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# moat

«moat» in Mova's school dictionary: **a deep, wide ditch dug around a castle or town, usually…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a moat, moats)

### meaning for a pupil

A moat is a deep, wide ditch dug around a castle or town, usually filled with water, to keep enemies out. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/moat/#m1)

### sense in the lessons

In history lessons, moats protected medieval castles together with a drawbridge and walls. Zoos sometimes use moats to keep animals in. In business talk, a "moat" is an advantage that protects a company from rivals.

### examples

- The castle was surrounded by a moat. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/moat/#x1)
- The knights lowered the drawbridge over the moat. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/moat/#x2)
- Enemies could not cross the deep moat. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/moat/#x3)
- Ducks swim in the old moat now. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/moat/#x4)
- We drew a castle with a moat around it. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/moat/#x5)
- The lions' enclosure has a moat instead of a fence. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/moat/#x6)
- Its doors are of iron, and round it runs a deep moat, spanned by no bridge. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/moat/#x7)

### note

Countable. Homophone: "mote" (a tiny speck of dust) sounds the same. Do not confuse with "boat".

### In the corpora

- [Great apes do not swim naturally and can drown, so zoos use water moats around ape islands.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/85-ape-house-orangutans-gibbons-bonobos/11/)
- [And of Jezebel also spoke the LORD, saying: The dogs shall eat Jezebel in the moat of Jezreel.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/1KI.795/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «moat» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/moat/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.