mole

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The Hansen case reminds us that the best cover for a mole is apparent fanatical hatred of whichever foreign power the mole is working for.

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Definitions (42)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (10)

  1. noun A small congenital growth on the human skin, usually slightly raised and dark and sometimes hairy, especially a pigmented nevus.
  2. noun Any of various small insectivorous mammals of the family Talpidae, usually living underground and having thickset bodies with light brown to dark gray silky fur, rudimentary eyes, tough muzzles, and strong forefeet for burrowing.
  3. noun A machine that bores through hard surfaces, used especially for tunneling through rock.
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Examples (50)

  • Traveling through the snow like a mole, at times lost entirely to sight, the homely pig vanished into the gloomy evergreens Ham turned his attention to Monk. —  015 - The Mystery On The Snow
  • TO STYPHON'S HOUSE TWENTY I King Theovacar's palace was as old as the mole, at least parts of it. —  Carr, John F, Kalvan Kingmaker (v1.0) (html).html
  • Sudden growth in a mole, of Birthmark; bleeding from a mole, or what it looks like a mole; formation of a new mole, around an old one, etc. —  MyLinkVault Newest Links
  • The Aversions - Black Alibi photo of the mole, a west-coast dj who relocated to mtl, from his myspace page. the mole is one of over 150 artists set to get this city movin 'at next week's mutek festival. —  Montreal Weekend Playlist
  • Whereas for the mole, the proteins were present at the top, but they were usually lost or absent down at the bottom. —  ScienCentral
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Etymologies (14)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. Middle English, from Old English māl.
  2. Middle English molle; possibly akin to mold3.
  3. French môle, from Italian molo, from Late Greek mōlos, from Latin mōlēs, mass, mole.
  4. French môle, from Latin mola, millstone, mole; see melə- in Indo-European roots.
  5. German Mol, short for Molekulargewicht, molecular weight, from molekular, molecular, from French moléculaire, from molécule, molecule; see molecule.
  6. American Spanish, from Nahuatl mōlli.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (8)

  1. Also dial. (Scots) mail (in this form mixed with mail, ult. from Latin macula, a spot), also by some confusion maul, moil; from Middle English mole, mool, from Anglo-Saxon māl, mǣl, a spot, = Old High German Middle High German meil, Old High German also meila, meilā, Middle High German meile = Gothic (Moesogothic) mail, a spot, perhaps orig. *mahal = Latin macula, a spot; whence macula, macule, macle, mackle, mail. A different word from Anglo-Saxon mǣl = Middle Dutch mael, Dutch maal = Old High German Middle High German māl, German mal, a mark, a point of time, time, = Goth, mēl, a point of time: see meal. Hence, by corruption, mold, mould.
  2. from Middle English molen; from mole, n.
  3. Early modern English also mool, moule, mowle, mold, from Middle English mol, molde, molle (= Dutch mol = Middle Low German mol, mul), apparently an abbreviation of orig. molewarp, properly moldwarp. Such abbreviation so early as in the Middle English period is not satisfactorily explained.
  4. from mole, n.
  5. from French môle (later Russian mola) = Spanish mole, muelle = Portuguese molhe = Italian mole, molo (later G. molo), from Latin moles, a great mass, a massive structure, especially of stone, a pier, dam, mole, pile, hence a burden, difficulty, effort, labor. Hence ult. amolish, demolish, emolument, molecule, molest, etc.
  6. from French môle = Spanish Portuguese Italian mola, from Latin mola (= Greek μύλη), a false uterine formation, a particular use of mola, a millstone: see mill.
  7. from Latin mola (= Greek μύλη), spelt coarsely ground and mixed with salt (mola salsa); cf. mola, a millstone: see mill.
  8. A Middle English variant of mele.
 

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