▪ I. moult, n.
(məʊlt)
Also 9– molt.
[f. moult v.]
The action of moulting: a. In birds. in the moult, in a condition of moulting.
| 1819 Sporting Mag. IV. 247 Those we have just seen are at present in the moult, and on account of their passage are in poor condition. 1874 Coues Birds N.-W. 44 Before the Larks leave Northern Dakota..they go into moult. 1894 R. B. Sharpe Handbk. Birds Gt. Brit. I. 5 The young birds retain their feathered face after their first moult. |
b. transf. in reptiles, crustacea, etc.
| 1815 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. vi. (1818) I. 197 This larva is..shagreened..with minute black tubercles, which it loses at its last moult. 1837 Penny Cycl. VIII. 190/1 Eight moults in the short space of seventeen days have been observed in a young Daphia. 1871 Darwin Desc. Man ii. xi. (1890) 328 The..organs of certain male Orthoptera are not fully developed until the last moult. |
▪ II. moult, v.
(məʊlt)
Forms: 4–7 mout, 5–7 mowt(e, 6–7 mute, 6–8 (9– U.S.) molt, 7 moote, 7– moult.
[ME. mouten:—OE. *m{uacu}tian (implied in bim{uacu}tian to exchange, m{uacu}tung exchange, incorrectly glossing L. mutuum), a Com. WGer. adoption of L. mūtāre to change; cf. OLow Frankish gemûtôn to change, MDu., MLG. mûten to change, moult (mod.Du. muiten to moult), OHG. mûȥôn, gimûȥôn to change, MHG. mûȥen to change, moult, mod.Ger. mausen (hence the frequentative mausern) to moult. The l was introduced late in the 16th c., on the analogy of words like fault, which had an etymological (orig. silent) l before t; the modern pronunciation is based on the spelling.]
† 1. intr. Of feathers; To be shed in the process of change of plumage. Obs. Also with off. Hence loosely of hair: To fall off.
| 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 781 His haire moutes, his eghen rynnes. c 1430 Lydg. Hors, Shepe & G. 180 Fetheres of goos whan thei falle or mout [1479 mowte] To gadre hem vp heerdis hem delite. 1515 Barclay Egloges iv. (1570) C iij b/1 What time the Cuckowes fethers mout and fall From sight she lurketh. 1591 Lyly Endym. v. iii. 190 Mee thinkes I feele my ioyntes stronge, and these mouldy haires to molt. 1647 H. More Philos. Poems 368 Souls that have their feathers moult off of them and so are fain to flag among the dirty desires of the world. |
| transf. 1760–72 H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) I. 82 His teeth, that then happened to be moulting. |
2. Of birds: To shed or cast feathers as part of the process of a change of plumage.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 347/2 Mowtyn, as fowlys, plumeo. 1611 [see moulter n.]. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farm 70 When they are casting off their feathers, otherwise called of the common people moulting. 1780 Hunter in Phil. Trans. LXX. 534 In the following year, she moulted again, and produced the same feathers. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. ii. vii, The Eagle when he moults is sickly. 1867 Baker Nile Tribut. viii. (1872) 122 The birds in this country moult twice a year. |
b. transf. and fig.
| 1612 Sturtevant Metallica xiii. 94 Freestone..in continuance of time..moulteth, or crometh away. 1792 W. Roberts Looker-on No. 52 (1795) III. 23 The said dutchesses and countesses were visibly moulting very fast, and baring their necks and shoulders. 1843 Lytton Last Bar. i. iii, Birds of a feather must keep shy of those that moult other colours. 1884 Goldw. Smith in Fortn. Rev. Jan. 37 England is moulting. Opinions..are..in a state of flux. |
c. In extended sense, of reptiles, crustaceans, and occas. of other animals: To shed or cast some integument or other part, the place of which is supplied by a new growth.
| 1399 [see moulting vbl. n.] 1868 Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869) 298 On the sixth day they [sc. young worms] begin to molt, or change their skin. 1898 P. Manson Trop. Diseases xxxv. 540 During this time it [ankylostomum] moults twice. 1902 Cornish Naturalist Thames 54 The youthful crayfish ‘moult’, or shed their shells 8 times in their first twelvemonth of life. |
3. trans. Of birds: To shed or cast (feathers) in the process of renewal of plumage. Hence of other animals (cf. 2 c): To shed (renewable integuments or other parts). † Also with away, off.
| 1530 Palsgr. 643/1 This hauke begynneth to mute her fethers. 1545 R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 26 Some hauinge their fethers mowted awaye..sanke downe into earthlie thinges. 1760 Phil. Trans. LI. 834 It [has] not, as he thinks, molted off all its first, or chicken feathers. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1824) II. ii. 37 One of these [ermines]..he..kept, in order to observe the manner of moulting its hair. 1875 C. C. Blake Zool. 140 Many reptiles cast or moult their skin. 1894 W. B. Tegetmeier in Field 9 June 850/1, I frequently come across birds that have moulted every chicken feather in May, and the cockerels sometimes furnish the additional..peculiarity of having moulted their spurs also. |
b. fig. and in figurative context.
| 1602 Shakes. Ham. ii. ii. 306 So shall..your secricie to the King and Queene moult no feather. a 1641 Suckling Last Rem. (1659) 2 Time shall moult away his wings, Ere he shall discover..Such a constant Lover. 1768 H. Walpole Let. to G. Montagu 10 Nov., I moulted my stick to-day. 1835 Southey Doctor lxxx. III. 62 We all moult our names in the natural course of life. 1871 Tyndall Fragm. Sci. (1879) II. 221 The errors of ignorance are continually moulted, and ruth is organised. 1880 M{supc}Carthy Own Times IV. xlviii. 12 His self-confidence moulted no feather. |
| refl. 1839 Longfellow Celest. Pilot 24 The eternal pinions, That do not moult themselves [It. si mutan] like mortal hair! |
c. nonce-use. To cause (feathers) to be shed.
| 1634 Sanderson Serm. II. 291 Some write of the ostriches feather, that it will in time moult and consume all the feathers in the tub wherein it is put. |
▪ III. moult
obs. f. melt v.; obs. pa. pple. of melt v.