moat - Definitions from Dictionary.com

8 results for: moat

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

moat

–noun

1.	a deep, wide trench, usually 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.

[Origin: 1325–75; ME mote < OF: clod, mound, of obscure orig.

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
moat

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

moat Audio Help (mōt) Pronunciation Key
n.

A deep wide ditch, usually filled with water, typically surrounding a fortified medieval town, fortress, or castle as a protection against assault.
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, from Old French, mound, or Medieval Latin mota.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
moat

1362, from O.Fr. mote, from M.L. mota "mound, fortified height," probably from Gaul. mutt, mutta. Sense shifted in Norman Fr. from the castle mound to the ditch dug around it.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

moat
noun
ditch dug as a fortification and usually filled with water

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
moat [məut] noun

a deep ditch, dug round a castle etc, usually filled with water

Arabic:	خَنْدَق مَمْلوء بِالماء
Chinese (Simplified):	护城河
Chinese (Traditional):	護城河
Czech:	příkop
Danish:	voldgrav
Dutch:	gracht
Estonian:	vallikraav
Finnish:	vallihauta
French:	fossés
German:	der Burggraben
Greek:	τάφρος
Hungarian:	várárok
Icelandic:	virkisgröf, kastaladíki
Indonesian:	parit di sekitar kastil
Italian:	fossato, fosso

Japanese:	堀
Korean:	호(濠)
Latvian:	grāvis
Lithuanian:	gynybinis griovys
Norwegian:	vollgrav
Polish:	fosa
Portuguese (Brazil):	fosso
Portuguese (Portugal):	fosso
Romanian:	şanţ (cu apă)
Russian:	ров
Slovak:	priekopa
Slovenian:	trdnjavski jarek
Spanish:	foso
Swedish:	vallgrav
Turkish:	kale hendeği

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

moat

Ditch\ (?; 224), n.; pl. Ditches. [OE. dich, orig. the same word as dik. See Dike.]

1. A trench made in the earth by digging, particularly a trench for draining wet land, for guarding or fencing inclosures, or for preventing an approach to a town or fortress. In the latter sense, it is called also a moat or a fosse.

2. Any long, narrow receptacle for water on the surface of the earth.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Moat

Moat\, n. [OF. mote hill, dike, bank, F. motte clod, turf: cf. Sp. & Pg. mota bank or mound of earth, It. motta clod, LL. mota, motta, a hill on which a fort is built, an eminence, a dike, Prov. G. mott bog earth heaped up; or perh. F. motte, and OF. mote, are from a LL. p. p. of L. movere to move (see Move). The name of moat, properly meaning, bank or mound, was transferred to the ditch adjoining: cf. F. dike and ditch.] (Fort.) A deep trench around the rampart of a castle or other fortified place, sometimes filled with water; a ditch.

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