moot

Adjective

moot (comparative more moot, superlative most moot)

1. (rare, current in UK) Subject to discussion (originally at a moot); arguable, debatable, unsolved or impossible to solve.
   • […] :indeed we were obligd to hawl off rather in a hurry for the wind freshning a little we found ourselves in a bay which it was a moot point whether or not we could get out of: […]1770, Joseph Banks, The Endeavour Journal of Sir Joseph Banks, January 4, 1770 (published 1962)
   • [T]he uncertain, unsettled condition of this science of Cetology is in the very vestibule attested by the fact, that in some quarters it still remains a moot point whether a whale be a fish.1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Chapter 32”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC
2. (Canada, US) Being an exercise of thought; academic.
3. (Canada, US, uncommon) Having no practical consequence or relevance.
   • That point may make for a good discussion, but it is moot.
   • The question [whether certain poetry was present in the original Hebrew Psalms] in our own time is moot, since various considerations have made it certain that, of all the hazards presented by biblical translation, a dangerous excess of beauty is not one of them.2007, Paul Mankowski, “The Languages of Biblical Translation”, in Adoremus Bulletin, volume 13, number 4

   Synonyms:

   irrelevant, obsolete

Noun (1)

moot (plural moots)

1. A moot court.
   • The pleading used in courts and chancery called moots.1531, Thomas Elyot, The Boke Named the Governour […], London: […] Tho[mas] Bertheleti, →OCLC
2. A system of arbitration in many areas of Africa in which the primary goal is to settle a dispute and reintegrate adversaries into society rather than assess penalties.
3. (scouting) A gathering of Rovers, usually in the form of a camp lasting two weeks.
4. A social gathering of pagans, normally held in a public house.
5. (historical) An assembly (usually for decision-making in a locality).
6. A ring for gauging wooden pins.

Verb (1)

moot (third-person singular simple present moots, present participle mooting, simple past and past participle mooted)

1. To bring up as a subject for debate.
   • A number of other mergers of U.S. railroads are mooted, but the I.C.C. [Interstate Commerce Commission] has made it clear that its assent to the N.& W.-Virginian proposal, which was unopposed by competitors or stockholders, should not be taken as an indication that others will swiftly pass its...1960 January, “Talking of Trains: N.& W.-Virginian merger”, in Trains Illustrated, page 9
   • The general idea was first mooted a couple of years ago by Philip Hammond, then Britain’s chancellor of the exchequer, as a means of encouraging the EU to strike a friendly Brexit deal with the UK.2019 December 17, Howard Davies, “Will the UK really turn into 'Singapore-on-Thames' after Brexit?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   Synonyms:

   table, propose

2. To discuss or debate.
   • a problem which hardly has been mentioned, far less mooted, in this countrya. 1857, William Hamilton, edited by H[enry] L[ongueville] Mansel and John Veitch, Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood...
   • First a case is appointed to be mooted by certain young men, containing some doubtful controversy.1531, Thomas Elyot, The Boke Named the Governour […], London: […] Tho[mas] Bertheleti, →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   bespeak, talk about, treat, bechat, confer, betalk, chat, discuss, talk over

3. (US) To make or declare irrelevant.
4. To argue or plead in a supposed case.
   • There is a difference between mooting and pleading; between fencing and fighting.1641, Ben Jonson, Timber
5. (obsolete, regional) To talk or speak.
   • In that mater now I will mute no moir.1535, William Stewart, The Buik of the Croniclis of Scotland

   Synonyms:

   jabber, say, articulate, babble, blab, chat, chatter, converse, discuss, open one's mouth

6. (Northern England, Scotland) To say, utter, also insinuate.

   Synonyms:

   hint, indicate, advert, allude, imply, inkle, insinuate, intimate, refer, signify

Noun (2)

moot (countable and uncountable, plural moots)

1. (Northern England, Scotland) A whisper, or an insinuation, also gossip or rumors.
2. (Northern England, Scotland, rustic) Talk.

Noun (3)

IPA/ˈmʊt/

moot (plural moots)

1. (Australia) The vagina.

Noun (4)

moot (plural moots)

1. (West-Country) The stump of a tree; the roots and bottom end of a felled tree.
   • 'Ithin the woodlands, flow'ry gleäded, / By the woak tree's mossy moot1903, William Barnes, “My Orcha'd in Linden Lea”, in Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect

Verb (2)

moot (third-person singular simple present moots, present participle mooting, simple past and past participle mooted)

1. (West-Country) To take root and begin to grow.
2. (West-Country) To turn up soil or dig up roots, especially an animal with a snout.
   • "Zarch tha whole worl', vrom Guenever / To Squier Mules' ta Muddever, / Moot iv'ry brack about un.1867, William Frederick Rock, Jim and Nell, page 24

Noun (5)

moot (plural moots)

1. (Internet, endearing, plural-normally) A mutual follower on a social media platform.
   • Eid Mubarak to all my muslim moots out there2020, @healer_katara, "Café au Twitter", ZaofuToday, Issue 1, page 10
   • I just simply post them in my main Twitter account, then hoping that my moots will like and retweet them.2021, @DIORJAEYUN, "NCity Small Business", EnVi, Winter 2021, page 222