moat
a deep, wide trench, usually filled with water, surrounding the rampart of a fortified place, as a town or a castle.
any similar trench, as one used for confining animals in a zoo.
Origin of moat
1Words that may be confused with moat
- moat , mote
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use moat in a sentence
He was convinced that ocean moats would never keep the Axis powers out of the Western Hemisphere.
The moats, on the left bank of the river, were dug at the foot of the walls forming the old circle of fortification.
The Merrie Tales Of Jacques Tournebroche | Anatole FranceThere is an interesting view over the wide moats, and of the ancient ramparts (rebuilt by Vauban), which were ruined by shells.
Ypres and the Battles of Ypres | UnknownUndo these iron doors—fill up these tremendous moats—lead me, as a mother leads a child, out of this present and pressing danger!
Quentin Durward | Sir Walter ScottBoth were amply protected from storming by wide, deep moats always filled with water.
The Naval History of the United States | Willis J. Abbot.
Thirty thousand Persians fell on the battlefield, and eighty thousand were drowned in the moats surrounding the camp.
Les Parsis | D. Menant
British Dictionary definitions for moat
/ (məʊt) /
a wide water-filled ditch surrounding a fortified place, such as a castle
(tr) to surround with or as if with a moat: a moated grange
Origin of moat
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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