moat


Also found in: Thesaurus, Acronyms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.
Related to moat: Economic Moat

moat

 (mōt)
n.
1. A deep wide ditch, usually filled with water, typically surrounding a fortified medieval town, fortress, or castle as a protection against assault.
2. A ditch similar to one surrounding a fortification: A moat separates the animals in the zoo from the spectators.
tr.v. moat·ed, moat·ing, moats
To surround with or as if with a moat.

[Middle English mote, mound, moat (since both mounds and moats form part of fortifications), from Old French, mound; akin to Medieval Latin mota, perhaps of Germanic origin and akin to English mud.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

moat

(məʊt)
n
(Fortifications) a wide water-filled ditch surrounding a fortified place, such as a castle
vb
(Fortifications) (tr) to surround with or as if with a moat
[C14: from Old French motte mound]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

moat

(moʊt)

n.
1. a deep, wide trench, usu. filled with water, surrounding the rampart of a fortified place, as a town or a castle.
2. any similar trench, as one used for confining animals in a zoo.
[1325–75; Middle English mote mound, hill, ditch, moat < Old French, c. Old Provençal mota < pre-Latin *mutta]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

moat

- From French mote/motte, meaning "mound."
See also related terms for mound.
Farlex Trivia Dictionary. © 2012 Farlex, Inc. All rights reserved.

moat


Past participle: moated
Gerund: moating

Imperative
moat
moat
Present
I moat
you moat
he/she/it moats
we moat
you moat
they moat
Preterite
I moated
you moated
he/she/it moated
we moated
you moated
they moated
Present Continuous
I am moating
you are moating
he/she/it is moating
we are moating
you are moating
they are moating
Present Perfect
I have moated
you have moated
he/she/it has moated
we have moated
you have moated
they have moated
Past Continuous
I was moating
you were moating
he/she/it was moating
we were moating
you were moating
they were moating
Past Perfect
I had moated
you had moated
he/she/it had moated
we had moated
you had moated
they had moated
Future
I will moat
you will moat
he/she/it will moat
we will moat
you will moat
they will moat
Future Perfect
I will have moated
you will have moated
he/she/it will have moated
we will have moated
you will have moated
they will have moated
Future Continuous
I will be moating
you will be moating
he/she/it will be moating
we will be moating
you will be moating
they will be moating
Present Perfect Continuous
I have been moating
you have been moating
he/she/it has been moating
we have been moating
you have been moating
they have been moating
Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been moating
you will have been moating
he/she/it will have been moating
we will have been moating
you will have been moating
they will have been moating
Past Perfect Continuous
I had been moating
you had been moating
he/she/it had been moating
we had been moating
you had been moating
they had been moating
Conditional
I would moat
you would moat
he/she/it would moat
we would moat
you would moat
they would moat
Past Conditional
I would have moated
you would have moated
he/she/it would have moated
we would have moated
you would have moated
they would have moated
Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.moat - ditch dug as a fortification and usually filled with watermoat - ditch dug as a fortification and usually filled with water
trench - a ditch dug as a fortification having a parapet of the excavated earth
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations
خَنْدَقٌ مَائِيٌّخَنْدَق مَمْلوء بِالماء
hradní příkoppříkopvodní příkop
voldgrav
vallihauta
jarak
várárok
virkisgröf, kastaladíki
gynybinis griovys
aizsarggrāvisgrāvis
grachtslotgracht
vallgrav
คูน้ำรอบปราสาทหรือเมือง
hendekkale hendeği
hào

moat

[məʊt] Nfoso m
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

moat

[ˈməʊt] n [castle] → douves fpl
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

moat

nWassergraben m; (of castle also)Burggraben m
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

moat

[məʊt] nfossato
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

moat

(məut) noun
a deep ditch, dug round a castle etc, usually filled with water.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.

moat

خَنْدَقٌ مَائِيٌّ hradní příkop voldgrav Wassergraben τάφρος φρουρίου foso vallihauta douves jarak fosso gracht vollgrav fosa fosso крепостной ров vallgrav คูน้ำรอบปราสาทหรือเมือง hendek hào 护城河
Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009
References in classic literature ?
So the Delegation was cast into the deepest dungeon beneath the moat, where it maintained a divided mind for many weeks, but finally reconciled its differences and asked to be taken before the New President.
Nothing to do but hitch your rope ladder to the battlements, shin down it, break your leg in the moat -- because a rope ladder is nineteen foot too short, you know -- and there's your horses and your trusty vassles, and they scoop you up and fling you across a saddle, and away you go to your native Langudoc, or Navarre, or wherever it is.
At two o'clock the tennis balls began, according to Grimaud's directions, to take the direction of the moat, much to the joy of La Ramee, who marked fifteen whenever the duke sent a ball into the moat; and very soon balls were wanting, so many had gone over.
"It's all very well your saying that a man escaped by wading this moat, but what I ask you is, how did he ever get into the house at all if the bridge was up?"
It was worth any money to see Wemmick waving a salute to me from the other side of the moat, when we might have shaken hands across it with the greatest ease.
The castle moat divided this species of barbican from the rest of the fortress, so that, in case of its being taken, it was easy to cut off the communication with the main building, by withdrawing the temporary bridge.
Some two hundred feet below, a brawling upland stream stood for the moat, and for the enemy there was on the opposite side of the valley a great green company of trees, settled like a cloud slope upon slope, making all haste to cross the river and ascend the heights where I stood.
In front lay the broad moat, with the moon lying upon its surface, now clear and round, now drawn lengthwise as the breeze stirred the waters.
At the door were standing two young women, girls of the district as they call them, on their way to Seville with some carriers who had chanced to halt that night at the inn; and as, happen what might to our adventurer, everything he saw or imaged seemed to him to be and to happen after the fashion of what he read of, the moment he saw the inn he pictured it to himself as a castle with its four turrets and pinnacles of shining silver, not forgetting the drawbridge and moat and all the belongings usually ascribed to castles of the sort.
A deep moat lay in front of our door, but the water was in places nearly dried up, and it could easily be crossed.
The building rose from an island in the circling stream, so that this formed a perfect moat spanned by a two-arched bridge without a parapet.
Then, in the brightness of the morning, the drawbridge fell across the moat with a rattle and clank of chains, the gate of the castle swung slowly open, and a goodly array of steel-clad men-at-arms, with a knight all clothed in chain mail, as white as frost on brier and thorn of a winter morning, came flashing out from the castle courtyard.