827 Mackenzie Hist. Newcastle II. 713 The two noltherds are..also required to scale, mole, and dress the Cow-hill, Moor, and Leazes. |
2. a. To burrow or form holes in, as a mole (Ogilvie 1882).
to mole (something) out, to grope darkly in order to find (something); also, to elicit, bring to light.
| 1855 Dickens Dorrit i. xxxv, He had felt his way inch by inch and ‘Moled it out, sir’ (that was Mr. Pancks's expression), grain by grain. 1924 W. M. Raine Troubled Waters vii. 70 Tait would mole out quite enough evidence against him without any additional data supplied by indiscretion. 1932 L. C. Douglas Forgive us our Trespasses (1937) xiii. 251 Maybe I'll ask you to mole out further data. |
b. intr. To behave in the manner of a mole.
| 1856 W. G. Simms Eutaw xii. 129 How he snaked, and moled, and cooned,..we need not undertake to narrate. |
3. intr. To destroy moles (
Cent. Dict. 1890).