moot

comparative more moot · superlative most moot

1. rarecurrent in UKSubject to discussion (originally at a moot); arguable, debatable, unsolved or impossible to solve.

   The extent to which these Parisian radicals ‘represented’ the French people as a whole was very moot.

   2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 477

   2 more examples

   […] :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: […]

   1770, Joseph Banks, The Endeavour Journal of Sir Joseph Banks, January 4, 1770 (published 1962)

   [T]he 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.

   1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Chapter 32”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC

2. CanadaUSlawBeing an exercise of thought; academic.
3. CanadaUSuncommonHaving no practical consequence or relevance.

   That point may make for a good discussion, but it is moot.

   1 more example

   The question [whether 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.

   2007, Paul Mankowski, “The Languages of Biblical Translation”, in Adoremus Bulletin, volume 13, number 4

   Synonyms: irrelevant, obsolete

plural moots

1. A moot court.

   The pleading used in courts and chancery called moots.

   1531, Thomas Elyot, The Boke Named the Governour […], London: […] Tho[mas] Bertheleti, →OCLC

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. scoutingA gathering of Rovers, usually in the form of a camp lasting two weeks.
4. lifestyleA social gathering of pagans, normally held in a public house.
5. historicalAn assembly (usually for decision-making in a locality).First known use the 12th c.
6. businessA ring for gauging wooden pins.

present singular third person moots · participle present mooting · participle past mooted · past mooted

1. To bring up as a subject for debate.

   The general idea was first mooted a couple of years ago by Philip Hammond, then Britain’s chancellor of the exchequer, as a means of encouraging the EU to strike a friendly Brexit deal with the UK.

   2019 December 17, Howard Davies, “Will the UK really turn into 'Singapore-on-Thames' after Brexit?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   1 more example

   A number of other mergers of U.S. railroads are mooted, but the I.C.C. [Interstate Commerce Commission] has made it clear that its assent to the N.& W.-Virginian proposal, which was unopposed by competitors or stockholders, should not be taken as an indication that others will swiftly pass its scrutiny.

   1960 January, “Talking of Trains: N.& W.-Virginian merger”, in Trains Illustrated, page 9

   Synonyms: table, propose

2. To discuss or debate.

   a problem which hardly has been mentioned, far less mooted, in this country

   a. 1857, William Hamilton, edited by H[enry] L[ongueville] Mansel and John Veitch, Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, published 1859–1860, →OCLC

   2 more examples

   First a case is appointed to be mooted by certain young men, containing some doubtful controversy.

   1531, Thomas Elyot, The Boke Named the Governour […], London: […] Tho[mas] Bertheleti, →OCLC

   An elevated cycleway connecting Los Angeles and Pasadena was mooted as early as 1896 …

   2015 March 4, Peter Shadbolt, “Amazing Cycle Super Highways”, in CNN, retrieved 11 Mar 2015

   Synonyms: bespeak, talk about, treat, bechat, confer, bespeak, betalk, chat

3. USTo make or declare irrelevant.
4. To argue or plead in a supposed case.

   There is a difference between mooting and pleading; between fencing and fighting.

   1641, Ben Jonson, Timber

5. obsoleteregionalTo talk or speak.

   In that mater now I will mute no moir.

   1535, William Stewart, The Buik of the Croniclis of Scotland

   Synonyms: jabber, say, articulate, babble, blab, chat, chatter, converse

6. Northern EnglandScotlandTo say, utter, also insinuate.

   Synonyms: hint, indicate, advert, allude, hint, imply, indicate, inkle

plural moots

1. Northern EnglandScotlandcountableuncountableA whisper, or an insinuation, also gossip or rumors.
2. Northern EnglandScotlandcountableuncountablerusticTalk.

plural moots

1. AustraliaThe vagina.

plural moots

1. West CountryThe stump of a tree; the roots and bottom end of a felled tree.

   'Ithin the woodlands, flow'ry gleäded, / By the woak tree's mossy moot

   1903, William Barnes, “My Orcha'd in Linden Lea”, in Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect

present singular third person moots · participle present mooting · participle past mooted · past mooted

1. West CountryTo take root and begin to grow.
2. West CountryTo turn up soil or dig up roots, especially an animal with a snout.

   "Zarch tha whole worl', vrom Guenever / To Squier Mules' ta Muddever, / Moot iv'ry brack about un.

   1867, William Frederick Rock, Jim and Nell, page 24

plural moots

1. Internetendearingplural normallyA mutual follower on a social media platform.

   Eid Mubarak to all my muslim moots out there

   2020, @healer_katara, "Café au Twitter", ZaofuToday, Issue 1, page 10

   2 more examples

   I just simply post them in my main Twitter account, then hoping that my moots will like and retweet them.

   2021, @DIORJAEYUN, "NCity Small Business", EnVi, Winter 2021, page 222

   RT: hi..jst joined #edtwt! let’s be moots and rt each other

   2022, anonymous, quoted in Fayika Farhat Nova et al., "Cultivating the Community: Inferring Influence Within Eating Disorder Networks on Twitter", Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, January 2022 (article link)