- noun a type of soft earth
- noun a hollow shape into which a liquid is poured, so that when the liquid becomes hard it takes that shape
- noun a grey fungus which looks like powder
- noun a hollow shape into which liquid or molten material is poured to harden
- verb to shape something, often using a mould
- noun a fungus, especially one that produces a fine powdery layer on the surface of an organism
Cars & Driving
- noun a hollow form used to give a certain shape to fluid or plastic material
- A hollow container of metal, ceramic, glass or plastic in which liquids are placed so as to set and take up the shape of the mould. Used for jellies, blanc-mange and a variety of solid foods set in aspic.
- The fungi which grow on the surface of food left exposed to ambient conditions. Often moulds are not noticed until the fruiting bodies appear. These are usually either a white coating or a furry white, grey or green growth, both of which grow outwards from the original inoculating spore. Some moulds are deliberately encouraged as on the surface of Camembert and in blue cheeses where they are deliberately introduced into the centre by needling. Mould growth is also important in many fermented foods such as soya sauce and tempeh. Very few moulds are toxic and many have antibiotic (anti-bacterial) properties.
- noun a plastic forme taken from metal setting, used to make a stereo
- noun a tray with a wire mesh bottom in which handmade paper is made
Origin & History of “mould”
English has three words mould. By some way the oldest is ‘earth, soil’ (OE), which comes ultimately from the Indo-European base *mel-, *mol-, *ml- ‘grind’ (source also of English meal ‘flour’, mill, etc). Moulder (16th c.) may be derived from it. Mould ‘form’ (13th c.) is assumed to come from Old French modle ‘form, shape, pattern’. this was descended from Latin modulus ‘small measure’ (source of English module), a diminutive form of modus ‘measure’ (source of English mode, model, etc). Mould ‘fungus’ (15th c.) appears to have originated as an adjective, meaning ‘mouldy’. This in turn was an adjectival use of the past participle of a now obsolete verb moul ‘go mouldy’, which was borrowed from an assumed Old Norse *mugla.