moot 
If men would be as diligent in the rooting out of vices 
and grafting in of virtues as they are in mooting questions, 
there would not be so many evils and scandals among the 
people. Thomas a Kempis, Imit. of Christ (trans.), i- 3. 
This is the most general expression of a problem which 
hardly has been mentioned, much less mooted, in this 
country. Sir W. Hamilton. 
Leibnitz mooted, this obj ection. Westminster Rev. 
Specifically 2. In law, to plead or argue (a 
cause or supposed cause) merely by way of ex- 
ercise or practice. 3f. To speak; utter. 
The first sillabis that thow did mute. 
Was pa da lyn [Where's Davie Lyndsay?]. 
Sir D. Lyndsay, Works, p. 263. 
II. t intrans. 1. To argue; dispute. 
Agens thee nyle y not moote. 
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 202. 
2. To plead or argue a supposed cause. 
There is a difference between mooting and pleading, be- 
tween fencing and fighting. B. Jonson, Discoveries. 
He talks statutes as fiercely as if he had mooted seven 
years in the inns of court. 
Bp. Karle, Micro-cosmographle, An Attorney. 
moot 2 t, . An obsolete variant of mot s . 
The master of the game, or his lieutenant* sounded three 
long moote*, or blasts with the horn, for the uncoupling 
of the hart hounds. Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 79. 
moot 3 (mot), v. t. [Origin obscure.] To dig. 
Davies. 
mootable (mii'ta-bl), a. [< moot 1 + -able.'] Ca- 
pable of being mooted ; disputable ; open, as a 
question. 
He declareth the matter, and argueth it by cases of law, 
much after the man or of a motabie case. 
Sir T. More, Works, p. 944. 
moot-bookt (mot'buk), n. See the quotation. 
Plowden's queries, or a moot-book of choice cases, usefull 
for young students of the common law.' This was several 
times printed. Wood, Athena? Oxon. 
mootchie-wood (mo'chi-wud), . In India, the 
soft white wood of Erythrina Indica, used for 
making light boxes, scabbards, toys, etc. 
mooter (mo'ter), . 1. One who moots; a 
disputer of a moot case. Totld. 2. In ship- 
building, a workman who makes treenails. 
[Bare.] 
moot-hallt (mot'hal), n. [< ME. moothalle, mote- 
hall; < moot 1 + hall.'] A hall of meeting, de- 
bate, or judgment. In the moot-halls formerly con- 
nected with the inns of court, imaginary or moot cases 
were argued by the students of law. 
I shal no reuthe haue 
While Mede hath the maistrye in this moot-halle. 
Piers Plowman (B), iv. 135. 
Thanne thei ledden Jhesus to Caifas into the moot-halle, 
and it was eerli. Wydif, John xviii. 28. 
moot-hill (mot'hil), n. [< moot*- + MM*. No 
ME. or AS. form appears.] In old Eng. liist., 
a hill of meeting on which the moot was held. 
The life, the sovereignty of the settlement, was solely 
in the body of the freemen whose holdings lay round the 
moot-hill or the sacred tree where the community met from 
time to time to order its own industry and to make its 
own laws. J. R. Green, Making of England, p. 187. 
moot-houset (mot'hous), . [< ME. mothus, < 
AS. mothus,< mot, gemot, meeting, + hus, house.] 
Same as moot-hall. 
mooting (mo'ting), n. [< ME. mating, motyng. 
< AS. motung, conversation, discourse ; verbal 
n. of mofa'are, discuss, moot: see moot 1 , v,~\ 1. 
Pleading; disputing. 
Her pardoun is ful petit at her partyng hennes, 
That any mede of meue men for her motyng taketh. 
Piers Plowman (B), vii. 68. 
Stand sure and take good foting, 
And let be al your mating. 
Skelton, Boke of Colin Clout. 
2. The exercise of pleading a moot case. 
The society of Gray's Inn has revived mootings, it is un- 
derstood with some success. Encyc. Brit., XIII. 89. 
moot-mant (mot'man), n. One who argued a 
hypothetical case in the inns of court. 
mooty (mo'ti), n. ; pi. mooties (-tiz). [A native 
name (?).] A very small bluish falcon, an Ori- 
ental finch-falcon, Microhierax ccerulescens. 
moovet, v. An obsolete spelling of move. 
mop 1 (mop), v. i. ; pret. and pp. mopped, ppr. 
mopping. [Early mod. E. moppe ; = D. moppen 
= G. muffen ( > LG. muffen), pout, grimace: see 
mop 1 , n., and cf. wop 2 , mops. Cf . mow 5 . Also, 
in another form and modified sense, mope.] 1. 
To make a wry mouth. 
I beleeve hee hath robd a Jackanapes of his jesture; 
marke but his countenance, see how he mops, and how he 
mowes, and how he straines his lookes. 
B. Rich, Faults and nothing but Faults, p. 7. (Nares.) 
2. To fidget about. [Prov. Eng.] 
mop 1 (mop), n. [Early mod. E. moppe, = late 
MHG. mnpf, muff, a wry face : see mop 1 , n. Cf. 
3854 
iitopx, mopxy, moppet 1 , moppet 2 . The words 
mop 1 , mop 2 , moppet 1 , moppet' 2 , etc., are more 
or less confused in use.] 1. A wry mouth; a 
pout; a grimace. 
What mops and mows it makes ! heigh, how it frisk ft li ! 
Is 't not a fairy, or some small hob-goblin? 
Fletcher, Pilgrim, iv. 2. 
2. A pouting person, especially a pouting child ; 
hence, a pet child; a child; a young girl; a 
moppet. 
Understanding by this word a litle prety Lady, or ten- 
der young thing. For so we call litle fishes that be not 
come to their full growth, as whiting moppes, gurnard 
moppes. Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, iii. 2. 
3f. A young fish. See the quotation under def . 
2. 4. The haddock. Halliwell. in the mops, 
sulky. Halliwell. 
mop 2 (mop), . [< ME. moppe, a puppet, a fool ; 
cf. mop 1 .] A fool. 
Daunsinge to pipis 
In myrthe with moppis, myrrours of synne. 
Richard the Redeless, iii. 276. 
This mop meynes that he may marke men to ther mede 
He makis many maistries and mervayles emange. 
York Plays, p. 299. 
mop 3 (mop), n. [Prob. a var. of map (cf. chop 2 
chap, strop strap, flop flap, crop crap, knop knap, 
etc. ) : see map 1 . The Celtic words,W. mop, mopa, 
a mop, Gael, mab, mob (f), a tuft, tassel, mop, 
moibeal, Ir. moipal, a mop, are appar. from E., 
or from the orig. L.] 1. A napkin. Halliwell. 
[Prov. Eng.] 2. A bunch of thrums or coarse 
yarn, or a piece of cloth, fastened to a long 
handle and used for cleaning floors, windows, 
carriages, etc. A smaller utensil of the same 
sort is used for washing dishes, etc. 3. Any- 
thing having the shape or appearance of a mop. 
A young girl with eyes like cool agates and a mop of 
yellow-brown hair appeared for a moment. 
The Century, XXXVI. 846. 
4. A statute fair to which servants of all kinds 
come to be hired by fanners and others . [Prov. 
Eng.] 
A grandmother who had pattered Romany, and practiced 
palmistry at every fair or mop in Midlandshire. 
J. W. Palmer, Alter his Kind, p. 81. 
5. A tuft of grass. Htilliwell. [Prov. Eng.] 
Rubber mop, a mop which has at its head a plate of thick 
india-rubber, serving as a scrubber or squeezer. E. H. 
Knight. 
mop 3 (mop), v. t. ; pret. and pp. mopped, ppr. 
mopping. [<mop 3 ,.] 1 . To rub or wipe with 
or as with a mop; clean with a mop. 2. To 
muffle up. Halliwell. 3. To drink greedily. 
Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] To mop up, to absorb or 
take up, as liquid with a cloth or mop. 
mopboard (mop'bord), n. The wash-board or 
skirting of a room. See wash-board. 
mope (mop), v.; pret. and pp. moped, ppr. mop- 
ing. [Var. of mop 1 , .] I. intrans. To be very 
dull or listless; especially, to be spiritless or 
gloomy; yield to gloom or despondency : as com- 
monly used, it implies a rather trivial and weak 
melancholy. 
Or but a sickly part of one true sense 
Could not so mope. Shak., Hamlet, iii. 4. 81. 
Demoniac phrensy, moping melancholy, 
And moon-struck madness. Milton, P. L., li. 485. 
The moping owl doth to the moon complain. 
Gray, Elegy. 
Went moping under the long shadows at sunset. 
D. 0. Mitchell, Rev. of Bachelor, iii. 
II. trans. To make spiritless or melancholy. 
Another droops ; the sun-shine makes him sad ; 
Heav'n cannot please ; one 's mop'd, the other 's mad. 
Qitarles, Emblems, i. 8. 
He is bewitch 'd or mop'd, or his brains melted, 
Could he find no body to fall in love with. 
Fletcher, Humorous Lieutenant, iv. 6. 
Has he fits of spleen? 
Or is he melancholy, moped, or mean ? 
Crabhe, Works, VIII. 4. 
mope (mop), n. [< mope, v.'] A low-spirited, 
listless, melancholy person ; a drone. 
No meagre. Muse-rid mope, adust and thin, 
In a dun night-gown of his own loose skin. 
Pope, Dunciad, H. 
mope-eyed (mop 'id), . Short-sighted; pur- 
blind; stupid. Also mopsy-eyed. 
What a mope-ey'd ass was I, I could not know her ! 
Fletcher, Pilgrim, iii. 3. 
He pitieth his simplicity, and returneth him for answer 
that, if he be not mope-ey'd, he may find the Procession of 
the Divine Persons in his Creed. 
Abp. Bramhall, Schism Guarded, i. 2. 
mopeful (mop'ful), a. [< mope + -ful.'] Mop- 
ish ; stupid ; dull. 
mop-fair (mop'far), n. Same as mop s , 4. 
mop-head (mop'hed), . 1. The head of a mop. 
2. A person with a rough, unkempt head of 
hair, resembling a mop. 3. A clamp consist- 
Moquilea 
ing usually of a movable jaw operated by a screw 
or swivel, for holding the mop-cloth or mass of 
yarn to the mop-handle. 
mop-headed (mop'hed'ed), a. Having rough, 
unkempt hair, resembling the head of a mop. 
moping (mo'ping), re. [Verbal n. of mope, v.~\ 
A listless, melancholy condition; a gloomy 
mood. 
mopingly (mo'ping-li), adv. In a moping or 
listless manner. 
mopish (mo'pish), a. [< mope + ish l .~\ Dull; 
spiritless; stupid; dejected; mentally or physi- 
cally depressed. 
One day in his preaching he [the pastor of an Indepen- 
dent church in Scotland] cursed the light, and fell down 
as dead in his pulpit. The people carried him out, laid 
him upon a gravestone, and poured strong waters into 
him, which fetched him to life again ; and they carried 
him home, but he was mopish. 
Journal of George Fox (Phila. ed.), p. 282. 
mopishly (ino'pish-li), adv. In a mopish man- 
ner. 
Here one mopishly stupid, and so fixed to his posture 
as if he were a breathing statue. 
Bp. Hall, Spiritual Bedlam, Solil., xxix. 
mopishness (mo'pish-nes), . Dejection; dull- 
ness; stupidity. 
Without this [moderation], justice is no other than 
cruell rigour : . . . sorrow, desperate mopishnesse. 
Bp. Hall, Christian Moderation, i. 1. 
moplah (mop'la), n. [E. Ind.] A Mohamme- 
dan inhabitant of Malabar in southwestern In- 
dia, descended from Arabs who settled there 
and married native women. 
mopper (mop'er), n. A muffler. [Prov. Eng.] 
moppet 1 (mop'et), . [Dim. of mop 1 , prob. 
after mopped] A grimace. Davies. 
Albeit we see them sometimes counterfeit devotion, yet 
never did old ape make pretty moppet (moue). 
Urquhart, tr. of Babelais, iii., Author's Prol. 
moppet 2 (mop'et), . [Dim. of mop 2 .] 1. A 
puppet made of cloth; arag-baby. 2. Ayoung 
girl. Also mopsy, mopsey. 
Did one ever hear a little moppet argue so perversely 
against so good a cause? Dryden, Don Sebastian, iii. 2. 
3. A lap-dog. 
moppy (mop'i), a. [Origin obscure.] Tipsy; 
intoxicated. [Slang.] 
mops (mops), n. [= LG. G. Sw. Dan. mops, a 
pug-dog; a var., with insignificant formative 
-s (as in minx 1 and monks), of mop, a wry mouth : 
see mop 1 ."] A pug-dog. 
Mopsea (mop'se-a), n. [NL. (Lamarck).] A 
genus of isidaceous alcyonarian corals of the 
family Jsidida, having alternate calcareous and 
fibrous nodes. There are several deep-sea spe- 
cies,some of them usedf or ornamental purposes. 
mopsey, . See mopsy. 
mopsical (mop'si-kal), a. [< mopsy, mopsey, + -c- 
+ -al. Cf. G. mopsig, stupid, morose.] Short- 
sighted; purblind; mope-eyed; stupid. 
Their mopsical humours being never satisfied but in 
fancying themselves as kings and reigning with Christ. 
Bp. Sauden, Hieraspistes, pref. sig. b (1653). (Latham.) 
mopstick (mop'stik), n. In the pianoforte, a 
vertical rod at the rear end of a key, by which 
the damper is raised when the key is depressed. 
Also mapstick. 
mopsy, mopsey (mop'si), n. ; pi. mopsies, mop- 
seys (-siz). [< mops + dim. -y, -ey.~] 1. Ayoung 
girl : same as moppet*, 2. 2. An untidy woman. 
Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] 
mopsy-eyed (mop 'si -id), a. Same as mope- 
eyed. Davies. 
mopus 1 (mo'pus), n. [A Latinized form of 
mope or mop 1 .] A mope ; a drone. 
I'm grown a mere mopus; no company comes 
But a rabble of tenants. 
Swift, The Grand Question Debated. 
mopus 2 (mop'us), n.', pi. mopusses (-ez). [Also 
mtuepwi: said to be a corruption of the name 
of Sir Giles Mompesson, a monopolist notorious 
in the reign of James I.] Money : usually in 
the plural. [Slang.] 
moquette (mo-kef), n. [Also mocket; < F. mo- 
quette, a kind of carpet.] A stuff with a thick 
soft velvety nap of wool, and a warp of hemp 
or linen, especially such a material heavy enough 
to be used for carpeting. 
Moquilea (mo-kwil'e-a), . [NL. (Aublet, 
1775) ; from a native riame in Guiana.] A ge- 
nus of rosaceous trees of the tribe Chrysoba- 
Idiii'it; distinguished by small anthers, stamens 
much longer than the flower, and a single ovary 
immersed in the base of the calyx-tube. About 15 
species are known, natives of northern South America and 
the West Indies. They have rigid alternate leaves, and small 
flowers variously clustered, usually without petals. See 
caraipi. 
