mot

See also: Appendix:Variations of "mot"

Translingual

Symbol

mot

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Barí.

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Barí terms

English

Etymology 1

From French mot. Doublet of motto.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /məʊ/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊ

Noun

mot (plural mots)

1. A witty remark; a witticism; a bon mot.
   • 1859, unknown author, “Literary Adventure. Life of Douglas Jerrold”, in North British Review:

     Here and there turns up a […] savage mot.

   • 1970, John Glassco, Memoirs of Montparnasse, New York, published 2007, page 32:

     ‘He comes from Montreal, in Canada.’ ‘Why?’ she said, repeating Dr Johnson's mot with a forced sneer.

2. (obsolete) A word or a motto; a device.
   • 1597–1598, Joseph Hall, Virgidemiarum

     With his big title, an Italian mot

   • 1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC:

     Tarquin's eye may read the mot afar.

3. (obsolete) A note or brief strain on a bugle.
   • 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC:

     Comrades, mark these three mots — it is the call of the Knight of the Fetterlock

Etymology 2

Probably from Dutch mot (“woman”). See also mort (“woman”) and moth (“girlfriend”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /mɒt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒt

Noun

mot (plural mots)

1. (UK, Ireland, slang) A woman; a wife.
   • 1789, G. Parker, “The Sandman's Wedding”, in Farmer, John Stephen, editor, Musa Pedestris‎, published 1896:

     Come wed, my dear, and let's agree, / Then of the booze-ken you'll be free; / No sneer from cully, mot, or froe / Dare then reproach my Bess for Joe; / For he's the kiddy rum and queer, / That all St. Giles's boys do fear.

   • 1829 July, Vidocq, Eugène François with Maginn, William, transl., “Noctes Ambrosiana [En roulant de vergne en vergne]”, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine‎, number 45, translation of En roulant de vergne en vergne, page 133:

     And we shall caper a-heel-and-toeing, / A Newgate hornpipe some fine day; / With the mots, their ogles throwing, / Tol lol, &c. / And old Cotton humming his pray.

2. (UK, Ireland, slang) A prostitute.
3. (UK, Ireland, slang) A landlady.
   • 1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, volume 1, page 217:

     After some altercation with the "mot" of the "ken" (mistress of the lodging-house) about the cleanliness of a knife or fork, my new acquaintance began to arrange "ground," &c., for the night's work.

Anagrams

• OMT, OTM, TMO, Tom, tom

Achang

Pronunciation

• (Myanmar) /mɔt˧/

Noun

mot

1. spoon, ladle

Further reading

• Inglis, Douglas; Sampu, Nasaw; Jaseng, Wilai; Jana, Thocha (2005), A preliminary Ngochang–Kachin–English Lexicon‎, Payap University, pages 83-84