Moot

Pronunciation

• enPR: moÍžot, IPA: /muːt/
• Rhymes: -uːt

From Middle English moot, mot, ȝemot, from Old English mōt, gemōt ("moot, society, assembly, meeting, court, council, synod"), from Proto-Germanic *mōtą ("encounter, meeting, assembly"), from Proto-Indo-European *mōd-, *mād- ("to encounter, come"). Cognate with Scots mut, mote ("meeting, assembly"), Low German mote ("meeting"), Danish møde ("meeting"), Swedish möte ("meeting"), Icelandic mót ("meeting, tournament, meet"). Related to meet.

Full definition of moot

Adjective

1. (current in the UK, obsolete in the US) Subject to discussion (originally at a moot); arguable, debatable, unsolved or impossible to solve.
• 1770, Joseph Banks, The HMS Bark Endeavour Journal of Sir Joseph Banks, (published 1962):...:indeed we were obligd to hawl off rather in a hurry for the wind freshning a little we found ourselves in a bay which it was a moot point whether or not we could get out of:...
• 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick, :The uncertain, unsettled condition of this science of Cetology is in the very vestibule attested by the fact, that in some quarters it still remains a moot point whether a whale be a fish.
• 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin 2003, p. 477:The extent to which these Parisian radicals ‘represented’ the French people as a whole was very moot.
2. (North America, chiefly legal) Being an exercise of thought; academic.Walter Crane and Lewis F. Day (1903) Moot Points: Friendly Disputes on Art and Industry Between Walter Crane and Lewis F. Day
3. (North America) Having no practical impact or relevance.That point may make for a good discussion, but it is moot.
• 2007, Paul Mankowski, "The Languages of Biblical Translation", Adoremus Bulletin, Vol. 13, No. 4,The question certain poetry was present in the original Hebrew Psalms in our own time is moot, since various considerations have made it certain that, of all the hazards presented by biblical translation, a dangerous excess of beauty is not one of them.

Synonyms

• (without relevance) irrelevant, obsolete if it was previously relevant

Derived terms

• moot point
• moot court

Noun

1. A moot court.
• Sir T. ElyotThe pleading used in courts and chancery called moots.
2. A system of arbitration in many areas of Africa in which the primary goal is to settle a dispute and reintegrate adversaries into society rather than assess penalties.
3. (Scouting) A gathering of Rovers (18–26 year-old Scouts), usually in the form of a camp lasting 2 weeks.
4. (paganism) A social gathering of pagans, normally held in a public house.
5. (historical) An assembly (usually for decision making in a locality). from the 12th c.
6. (shipbuilding) A ring for gauging wooden pins.

Derived terms

• folkmoot
• gemoot

Verb

1. To bring up as a subject for debate, to propose.
2. To discuss or debate.
• Sir W. Hamiltona problem which hardly has been mentioned, much less mooted, in this country
• Sir T. ElyotFirst a case is appointed to be mooted by certain young men, containing some doubtful controversy.
3. (US) To make or declare irrelevant.
4. To argue or plead in a supposed case.
• Ben JonsonThere is a difference between mooting and pleading; between fencing and fighting.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈmÊŠt/

Origin unknown.

Noun

1. (Australia) Vagina.

Anagrams

• MOTO