Mouldwarp

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈməʊldwɔːp/

Alternative forms

• moldwarp, molewarp
• moldiwarp
• moudiwarp

Origin

From Middle English moldwarp, moldewarp, moldewerp, (also molwarpe, molewarpe), from Old English *moldeweorpe, (), from Proto-Germanic *muldawurpiz ("earth-thrower, mole"), equivalent to mould + warp. Cognate with Scots malwart, modewarp ("mole"), Dutch molworp ("mole"), Low German mulworp, molworm ("mole"), German Maulwurf ("mole"), Danish muldvarp ("mole"), Swedish mullvad ("mole"), Icelandic moldvarpa ("mole").

Full definition of mouldwarp

Noun

1. (now regional) A mole, Talpa europea.
• 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, II.3.1.i:as the moldiwarp in Æsop told the fox ..., you complain of toys, but I am blind, be quiet ....
• 1913, DH Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, Penguin 2006, p. 19:"Yi, an' there's some chaps as does go round like moudiwarps." He thrust his face forward in the blind, snout-like way of a mole, seeming to sniff and peer for direction.