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Webster 1913 Edition

Mouldwarp

{

Mold′warp

,

Mould′warp

}
,
Noun.
[OE.
moldwerp
: AS.
molde
soil +
weorpan
to throw up; cf. OD.
molworp
, G.
maulwurf
, Icel.
moldvarpa
, Dan.
muldvarp
. See
Mold
soil,
Warp
, and cf.
Mole
the animal.]
(Zool.)
See
Mole
the animal.
Spenser.

Definition 2024

mouldwarp

mouldwarp

English

Alternative forms

Noun

mouldwarp ‎(plural mouldwarps)

  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.

Translations

Etymology

From Middle English moldwarp, moldewarp, moldewerp, (also molwarpe, molewarpe), from Old English *moldeweorpe, ("mole"; literally "earth-thrower"; compare Old English wandeweorpe ‎(“mole”)), 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”).

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈməʊldwɔːp/

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