n. [ Native name. ] (Zool.) Any one of several very large extinct species of wingless birds belonging to
n. One of the posterity of Moab, the son of Lot. (Gen. xix. 37.) Also used adjectively. [ 1913 Webster ]
n. A female Moabite. Ruth i. 22. [ 1913 Webster ]
(Archaeol.) A block of black basalt, found at Dibon in Moab by
a. Moabite. Ruth ii. 6. [ 1913 Webster ]
v. i.
Unpitied and unheard, where misery moans. Thomson. [ 1913 Webster ]
Let there bechance him pitiful mischances,
To make him moan. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]
n. [ OE. mone. See Moan, v. i. ]
Sullen moans, hollow groans. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]
Rippling waters made a pleasant moan. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]
v. t.
Ye floods, ye woods, ye echoes, moan
My dear Columbo, dead and gone. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]
Which infinitely moans me. Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]
a. Full of moaning; expressing sorrow. --
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. [ 1913 Webster ]