mold

English Online Dictionary. What means mold‎? What does mold mean?

English

Alternative forms

• mould (Commonwealth)

Pronunciation

• enPR: mŏld, mōld
• (UK) IPA^(key): /məʊld/, /mɔʊld/
• (US) IPA^(key): /moʊld/
• Rhymes: -əʊld

Etymology 1

From Middle English molde (“mold, cast”), from Old French modle, mole, from Latin modulus, from Latin modus. Doublet of module, modulus, and model.

Noun

mold (countable and uncountable, plural molds) (American spelling)

2. A hollow form or matrix for shaping a fluid or plastic substance.
3. A frame or model around or on which something is formed or shaped.
4. Something that is made in or shaped on a mold.
5. The shape or pattern of a mold.
6. General shape or form.
   • 1711, Alexander Pope, "The Temple of Fame", in The Works of Alexander Pope: New Ed. Including Several Hundred Unpublished Letters, and Other New Materials, Collected in Part by John Wilson Croker. With Introd. and Notes by Whitwell Elwin, Volume 1, J.Murray, p.206

     Crowned with an architrave of antique mould.
7. Distinctive character or type.

8. A fixed or restrictive pattern or form.

9. (architecture) A group of moldings.

10. (anatomy) A fontanelle.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

mold (third-person singular simple present molds, present participle molding, simple past and past participle molded) (American spelling)

1. (transitive) To shape in or on a mold; to form into a particular shape; to give shape to.
   • 1978, Job 10:8-9, Old Testament, New International Version:

     Your hands shaped me and made me … Remember that you molded me like clay.

2. (transitive) To guide or determine the growth or development of; influence
   • 1963. Haile Selassie (translated)

     It is you who must mold the minds of your students that they may be wise, farsighted, intelligent, profound in their thinking, devoted to their country and government and fruitful in their work. It is you who must sense as the example.

3. (transitive) To fit closely by following the contours of.
4. (transitive) To make a mold of or from (molten metal, for example) before casting.
5. (transitive) To ornament with moldings.
6. (intransitive) To be shaped in or as if in a mold.

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English mowlde, noun use and alteration of mowled, past participle of mowlen, moulen (“to grow moldy”), from Old Norse mygla (compare dialectal Danish mugle), from Proto-Germanic *muglōną, diminutive and denominative of *mukiz 'soft substance' (compare Old Norse myki, mykr (“cow dung”)), from Proto-Indo-European *mewk- (“slick, soft”). More at muck and meek.

Noun

mold (countable and uncountable, plural molds) (American spelling)

2. A natural substance in the form of a woolly or furry growth of tiny fungi that appears when organic material lies for a long time exposed to (usually warm and moist) air.
3. A fungus that creates such colored, furry growths.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• mildew

Verb

mold (third-person singular simple present molds, present participle molding, simple past and past participle molded) (American spelling)

1. (transitive) To cause to become moldy; to cause mold to grow upon.
2. (intransitive) To become moldy; to be covered or filled, in whole or in part, with a mold.

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English molde, from Old English molde, from Proto-Germanic *muldō (“dirt, soil”) (compare Old Frisian molde, Middle Dutch moude, Dutch moude, obsolete German Molte, Norwegian Bokmål mold, and Gothic 𐌼𐌿𐌻𐌳𐌰 (mulda)), from Proto-Indo-European *ml̥h₂-téh₂.

Noun

mold (countable and uncountable, plural molds)

2. Loose friable soil, rich in humus and fit for planting.
3. (UK, dialectal, chiefly plural) Earth, ground.

Alternative forms

• mool
• mould

Derived terms

• leaf mold
• moldboard
• vegetable mold

Translations

Verb

mold (third-person singular simple present molds, present participle molding, simple past and past participle molded) (American spelling)

1. To cover with mold or soil.

Etymology 4

From Middle English molde (“top of the head”), from Old English molda, molde, from Proto-West Germanic *moldō, from Proto-Indo-European *ml̥Hdʰṓ; exactly parallel to Sanskrit मूर्धन् (mūrdhán).

Noun

mold (uncountable)

2. (dialectal or obsolete) The top or crown of the head.

Alternative forms

• mould

References

Anagrams

• LMDO

Faroese

Etymology

From Old Norse mold, from Proto-Germanic *muldō ‘dirt, soil’, from Proto-Indo-European *ml̥h₂-téh₂, from *melh₂- (“to grind, crush”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [mɔlt]

Noun

mold f (genitive singular moldar, uncountable)

1. (agriculture) earth, humus soil, humus layer
   • tá myndaði Harrin Guð mannin av mold jarðar

     And the Lord God formed man of the soil of the ground (Genesis 2,7)

Declension

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse mold, from Proto-Germanic *muldō (“dirt, soil”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɔlt/
• Rhymes: -ɔlt

Noun

mold f (genitive singular moldar, nominative plural moldir)

1. dirt, mould, humus, ground, earth

Declension

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

mold

1. Alternative form of molde (“earth”)

Etymology 2

Noun

mold

1. Alternative form of molde (“top of the head”)

Etymology 3

Noun

mold

1. Alternative form of molde (“mold”)

Etymology 4

Noun

mold

1. Alternative form of molle (“mole”)

Etymology 5

Verb

mold

1. Alternative form of molden

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse mold (“earth, dirt, soil”), from Proto-Germanic *muldō (“mould, soil, dirt”), from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“to grind, crush”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɔl/
• Rhymes: -ɔl
• Hyphenation: mold
• Homophone: moll

Noun

mold f or m (definite singular molda or molden, indefinite plural molder, definite plural moldene)

1. humus, earth, soil, topsoil

Alternative forms

• muld

References

• “mold” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “mold” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse mold, from Proto-Germanic *muldō.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /mɔlː/

Noun

mold f (definite singular molda, uncountable)

1. humus, earth, soil, topsoil

References

• “mold” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *muldō (“dirt, soil”). Cognate with Old English molde (English mold), Old High German molta, Gothic 𐌼𐌿𐌻𐌳𐌰 (mulda).

Pronunciation

• (12th century Icelandic) IPA^(key): /mõld/

Noun

mold f (genitive moldar, plural moldir)

1. earth, dirt, soil
   • Vǫluspá, verse 2

Declension

Descendants

References

• “mold”, in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press