English

Proper noun

Moll

1. (archaic) A pet name for Mary.
   • Daniel Defoe, The Fortunes & Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders

Related terms

• Molly, Mollie

German

Etymology 1

From Latin mollis

Noun

Moll n ‎(genitive Moll, no plural)

1. (music) minor

Declension

Antonyms

• Dur

Etymology 2

Proper noun

Moll m, f ‎(genitive Molls)

1. A surname​.

English

Alternative forms

• mole (Australian, girlfriend of surfie or bikie)

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɒl

Noun

moll ‎(plural molls)

1. A female companion of a gangster, especially a former or current prostitute.
   • 1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, The Bat, chapterI:

     The Bat—they called him the Bat. […]. He […] played a lone hand, […]. Most lone wolves had a moll at any rate—women were their ruin—but if the Bat had a moll, not even the grapevine telegraph could locate her.

2. A prostitute or woman with loose sexual morals.
3. (Australia, New Zealand, slang, pejorative) Bitch, ****; an insulting epithet applied to a female.
4. (Australia, New Zealand, slang) A girlfriend of a bikie.
   • 1979, Eric Reade, History and Heartburn: The Saga of Australian Film, 1896-1978, p.209:

     The bikies ‘molls’ included Susan Lloyd as Tart; Victoria Anoux as Flossie; and Rosalind Talamini as Sunshine.

   • 1995, Debra Adelaide, The Hotel Albatross, p.76:

     ‘Oh God!’ groans Julie who once was a bikie moll back in the early seventies. ‘Hope it′s no one I know.’ But the Machismos turn out to be based on a New Zealand gang, which assembled in Australia after her time.

   • 2009, Albert Moran, Errol Vieth, The A to Z of Australian and New Zealand Cinema, p.142:

     Gilling first appeared as the biker′s moll Vanessa in Stone (1974) and the beautiful, evil cabin attendant in Number 96 (1974).

5. (Australia, New Zealand, slang) A girlfriend of a surfie; blends with pejorative sense.

Usage notes

(girlfriend of a surfie or bikie): Because Australian pronunciation merges the /ɒ/ and /əʊ/ phonemes before /l/ (both become [oʊl]), this word is very commonly spelt mole in Australia, probably by contamination with mole ‎(“sneaky person”). Indeed, the Australian Oxford dictionary does not list the Australian meaning of the term under the headword moll, but only under mole, although it does recognise that mole in this sense is “probably” a mere “variant of moll”.

Synonyms

• (surfie's girlfriend): chick

Etymology 2

German, from Latin mollis ‎(“soft, tender, elegiac”). Compare molle ‎(“flat (in music)”).

Adjective

moll ‎(not comparable)

1. (music, obsolete) minor; in the minor mode

   A moll, that is, A minor

Catalan

Etymology 1

From Latin mollis.

Adjective

moll m ‎(feminine molla, masculine plural molls, feminine plural molles)

1. moist
2. weak

Related terms

• mullar

Etymology 2

From Latin medulla, influenced by Etymology 1.

Noun

moll m ‎(uncountable)

1. marrow, as in bone marrow
2. the soft part of a fruit

Etymology 3

From Latin mullus ‎(“red mullet”).

Noun

moll m ‎(plural molls)

1. several species of fish

   moll de fang — Mullus barbatus

   moll de roca — Mullus surmuletus

   moll reial — Apogon imberbis

Etymology 4

From Latin moles.

Noun

moll m ‎(plural molls)

1. quay, jetty
2. breakwater

Icelandic

Etymology

From Latin mollis ‎(“soft, mild”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɔlː/

  Rhymes: -ɔlː

Noun

moll m ‎(genitive singular molls, nominative plural mollar)

1. (music) minor (scale or key)

Declension

Derived terms

See also

• dúr

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish moil ‎(“a mass, heap, pile”), mul m ‎(“a globular mass, heap, lump”).

Noun

moll m ‎(genitive singular moill, nominative plural mollta)

1. heap; large amount, large number

Declension

• Alternative plurals: molltra, molltracha

Derived terms

• moll bréag ‎(“pack of lies”)

Mutation

References

• "moll" in Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.
• “moil” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.
• “mul” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.

Manx

Verb

moll ‎(verbal noun molley)

1. fool, baffle, foil, beguile, cajole, captivate, deceive, bluff, trick
2. disappoint
3. impose

Derived terms

• molteyr ‎(“deceiver, charlatan, duper, fraud, cheat, con man, impostor”)

Mutation

Swedish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɔl/, [mɔlː]

Noun

moll ‎(indeclinable)

1. (music) minor scale

Derived terms

• a-moll

References

• moll in Svenska Akademiens Ordlista över svenska språket (13th ed., online)