moot

Etymology 1

From Middle English mōt, ȝemōt, from Old English *mōt, ġemōt (“meeting”), from Proto-Germanic [Term?], from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂d- (“to encounter, come”). Cognate with Scots mut, mote (“meeting, assembly”), Low German Mööt (“meeting”), Moot (“meeting”), archaic Dutch (ge)moet (“meeting”), Danish møde (“meeting”), Swedish möte (“meeting”), Norwegian møte (“meeting”), Icelandic mót (“meeting, tournament, meet”). Related to meet.

adj

1. (current in UK, rare in the US) Subject to discussion (originally at a moot); arguable, debatable, unsolved or impossible to solve.
   […] :indeed we were obligd to hawl off rather in a hurry for the wind freshning a little we found ourselves in a bay which it was a moot point whether or not we could get out of: […] 1770, Joseph Banks, The Endeavour Journal of Sir Joseph Banks, January 4, 1770 (published 1962)
   1903, Walter Crane, Lewis F. Day, Moot Points: Friendly Disputes on Art and Industry Between Walter Crane and Lewis F. Day:
   The extent to which these Parisian radicals ‘represented’ the French people as a whole was very moot. 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 477
2. (Canada, US, chiefly law) Being an exercise of thought; academic.
3. (Canada, US) Having no practical consequence or relevance.
   That point may make for a good discussion, but it is moot.
   The question [whether certain poetry was present in the original Hebrew Psalms] in our own time is moot, since various considerations have made it certain that, of all the hazards presented by biblical translation, a dangerous excess of beauty is not one of them. 2007, Paul Mankowski, “The Languages of Biblical Translation”, in Adoremus Bulletin, volume 13, number 4

noun

1. A moot court.
2. A system of arbitration in many areas of Africa in which the primary goal is to settle a dispute and reintegrate adversaries into society rather than assess penalties.
3. (scouting) A gathering of Rovers, usually in the form of a camp lasting 2 weeks.
4. (paganism) A social gathering of pagans, normally held in a public house.
5. (historical) An assembly (usually for decision-making in a locality).
6. (shipbuilding) A ring for gauging wooden pins.

Etymology 2

From Middle English moten (“to speak, talk, converse, discuss”), from Old English mōtian (“to speak, converse, discuss”). See also mutter (which is a frequentative of moot).

verb

1. To bring up as a subject for debate, to propose.
   A number of other mergers of U.S. railroads are mooted, but the I.C.C. [Interstate Commerce Commission] has made it clear that its assent to the N.& W.-Virginian proposal, which was unopposed by competitors or stockholders, should not be taken as an indication that others will swiftly pass its scrutiny. 1960 January, “Talking of Trains: N.& W.-Virginian merger”, in Trains Illustrated, page 9
   The general idea was first mooted a couple of years ago by Philip Hammond, then Britain’s chancellor of the exchequer, as a means of encouraging the EU to strike a friendly Brexit deal with the UK. 2019-12-17, Howard Davies, “Will the UK really turn into 'Singapore-on-Thames' after Brexit?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
2. To discuss or debate.
   An elevated cycleway connecting Los Angeles and Pasadena was mooted as early as 1896 … 2015-03-04, Peter Shadbolt, “Amazing Cycle Super Highways”, in CNN, retrieved 2015-03-11
3. (US) To make or declare irrelevant.
4. To argue or plead in a supposed case.
   There is a difference between mooting and pleading; between fencing and fighting. 1641, Ben Jonson, Timber
5. (regional, obsolete) To talk or speak.
   'Tis no boot to moot again of it.
   In that mater now I will mute no moir. 1535, William Stewart, The Buik of the Croniclis of Scotland
6. (Scotland, Northern England) To say, utter, also insinuate.
   He could not moot the words.

noun

1. (Scotland, Northern England) A whisper, or an insinuation, also gossip or rumors.
   Na, I haven't heard a moot of it.
   Haven't you heard the moot, mate? There are going to be layoffs.
2. (Scotland, Northern England, rural) Talk.
   No, there's no moot of it on the streets.
   There's some moot of charges, but nothing concrete yet.

Etymology 3

Unknown.

noun

1. (Australia) Vagina.

Etymology 4

From Dutch moot (“piece”).

noun

1. (West Country) The stump of a tree; the roots and bottom end of a felled tree.
   'Ithin the woodlands, flow'ry gleäded, / By the woak tree's mossy moot 1903, William Barnes, “My Orcha'd in Linden Lea”, in Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect

verb

1. (West Country) To take root and begin to grow.
2. (West Country) To turn up soil or dig up roots, especially an animal with a snout.
   "Zarch tha whole worl', vrom Guenever / To Squier Mules' ta Muddever, / Moot iv'ry brack about un. 1867, William Frederick Rock, Jim and Nell, page 24

Etymology 5

Clipping of mutual with humorously altered pronunciation.

noun

1. (Internet slang, endearing) A mutual follower on a social media platform.
   Eid Mubarak to all my muslim moots out there 2020, @healer_katara, "Café au Twitter", ZaofuToday, Issue 1, page 10
   I just simply post them in my main Twitter account, then hoping that my moots will like and retweet them. 2021, @DIORJAEYUN, "NCity Small Business", EnVi, Winter 2021, page 222
   RT: hi..jst joined #edtwt! let’s be moots and rt each other 2022, anonymous, quoted in Fayika Farhat Nova et al., "Cultivating the Community: Inferring Influence Within Eating Disorder Networks on Twitter", Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, January 2022 (article link)