mot

[ moh ]

noun

1. a pithy or witty remark; bon mot.
2. Archaic. a note on a horn, bugle, etc.

mot

¹

/ məʊ /

noun

1. short for bon mot

mot

²

/ mɒt /

noun

1. slang.
   a girl or young woman, esp one's girlfriend

MOT

³

abbreviation for

1. (in New Zealand and formerly in Britain) Ministry of Transport (in Britain now part of the DTLR) See DTLR
2. (in Britain) MOT test: a compulsory annual test for all road vehicles over a certain age, which require a valid MOT certificate

Word History and Origins

Origin of mot¹

1625–35; < French < Late Latin muttum utterance. See motto

Word History and Origins

Origin of mot¹

C16: via French from Vulgar Latin mottum (unattested) utterance, from Latin muttum a mutter, from muttīre to mutter

Origin of mot²

perhaps a variant of mort , obsolete slang for girl or woman, of unknown origin

Example Sentences

The current methodology consists of a hot oven that spits roughly 300 million strontium atoms into an extraordinarily chilly ball of cold atoms known as a magneto-optical trap, or MOT.

From Science Daily

"I knew I'd stumbled across something quite special when I edited the footage from that MOT gig and got goose-pimples at how good the songs and performance were. I'm so happy for them."

From BBC

Similar to doing an MOT on a car, scientists believe they can run a blood test to check how fast a person's internal organs are ageing, and even predict which ones might soon fail.

From BBC

Thomas Manns was on a day off, but took the Weston's Cider van for an MOT on 28 September 2020, the court heard.

From BBC

They range from increasing the cost of paid school dinners and home-to-school transport, to raising the price of MOT and driving test fees as well as street parking charges.

From BBC

Related Words

• gibe
• wisecrack