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'Moot' has 2 opposite meanings

Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2006 3:08 pm
by marty1499
Is it true that 'moot' means:

1) subject to debate, arguable; e.g. a moot question

2) irrelevant; e.g. a moot question

Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2006 10:25 pm
by Perry
This interesting word has many (mostly related) meanings.

Source: WordNet (r) 1.7

moot
adj 1: open to debate [syn: disputed]
2: capable of being disproved [syn: debatable, disputable]
v : think about carefully; weigh; "They considered the
possibility of a strike"; "Turn the proposal over in your
mind" [syn: consider, debate, turn over, deliberate]
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Moot \Moot\, v. i.
To argue or plead in a supposed case.

There is a difference between mooting and pleading;
between fencing and fighting. --B. Jonson.
Moot \Moot\, n. [AS. m[=o]t, gem[=o]t, a meeting; -- usually in
comp.] [Written also mote.]
1. A meeting for discussion and deliberation; esp., a meeting
of the people of a village or district, in Anglo-Saxon
times, for the discussion and settlement of matters of
common interest; -- usually in composition; as, folk-moot.
--J. R. Green.

2. [From Moot, v.] A discussion or debate; especially, a
discussion of fictitious causes by way of practice.

The pleading used in courts and chancery called
moots. --Sir T.
Elyot.

Moot case, a case or question to be mooted; a disputable
case; an unsettled question. --Dryden.

Moot court, a mock court, such as is held by students of
law for practicing the conduct of law cases.

Moot point, a point or question to be debated; a doubtful
question.
Moot \Moot\, v.
See 1st Mot. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
Moot \Moot\, n. (Shipbuilding)
A ring for gauging wooden pins.
Moot \Moot\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Mooted; p. pr. & vb. n.
Mooting.] [OE. moten, motien, AS. m[=o]tan to meet or
assemble for conversation, to discuss, dispute, fr. m[=o]t,
gem[=o]t, a meeting, an assembly; akin to Icel. m[=o]t, MHG.
muoz. Cf. Meet to come together.]
1. To argue for and against; to debate; to discuss; to
propose for discussion.

A problem which hardly has been mentioned, much less
mooted, in this country. --Sir W.
Hamilton.

2. Specifically: To discuss by way of exercise; to argue for
practice; to propound and discuss in a mock court.

First a case is appointed to be mooted by certain
young men, containing some doubtful controversy.
--Sir T.
Elyot.
Moot \Moot\, a.
Subject, or open, to argument or discussion; undecided;
debatable; mooted.
Mot \Mot\ (m[=o]t), v. [Sing. pres. ind. Mot, Mote, Moot
(m[=o]t), pl. Mot, Mote, Moote, pres. subj. Mote;
imp. Moste.] [See Must, v.] [Obs.]
May; must; might.

He moot as well say one word as another --Chaucer.

The wordes mote be cousin to the deed. --Chaucer.

Men moot [i.e., one only] give silver to the poore
freres. --Chaucer.

So mote it be, so be it; amen; -- a phrase in some rituals,
as that of the Freemasons.

Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 10:28 pm
by Stargzer