Emily Dickinson Lexicon

MOIST-EN-ING, ppr. [mois'ning.]

Wetting moderately.

MOIST'-EY-ED, a.

Having moist eyes. Coleridge.

MOIST-FUL, a.

Full of moisture. Drayton.

MOIST'NESS, n.

Dampness; a small degree of wetness. Addison.

MOIST'URE, n. [Fr. moiteur.]

1. A moderate degree of wetness. Set such plants as require much moisture, on sandy, dry grounds. Bacon.
2. A small quantity of any liquid; as, the moisture of the body. Shak.

MOIST'URE-LESS, a.

Without moisture.

MOIST'Y, a.

Drizzling. [Not in use.]

MOI'TE-TY, n. [Fr. moitié; L. medietas; It. meta; Sp. mitad.]

The half; one of two equal parts; as, a moiety of an estate, of goods or of profits; the moiety of a jury or of a nation. Clarendon. Addison.

MOKES, n.

Of a net, the meshes. [Not in use.] Ainsworth.

MO'KY, a. [W. mwg; from the root of smoke.]

Muggy; dark; murky. [Obs.]

MOLAR, or MO'LAR-Y, a. [L. molaris.]

Having power to grind; grinding; as, the molar teeth. Bacon.

MOLAR, n.

A grinding tooth.

MO-LAS'SES, n.

An incorrect orthography of Melasses.

MOLD, n.¹ [Sax. mold, molda, myl; W. mol; D. and Dan. mul; Sw. and G. mull; probably allied to mellow; L. mollis. See Mellow, Meal and Mill. It is incorrectly written Mould.]

1. Fine soft earth, or earth easily pulverized; such as constitutes soil; as, black mold. Ed. W. Indies. A mortal substance of terrestrial mold. Hoole.
2. A substance like down which forms on bodies which lie long in warm and damp air. The microscope exhibits this substance as consisting of small plants. Encyc.
3. Matter of which any thing is formed. Nature formed me of her softest mold. Addison.

MOLD, n.² [Sp. molde, a mold or matrix; moldar, amoldar, to cast; Port. molde, moldar, id.; Fr. moule; Arm. moul; Dan. mul, muld; W. mold, whence moldiaw, to mold, work or knead. This may be radically the same word as mold, fine earth; a name taken from the material of molds. The connection of matrix with mater and materia, fortifies this conjecture.]

1. The matrix in which any thing is cast and receives its form. Molds are of various kinds. Molds for casting cannon and various vessels, are composed of some species of earth, particularly clay. Molds for other purposes consist of a cavity in some species of metal, cut or formed to the shape designed, or are otherwise formed, each for its particular use.
2. Cast; form; as, a writer of vulgar mold. Crown'd with an architrave of antique mold. Pope.
3. The suture or contexture of the skull. Ainsworth.
4. In ship-building, a thin flexible piece of timber, used as a pattern by which to form the curves of the timbers and compassing pieces. Encyc.
5. Among gold-beaters, a number of pieces of vellum or a like substance, laid over one another, between which the leaves of gold and silver are laid for beating. Encyc.

MOLD, v.i.

To contract mold; to become moldy. Bacon.

MOLD, v.t.¹

1. To cause to contract mold. Knolles.
2. To cover with mold or soil. Edwards.

MOLD, v.t.²

1. To form into a particular shape; to shape; to model. He forgeth and moldeth metals. Hall. Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay / To mold me man? Milton.
2. To knead; as, to mold dough or bread. Ainsworth.

MOLD-A-BLE, a.

That may be molded or formed. Bacon.

MOLD-ED, pp.

1. Formed into a particular shape; kneaded.
2. Covered with mold.

MOLD-ER, n.

He who molds or forms into shape.

MOLD-ER, v.i. [Dan. mulner; Sw. multna, to grow moldy.]

1. To turn to dust by natural decay; to crumble; to perish; to waste away by a gradual separation of the component particles, without the presence of water. In this manner, animal and vegetable substances molder, and so also do stones and shells. When statues molder, and when arches fall. Prior.
2. To be diminished; to waste away gradually. If he had sat still, the enemy's army would have moldered to nothing. Clarendon.

MOLD-ER, v.t.

To turn to dust; to crumble; to waste. Some felt the silent stroke of moldering age. Pope.

MOLD-ER-ING, ppr.

Turning to dust; crumbling; wasting away.

MOLD-I-NESS, n. [from moldy.]

The state of being moldy. Bacon.