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Vinony

mote

noun

No English definition recorded for this entry.

L17918 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /moʊt/ / /məʊt/

name

Etymology: From the French and English surname, spelling variant of Motte, from the noun motte (“stronghold”); also a variant of Mott.

  1. A surname.

noun

Etymology: Clipping of remote, with allusion to the other sense of mote (“a speck of dust”).

  1. A tiny computer for remote sensing; a component element of smartdust.

verb

Etymology: From Middle English moten, from Old English mōtan (“to be allowed, be able to, have the opportunity to, be compelled to, may, must”), from Proto-Germanic *mōtaną (“to be able to, have to, be delegated”), from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to acquire, possess, be in charge of”). Cognate with Dutch moeten (“to have to, must”), German müssen (“to have to, must”), Ancient Greek μέδω (médō, “to prevail, dominate, rule over”). Related to empty.

  1. May or might.

    “he […] kept aloofe for dread to be descryde, / Untill fit time and place he mote espy, / Where he mote worke him scath and villeny.”

  2. Must.
  3. Forming subjunctive expressions of wish: may.

    “‘I shall not take Vengeance into my own Hands. The Goddess will do what She will.’ ‘So mote it be,’ said the Grandmaster.”