mote

¹mote

verbal auxiliary \ˈmōt\

Definition of MOTE

archaic

: may, might

Origin of MOTE

Middle English, from Old English mōtan to be allowed to — more at must

First Known Use: before 12th century

Rhymes with MOTE

bloat, boat, coat, cote, dote, float, gloat, goat, groat, haute, moat, note, oat, quote, rote, shoat, stoat, throat, tote, vote

²mote

noun \ˈmōt\

Definition of MOTE

: a small particle : speck

Examples of MOTE

1. <there's not a mote of dirt in that woman's house>

Origin of MOTE

Middle English mot, from Old English; akin to Middle Dutch & Frisian mot sand

First Known Use: before 12th century

Related to MOTE

Synonyms

atom, crumb, dribble, fleck, flyspeck, grain, granule, molecule, morsel, bit, nubbin, nugget, particle, patch, scrap, scruple, snip, snippet, speck, tittle

Related Words

ace, dab, dash, driblet, drop, fraction, haet [chiefly Scottish], halfpenny, ha'penny, iota, jot, kenning [chiefly Scottish], lick, minim, mite, modicum, nutshell, ounce, pinch, shred, smatter, smidgen (also smidgeon or smidgin or smidge), spot, strain, streak, suspicion, taste, touch, trace, whisper, whit; bite, mouthful, nibble, tidbit (also titbit); fragment, part, portion, section; chip, flake, shard, shiver, sliver, splinter; clipping, paring, shaving; smithereens

Near Antonyms

chunk, gob, hunk, lump, slab; abundance, barrel, bucket, bushel, deal, heaps, loads, mass, mountain, peck, pile, pot, profusion, quantity, raft, scads, stack, volume, wad, wealth