Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Much; many.
  • noun etc. See molt, etc.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • verb See molt.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The process of shedding or losing a covering of fur, feathers or skin etc.
  • verb intransitive To shed or lose a covering of fur, feathers or skin etc.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun periodic shedding of the cuticle in arthropods or the outer skin in reptiles
  • verb cast off hair, skin, horn, or feathers

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • When most birds moult it is for a period of several months, but these ducks have a partial fall moult which is of the greatest importance to them.

    The Log of the Sun A Chronicle of Nature's Year William Beebe 1919

  • "moult" or shed their shells eight times in their first twelvemonth of life, as the shell is rigid and does not grow with the body.

    The Naturalist on the Thames 1882

  • Behold, as they approach the southern mid-winter of the Horn, when they have need of all their feathers, they proceed to moult, because, forsooth, this is the summer time in the land they came from.

    CHAPTER XXXI 2010

  • The birds concentrate the carotenoids that they obtain from their diet and deposit these pigments into their feathers when they moult.

    Mystery bird: scarlet ibis, Eudocimus ruber 2011

  • The birds concentrate the carotenoids that they obtain from their diet and deposit these pigments into their feathers when they moult.

    Mystery bird: scarlet ibis, Eudocimus ruber 2011

  • It was now possible to study how ancient animals grew to maturity, moult by moult.

    Harry Whittington obituary Richard Fortey 2010

  • He will ride her for days, waiting for her to moult.

    Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

  • They moult only twice, and they never get the call to wander off their plant.

    Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

  • He will ride her for days, waiting for her to moult.

    Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

  • There would be no incentive to migrate, or to breed at any particular time of the year rather than any other, or to shed leaves or to moult or hibernate.

    THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH RICHARD DAWKINS 2009

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