moulder

See also: Moulder

English

WOTD – 23 July 2025

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈməʊldə/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈmoʊldəɹ/
  • Audio (General American):(file)
  • Rhymes: -əʊldə(ɹ)
  • Hyphenation: mould‧er

Etymology 1

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”).[1] 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”),[2] 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”).

Verb

moulder (third-person singular simple present moulders, present participle mouldering, simple past and past participle mouldered) (British spelling)

  1. (transitive)
    1. (chiefly Northern England, Scotland) Often followed by away or down: to cause (something) to decay or rot, or to crumble to pieces.
      • 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:
        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.
      • 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:
        [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.
        The spelling has been modernized.
    2. (figurative, obsolete) To cause (someone or something) to die away or disappear.
      • 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:
        How many men have we seen moulder and crumble away great estates, and yet pay no debts?
        The spelling has been modernized.
  2. (intransitive)
    1. Often followed by away: to decay or rot, or to crumble to pieces.
      • 1531, Thomas Elyot, “Of Constance or Stabilitie”, in The Boke Named the Governour […], London: […] Tho[mas] Bertheleti, →OCLC, 3rd boke, folio 220, verso:
        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⸝ […]
      • 1700, [Matthew Prior], Carmen Saeculare, for the Year 1700. To the King, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 15:
        To them [the Muses] Great WILLIAM's Glory to recal / VVhen Statues moulder, and vvhen Arches fall.
      • 1772, W[illiam] Mason, The English Garden: A Poem, London: […] R. Horsfield, […], and H. Dunoyer, […]; also by W. Tessyman, […], →OCLC, 1st book, page 16:
        [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: […]
      • 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:
        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.
      • 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:
        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!
      • 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:
        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.
      • 1842, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “[Miscellaneous.] The Rainy Day.”, in Ballads and Other Poems, 2nd edition, Cambridge, Mass.: […] John Owen, →OCLC, stanza 1, page 111:
        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.
        An adjective use.
      • 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:
        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!
        According to the article, the first printed copy of the song.
      • 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:
        [T]hose traceries should be replaced as they are, and left in reverence until they moulder away.
      • 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:
        The house had been untenanted for some years and was threatening to molder into a picturesque decay when the Douglases took possession of it.
      • 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:
        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.
      • 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:
        Today the trackbed moulders, although Lancashire council reports that it's largely intact to around 1.5 miles south of Fleetwood.
    2. (figurative)
      1. To die away, to disappear.
      2. (obsolete) Often followed by away: of a group of people (especially an army): to diminish in number; to dwindle.
Alternative forms
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

Partly from the following:[3]

  • From Middle English molder, moldere (“maker of bread, baker”),[4] from molden (“to knead or shape (bread); to make bread, bake; to mix (something) by kneading; to shape, mould; to pulverize (?)”)[5] + -er (suffix forming agent nouns, especially names of people engaged in professions or trades).[6] Molden is derived from mold, molde (“model or pattern according to which a thing is made, mould”)[7] + -en (suffix forming the infinitives of verbs);[8] and mold, molde are borrowed from Old French molde, a variant of modle, molle (modern French moule), from Latin modulus (“small interval or measure; etc.”), diminutive of modus (“measure; manner, method”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to measure”).
  • From mould (“to shape in or on a mould; to form into a particular shape”, verb) +‎ -er (suffix forming agent nouns).

Noun

moulder (plural moulders) (British spelling)

  1. (archaic) A person who moulds dough into loaves for baking into bread.
  2. (by extension)
    1. A person who moulds or shapes material into objects, especially clay into bricks, pottery, etc.
      • 1944 November and December, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—II”, in Railway Magazine, page 342:
        It was, however, most interesting work, and the moulders themselves were a decent crowd, never tired of making jokes about themselves such as the hoary one that moulders did not live long, which however ran counter to the other one that no germs could live in a foundry—the atmosphere was too foul.
    2. An instrument or machine used to mould or shape material into objects.
    3. (figurative) A person or thing that influences or shapes; an influencer, a shaper.
  3. (metalworking) A person who makes moulds for casting metal; a mouldmaker.
Derived terms
  • mouldress (obsolete, rare)
Translations

Etymology 3

Probably a variant of mould (“loose, friable soil”), influenced by moulder (“to decay or rot, or to crumble to pieces, etc.”) (etymology 1).[9]

Noun

moulder (countable and uncountable, plural moulders)

  1. (countable, uncountable, Ireland, Orkney, Shetland) Alternative spelling of mulder (“one or more crumbled pieces of food, especially oatcake; a crumb or crumbs”).
  2. (uncountable, obsolete) Synonym of mould (“loose, friable soil”); also, dust.
Translations

Etymology 4

Probably a variant of mould (“furry or woolly growth of tiny fungi”), influenced by moulder (“to decay or rot, or to crumble to pieces, etc.”) (etymology 1).[10]

Noun

moulder (uncountable)

  1. (obsolete, rare) Synonym of mould (“a natural substance in the form of a furry or woolly growth of tiny fungi that appears when organic material lies for a long time exposed to (usually warm and moist) air”)
    • 1817, Isaac Blackburn, “On the Extraordinary Rapid Decay of Our Men of War, and the Causes Pointed Out”, in A Treatise on the Science of Ship-building; […], London: […] [Joyce Gold] for James Asperne, […], →OCLC, book II, pages 144–145:
      [G]reat danger is to be apprehended to the health of the crews, and damage to the provisions and stores on board, from the damp state in which such ships must be in, for a long time after being taken out of the water. Houses, built with stone or mortar, saturated with salt-water, will continue damp for years; and, without almost constant fires, furniture, linen, silks, &c. &c. will be continually damaging, from moulder, rust, and mildew.

References

  1. ^ “moulder | molder, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2024; “moulder1, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. ^ “mōld(e, n.(1)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  3. ^ “moulder | molder, n.1”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2025; “moulder2, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  4. ^ “mōlder(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  5. ^ “mōlden, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  6. ^ “-ē̆r(e, suf.(1)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  7. ^ “mōld(e, n.(3)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  8. ^ “-en, suf.(3)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  9. ^ “moulder, n.2”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023.
  10. ^ “moulder, n3”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2024.

Further reading

Anagrams

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