moult

«moult» in Mova's school dictionary: To lose feathers, fur, hair or skin so that new ones can… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (moult, moults, moulted, moulting) — US spelling: molt; noun (a moult)

meaning for a pupil

1) (of a bird, animal or insect) To lose feathers, fur, hair or skin so that new ones can grow. tree →

2) Noun: the time or act of moulting. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science lessons about life cycles: birds moult feathers, dogs moult hair, snakes shed skin, and insects and crabs moult their hard outer skeleton to grow bigger. Pet owners notice moulting when there is fur everywhere.

examples

• Our dog moults every spring. tree →
• The chicken is moulting, so she has fewer feathers. tree →
• A caterpillar moults several times before it makes a chrysalis. tree →
• Crabs moult their shells to grow. tree →
• There was cat hair all over the sofa during the moult. tree →
• Snakes moult their whole skin at once. tree →

note

UK, Ireland, Australia, NZ: moult; US: molt. Canada uses both. A moulting animal is usually not ill — it is normal. Close word: shed.

In the corpora

• Insects and spiders must moult their hard outer skeleton to grow.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «moult» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.