moat

Meaning

Noun

1. A deep, wide defensive ditch, normally filled with water, surrounding a fortified habitation.
2. (figuratively) An aspect of a business which makes it more "defensible" from competitors, because of the nature of its products, services or franchise or for some other reason.
3. A circular lowland between a resurgent dome and the walls of the caldera surrounding it.
4. A clear ring outside the eyewall of a tropical cyclone.
5. (obsolete) A hill or mound.

Verb

To surround with a moat.

Synonyms

ditch

trench

fosse

canal

pit

gutter

irrigation canal

channel

sea moat

cavity

gully

small canal

overflow

groove

sink

dike

watercourse

waterway

chasm

hole

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Translations

fossé

fossato

foso

Graben

Burggraben

fosso

douve

fosso

Stadtgraben

gracht

τάφρος

fossa

Wallgraben

slotgracht

Pronounced as (IPA)

/məʊt/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: mote

Cognate with Old French: motte

Cognate with Swiss German: Mott

Cognate with Bavarian: Mott

Cognate with Dutch: mot

Cognate with Saterland Frisian: mut

Cognate with Swedish: muta

Cognate with Old English: mot

In summary

From Middle English mote, from Old French mote (“mound, embankment”); compare also Old French motte (“hillock, lump, clod, turf”), from Medieval Latin mota (“a mound, hill”), of Germanic origin, perhaps via Frankish *mot, *motta (“mud, peat, bog, turf”), from Proto-Germanic *mutô, *mudraz, *muþraz (“dirt, filth, mud, swamp”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mut- (“dark, dirty”).
Cognate with Alemannic German Mott, Mutte (“peat, turf”), Bavarian Mott (“peat, turf”), dialectal Dutch mot (“dust, fine sand”), Saterland Frisian mut (“grit, litter, humus”), Swedish muta (“to drizzle”), Old English mot (“speck, particle”). More at mote, mud, smut.
As term for a business strategy, popularized by American investor Warren Buffett.