moulder
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈməʊldə/
ipa: /ˈmoʊldəɹ/
rhymes: -əʊldə(ɹ)
Forms: form: moulders
form: mouldering
form: mouldered
form: mouldered
form: molder
Etymology: From mould (“loose friable soil; rotting earth regarded as the substance of the human body”) + -er (suffix forming frequentative verbs), probably influenced by mould (“furry growth of fungi”). Mould is derived from Middle English mold, molde (“loose friable soil, dirt, earth; earth as the substance out of which God made man, and to which the human body decays into after death”), from Old English molde (“earth, soil”), from Proto-Germanic *muldō (“dirt, soil; furry growth of fungi, mould”), from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“to crush, grind”).
Senses: examples: text: In a certaine kingdome of theſe late-diſcovered Indies, vpon the day of a ſolemne proceſſion, in vvhich the Idoles they adore, are publikely caried vpo and dovvne, […] there are numbered of others ſeene, vvho proſtrating themſelves alongſt vpon the ground, endure very paciently to be mouldred and cruſhed to death, vnder the Chariots vvheeles, thinking thereby to purchaſe after their death, a veneration of holineſſe, of vvhich they are not defrauded.
ref: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, “A Custome of the Ile of Cea”, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC, page 210:
text: [S]harp and corroding rheums had so early mouldered those rocks and hardest parts of his fabric [teeth], that a man might well conceive that his years were never like to double or twice tell over his teeth.
ref: 1690, Thomas Browne, “A Letter to a Friend, upon Occasion of the Death of His Intimate Friend. Third Edition.”, in Simon Wilkin, editor, Sir Thomas Browne’s Works […], volume IV, London: William Pickering; Norwich, Norfolk: Josiah Fletcher, →OCLC, page 43:
glosses: Often followed by away or down: to cause (something) to decay or rot, or to crumble to pieces.
examples: text: How many men have we seen moulder and crumble away great estates, and yet pay no debts?
ref: a. 1632 (date written), John Donne, “Sermon IX. Preached on Candlemas Day.”, in Henry Alford, editor, The Works of John Donne, D.D., […], volume I, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], published 1839, →OCLC, page 174:
glosses: To cause (someone or something) to die away or disappear.
examples: text: In buyldinge of a fortreſſe or other honorable mantion⸝ it aught to be well conſidered that the cement⸝ wherewith the ſtones be layde⸝ be firme and well bindynge. For if it be brokle ⁊ will mouldre a way with euery ſhowre of raine⸝ the buyldynge may nat contynewe⸝ […]
ref: 1531, Thomas Elyot, “Of Constance or Stabilitie”, in The Boke Named the Governour […], London: […] Tho[mas] Bertheleti, →OCLC, 3rd boke, folio 220, verso:
text: To them [the Muses] Great WILLIAM's Glory to recal / VVhen Statues moulder, and vvhen Arches fall.
ref: 1700, [Matthew Prior], Carmen Saeculare, for the Year 1700. To the King, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 15:
text: [H]is [Time's] gradual touch / Has moulder'd into beauty many a tovver, / VVhich, vvhen it frovvn'd vvith all its battlements, / VVas only terrible: […]
ref: 1772, W[illiam] Mason, The English Garden: A Poem, London: […] R. Horsfield, […], and H. Dunoyer, […]; also by W. Tessyman, […], →OCLC, 1st book, page 16:
text: Three hundred years of peace, enjoyed by the ſoft inhabitants of Aſia, had aboliſhed the exerciſe of arms, and removed the apprehenſion of danger. The ancient vvalls vvere ſuffered to moulder avvay, and all the revenue of the moſt opulent cities vvas referred for the conſtruction of baths, temples, and theatres.
ref: 1776, Edward Gibbon, “The Emperors Decius, Gallus, Æmilianus, Valerian, and Gallienus—The General Irruption of the Barbarians—The Thirty Tyrants”, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 268:
text: So well had the embalmers done their part / With spice and precious unguents, to imbue / The perfect corpse, that each had still the hue / Of living man, […] / The robes of royalty which once they wore, / Long since had mouldered off and left them bare: / Naked upon their thrones behold them there, / Statues of actual flesh, … a fearful sight!
ref: 1810, Robert Southey, “The Ancient Sepulchres”, in The Curse of Kehama, London: […] [F]or Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […], by James Ballantyne and Co. […], →OCLC, pages 176–177:
text: And when the public, which has not been insensible to the merits of "Sense and Sensibility," "Pride and Prejudice," "Mansfield Park," and "Emma," shall be informed that the hand which guided that pen is now mouldering in the grave, perhaps a brief account of Jane Austen will be read with a kindlier sentiment than simple curiosity.
ref: 1817 December 20 (date written), Biographical Notice of the Author; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume I, London: John Murray, […], 20 December 1817 (indicated as 1818), →OCLC, page v:
text: The day is cold, and dark, and dreary; / It rains, and the wind is never weary; / The vine still clings to the mouldering wall, / But at every gust the dead leaves fall, / And the day is dark and dreary.
ref: 1842, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “[Miscellaneous.] The Rainy Day.”, in Ballads and Other Poems, 2nd edition, Cambridge, Mass.: […] John Owen, →OCLC, stanza 1, page 111:
text: John Brown's body lies a mouldering in the grave, / John Brown's body lies a mouldering in the grave, / John Brown's body lies a mouldering in the grave, / but his soul goes marching on!
ref: c. 1861 (date written), John Brown Song!, Charlestown, Mass.: [s.n.], published [1861], →ISSN, →OCLC; reprinted in George Kimball, “Origin of the John Brown Song”, in The New England Magazine, volume I (New Series; volume VII overall), number 4, Boston, Mass.: New England Magazine Company […], December 1889, page 373:
text: [T]hose traceries should be replaced as they are, and left in reverence until they moulder away.
ref: 1877 July 24 (date written; published 1877 July 28), John Ruskin, “Ribbesford Church”, in [Alexander Dundas Ogilvy Wedderburn], editor, Arrows of the Chace: Being a Collection of Scattered Letters Published Chiefly in the Daily Newspapers,—1840–1880 […], volumes I (Letters on Art and Science), Orpington, Kent [London]: George Allen, […], published 1880, →OCLC, part VI (Architecture and Restoration), page 236:
text: The house had been untenanted for some years and was threatening to molder into a picturesque decay when the Douglases took possession of it.
ref: 1914 September – 1915 May, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Tragedy of Birlstone”, in The Valley of Fear: A Sherlock Holmes Novel, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 27 February 1915, →OCLC, part I (The Tragedy of Birlstone), pages 46–47:
text: The village once had a much higher status with a 14th-century castle – the last remnants of which are mouldering under earth banks in the local golf course.
ref: 1980, Richard Adams [et al.], “Betchworth, Surrey”, in The Reader’s Digest Association, editor, Book of British Villages: A Guide to 700 of the Most Interesting and Attractive Villages in Britain, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Drive Publications for the Automobile Association, →OCLC, page 57, column 2:
text: Today the trackbed moulders, although Lancashire council reports that it's largely intact to around 1.5 miles south of Fleetwood.
ref: 2022 January 22, Philip Haigh, “Okehampton should be the Start of Railway Restoration”, in Rail, number 948, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 50:
glosses: Often followed by away: to decay or rot, or to crumble to pieces.
examples: text: Let thoſe, vvho in theſe latter dayes haue ſo earneſtly laboured, to frame and eſtabliſh vnto vs, an exerciſe of religion and ſeruice of God, ſo contemplatiue and immaterial, vvonder nothing at all, if ſome be found, vvho thinke, it vvould haue eſcaped and mouldred avvay betvveene their fingers, if it had not held and continued amongſt vs, as a marke, a title and inſtrument of diuiſion and faction, more then by it ſelfe.
ref: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, “Of the Arte of Conferring”, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book III, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC, page 557:
text: As to thoſe offerd condeſcenſions of Charitable connivence, or toleration, if vve conſider vvhat vvent before, and vvhat follovvs, they moulder into nothing.
ref: 1649, J[ohn] Milton, “Intitl’d to the Prince of Wales”, in ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [Eikonoklástēs] […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […], →OCLC, page 220:
text: [A]ll idea of serious opposition to the house of Hanover had long mouldered away; […]
ref: 1816, [Walter Scott], chapter V, in The Antiquary. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, pages 99–100:
text: Never man / So moulder'd in a sinecure as he: […]
ref: 1847, Alfred Tennyson, “Prologue”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 9:
text: All I ask is to be left alone to moulder away in solitude.
ref: 1915, Virginia Woolf, chapter XV, in The Voyage Out, London: Duckworth & Co., […], →OCLC, page 235:
text: To send them back: what have they to go back to? / To the stale food mouldering in the larder, / The stale thoughts mouldering in their minds.
ref: 1949 August 22 (first performance), T[homas] S[tearns] Eliot, The Cocktail Party: A Comedy, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.; Hollywood, Los Angeles, Calif.: Samuel French […], published 1950, →OCLC, Act II, page 98:
glosses: To die away, to disappear.
examples: text: The Corniſh Army vvas greater in Reputation, than Numbers; […] if they vvere compelled to march Eaſtvvards, to vvhich they vvere not inclined, it vvas to be doubted they vvould moulder avvay ſo faſt, that there vvould be little addition of ſtrength by it.
ref: 1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, Book VII, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641, volume II, Oxford: The Theater, page 310:
text: The other [preacher] finding his congregation mouldering every Sunday, and hearing at length what was the occasion of it, resolved to give his parish a little Latin in his turn; […]
ref: 1711 November 24 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “TUESDAY, November 13, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 221; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 109:
glosses: Often followed by away: of a group of people (especially an army): to diminish in number; to dwindle.
Derived terms: word: amoulder
english: obsolete; possibly derived from moulder
translation: obsolete; possibly derived from moulder
word: foulder
english: archaic; possibly derived from moulder
translation: archaic; possibly derived from moulder
word: milder
word: mouldered
word: mouldering
word: mouldery
word: moulter