mote

See also: Mote, motė, möte, mõte, mótè, and møte

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English mot, from Old English mot (“grain of sand; mote; atom”), but of uncertain ultimate origin. Sometimes linked to Spanish mota (“speck”) and English mud.[1].

Compare West Frisian mot (“peat dust”), Dutch mot (“dust from turf; sawdust; grit”), Norwegian mutt (“speck; mote; splinter; chip”).

Noun

mote (plural motes)

  1. A small particle; a speck.
    • Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.
    • before 1729, Edward Taylor, "Meditation. Joh. 14.2. I go to prepare a place for you":
      What shall a Mote up to a Monarch rise?
      An Emmet match an Emperor in might?
    • 1979, J.G. Ballard, The Unlimited Dream Company, chapter 9:
      I wanted to shrink myself to a mote of dust, plunge into this pool I held in my own cyclopean hands, soar down these runs of light to places where light itself was born from this colloquy of dust.
Translations
See also

Etymology 2

From Middle English moten, from Old English mōtan (“to be allowed, be able to, have the opportunity to, be compelled to, may, must”), from Proto-Germanic *mōtaną (“to be able to, have to, be delegated”), from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to acquire, possess, be in charge of”). Cognate with Dutch moeten (“to have to, must”), German müssen (“to have to, must”), Danish måtte (“might, may”), Ancient Greek μέδω (médō, “to prevail, dominate, rule over”). Related to empty.

Verb

mote (third-person singular simple present mote, present participle -, simple past and past participle must)

  1. (now archaic) May or might. [from 9th c.]
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, VI.7:
      he […] kept aloofe for dread to be descryde, / Untill fit time and place he mote espy, / Where he mote worke him scath and villeny.
  2. (obsolete) Must. [9th-17th c.]
  3. (now archaic) Forming subjunctive expressions of wish: may. [from 9th c.]
    • 1980, Erica Jong, Fanny:
      ‘I shall not take Vengeance into my own Hands. The Goddess will do what She will.’ ‘So mote it be,’ said the Grandmaster.
Usage notes
  • Generally takes an infinitive without to.

Etymology 3

See moot (“a meeting”).

Noun

mote (plural motes)

  1. (obsolete) A meeting for discussion.
    a wardmote in the city of London
  2. (obsolete) A body of persons who meet for discussion, especially about the management of affairs.
    a folk mote
  3. (obsolete) A place of meeting for discussion.
Derived terms
  • folk-mote
  • mote bell
  • shire-mote

Etymology 4

From remote, with allusion to the other sense of mote (“a speck of dust”).

Noun

mote (plural motes)

  1. A tiny computer for remote sensing; a component element of smartdust.

References

  1. ↑ Worcester, Joseph Emerson (1910: Worcester's academic dictionary: a new etymological dictionary of the English language, p. 371

Anagrams

Italian

Noun

mote f pl

  1. plural of mota

Anagrams

Japanese

Romanization

mote

  1. Rōmaji transcription of もて

Latin

Participle

mōte

  1. vocative masculine singular of mōtus

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From French mode

Noun

mote m (definite singular moten, indefinite plural moter, definite plural motene)

  1. fashion

Derived terms

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From French mode

Noun

mote m (definite singular moten, indefinite plural motar, definite plural motane)

  1. fashion

Derived terms

References

Portuguese

Noun

mote m (plural motes)

  1. motto

Spanish

Etymology 1

From French or Provençal mot (“saying”).

Noun

mote m (plural motes)

  1. nickname
  2. motto (heraldry)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Quechua mut'i.

Noun

mote m (plural motes)

  1. (South America) hulled cereal, especially pearl barley and hominy
Derived terms
  • mote de maíz
  • mote de trigo

Volapük

Noun

mote

  1. dative singular of mot
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