moting, mooting; i.e. discussion, debate. Skelton, Colyn Cloute, 1075. ME. motyng, or pletynge, ‘placitatio’ (Prompt. EETS. 294). See [mote] (a pleading).
motion, a puppet-show. Winter’s Tale, iv. 3. 103; a puppet, Two Gent. ii. 1. 100; B. Jonson, Barthol. Fair, v. 3. 3.
mott, measured; pt. t. of [mete] (q.v.). Spenser, Colin Clout, 365. See NED. (s.v. Mete, vb.1).
motte; see [mot].
mouch, to act by stealth; to idle and loaf about, Webster, Sir T. Wyatt (Clown), ed. Dyce, p. 193. See Mooch in NED. and EDD. The word is in gen. prov. use in the British Isles and in Australia.
mouchatoes, moustaches. Lady Alimony, ii. 5 (Juliffe). See [mutchado].
mought, a moth; ‘Mought that eates clothes, ver de drap’, Palsgrave. Hence moughte-eaten, ‘Olde and moughte-eaten lawes’, More’s Utopia (ed. Lumby, 53). ME. mouȝte (Wyclif, Matt. vi. 19); moghte, ‘tinea’ (Cath. Angl.); OE. mohða.
mought, pt. t. might. Bacon, Essays (very common, see Abbott’s ed., Index); Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 42. ME. maht, 2 pr. s.; mahte, pt. t. of mæi, (I, he) may; OE. meaht, 2 pr. s.; meahte, pt. t. of mæg, (I, he) may, can.
mould, a ‘mole’, a spot on the skin, birthmark. Gascoigne, Supposes, v. 5 (Cleander); mold, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 12. 7. See Dict. (s.v. Mould, 3).
mouldwarp, the mole, ‘talpa’; moldwarp, 1 Hen. IV, iii. 1. 148; Spenser, Colin Clout, 763. In gen. prov. use in the north country, Midlands, and Suffolk, see EDD. (s.v. Mouldywarp). ME. moldewarpe, ‘talpa’ (Cath. Angl.); cp. Dan. muldvarp, Norw. dial. moldvarp (Aasen), G. maulwurf.