moonling, a mooncalf, silly fellow. B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, i. 3 (Wit.).
mooting-night, a night at the Inns of Court, when imaginary cases at law are discussed by the students. Cartwright, The Ordinary, iii. 5 (Song, verse 2). See Dict. (s.v. Moot).
mooting-time, the moulting season. Drayton, Pol. xxv. 120. In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Mout). ME. mowtyn, as fowlys, ‘deplumeo’ (Prompt.); cp. Du. muyten, ‘to mue as hawkes doe’ (Hexham); Low G. muten (G. mausen), to moult (Berghaus); L. mutare.
mop, a grimace, Temp. iv. 1. 47; to make grimaces, King Lear, iv. 1. 64; ‘To moppe, maw, movere labia’, Levins, Manip.
moppe (see quot.); ‘I called her (the young lady) Moppe . . . Understanding by this word, a litle prety Lady, or tender young thing. For so we call litle fishes that be not come to full growth, as whiting moppes, gurnard moppes’, Puttenham, Eng. Poesie (ed. Arber, 229). Cp. ME. moppe, ‘pupa’ (Prompt. EETS. 292).
moppet, a term of endearment applied to a child or a young girl, Massinger, Guardian, iv. 2 (end); The Spectator, no. 277. See above.
more, the root of a tree or plant; a plant. Spenser, F. Q. vii. 7. 10. A west-country word from Worc. to Cornwall, see EDD. (s.v. More). ME. more, root (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. v. 25). OE. more, moru, an edible root, a carrot, parsnip (B. T.), cp. G. möhre, a carrot.
morelle, a dark-coloured horse. Skelton, ed. Dyce, i. 15, l. 11; i. 24, l. 17. ME. morel, hors (Prompt. EETS. 293). Norm. F. morel, cheval morel, ‘cheval noir’ (Moisy). F. morel, moreau, cheval moreau, a black horse (Cotgr.).
morfound, a disease in horses, sheep, &c., due to taking a chill. Spelt morfounde, Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 100. Palsgrave has: ‘I morfonde, as a horse dothe that waxeth styffe by taking of a sodayne colde.’ F. se morfondre, to take cold (Cotgr.).
Morglay, the name of the sword belonging to Sir Bevis, Drayton, Polyolbion, ii. 332; used allusively for a sword, Beaumont and Fl., Honest Man’s Fortune, i. 1 (Longueville); Stanyhurst, Aeneid, ii (Arber, 60); Cleaveland’s Poems (Nares). We may perhaps compare claymore (glaymore), see NED.