moat: [14] The word moat originally meant a ‘mound’ or ‘embankment’ (this has since been hived off into the specialized form motte). The word was borrowed from Old French mote or motte ‘hill, mound’, whose ultimate source was probably a Gaulish mutt or mutta. The use of the word for the mound on which a castle keep was built led in Old French or Anglo-Norman to its reapplication to the ditch surrounding such a mound.
moat (n.)
mid-14c., from Old French mote "mound, hillock, embankment; castle built on a hill" (12c.; Modern French motte), from Medieval Latin mota "mound, fortified height," of unknown origin, perhaps from Gaulish mutt, mutta. Sense shifted in Norman French from the castle mound to the ditch dug around it. As a verb, "to surround with a moat," early 15c.
双语例句
1. The castle had a deep moat which emptied into the lake.
城堡有一条很深的流入湖里的护城河.
来自《简明英汉词典》
2. A fire on the city gate brings disaster to the fish in the moat.
城门失火，殃及池鱼。
来自辞典例句
3. The Moat House stood not far from the rough forest road.
莫特堡在距高低不平的森林大路没有多远的地方矗立着.
来自辞典例句
4. The medieval town was fortified with a high wall and a deep moat.
