Etymology From Middle English mōt, ȝemōt, from Old English *mōt, ġemōt (“meeting”), from Proto-Germanic *mōtą, 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. The adjective derives from the noun.
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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)
[T]he uncertain, unsettled condition of this science of Cetology is in the very vestibule attested by the fact, that in some quarters it still remains a moot point whether a whale be a fish.1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Chapter 32”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
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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:
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LawCanada, US Being an exercise of thought; academic.
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Canada, US, Uncommon, In the UK 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:
Etymology From Middle English mōt, ȝemōt, from Old English *mōt, ġemōt (“meeting”), from Proto-Germanic *mōtą, 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. The adjective derives from the noun.
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A moot court.
The pleading used in courts and chancery called moots.1531, Thomas Elyot, The Boke Named the Governour […], London: […] Tho[mas] Bertheleti, →OCLC:
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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.
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A gathering of Rovers, usually in the form of a camp lasting two weeks.
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Lifestyle, Paganism, Religion A social gathering of pagans, normally held in a public house.
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Historical An assembly (usually for decision-making in a locality).
Etymology From Middle English moten (“to speak, talk, converse, discuss”), from Old English mōtian (“to speak, converse, discuss”), from Proto-Germanic *mōtijaną (“to meet, encounter”), a suffixed derivative of *mōtą (“meeting”). Related to etymology 1. See also mutter (which is a frequentative of moot).
1
To bring up as a subject for debate.
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 December 17, Howard Davies, “Will the UK really turn into 'Singapore-on-Thames' after Brexit?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
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To discuss or debate.
a problem which hardly has been mentioned, far less mooted, in this countrya. 1857, William Hamilton, edited by H[enry] L[ongueville] Mansel and John Veitch, Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, published 1859–1860, →OCLC:
First a case is appointed to be mooted by certain young men, containing some doubtful controversy.1531, Thomas Elyot, The Boke Named the Governour […], London: […] Tho[mas] Bertheleti, →OCLC:
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An elevated cycleway connecting Los Angeles and Pasadena was mooted as early as 1896 …2015 March 4, Peter Shadbolt, “Amazing Cycle Super Highways”, in CNN, retrieved 11 Mar 2015:
Etymology From Middle English moten (“to speak, talk, converse, discuss”), from Old English mōtian (“to speak, converse, discuss”), from Proto-Germanic *mōtijaną (“to meet, encounter”), a suffixed derivative of *mōtą (“meeting”). Related to etymology 1. See also mutter (which is a frequentative of moot).
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 moot1903, William Barnes, “My Orcha'd in Linden Lea”, in Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect:
Eid Mubarak to all my muslim moots out there2020, @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
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RT: hi..jst joined #edtwt! let’s be moots and rt each other2022, 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)