moles

See also: molés, môles, and Moles

English

Noun

moles

1. plural of mole

Anagrams

• Melos, Solem, melos, moels

Catalan

Noun

moles

1. plural of mola

Danish

Noun

moles c

1. indefinite genitive singular of mole

French

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

moles f

1. plural of mole

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *meh₃- (“to exert”). Cognate with Ancient Greek μῶλος (môlos) and German mühen. See also Latin mōs.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈmoː.leːs/, [ˈmoːɫ̪eːs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈmo.les/, [ˈmɔːles]

Noun

mōlēs f (genitive mōlis); third declension

1. multitude, mass (of material)

   Synonyms: multitūdō, frequentia, cōpia, ūbertās, nūbēs

2. (by extension) size
3. rock, boulder, cliff, ridge, outcrop, knoll
   • 43 BCE – c. 17 CE, Ovid, Fasti 5.149-152:

     est mōlēs nātīva locō rēs nōmina fēcit:
     appellant Saxum; pars bona montis eā est.
     huic Remus īnstiterat frūstrā, quō tempore frātrī
     prīma Palātīnae signa dedistis avēs.

     There is a ridge, that which gave natural names to the place: they call it the Rock; it forms a good part of the [Aventine] Hill. To this [place] Remus had uselessly embarked, at which time you, birds of the Palatine, gave foremost omens to his brother, [Romulus].
     (See Aventine Hill.)

4. heap, pile

   Synonyms: cumulus, massa, acervus

5. (military) war machine
6. weight, burden, heaviness

   Synonyms: onus, pondus, gravitās

7. strife, endeavour, effort

   Synonyms: cōnātus, studium, opus, opera, labor, cūra, intēnsiō, pulvis

   • Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita, I, 38 :

     quanta mole gesserat bella

     with such efforts he had managed the wars

8. difficulty, labor, trouble

   Synonyms: difficultās, īnfortūnium, cūra

9. fortification, wall, rampart

   Synonyms: munitio, praesidium

10. mass of soldiers, a large army
11. mole, pier, jetty

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	mōlēs	mōlēs
Genitive	mōlis	mōlium
Dative	mōlī	mōlibus
Accusative	mōlem	mōlēs mōlīs
Ablative	mōle	mōlibus
Vocative	mōlēs	mōlēs

Derived terms

• mōlēcula (New Latin)
• molestus
• mōlior

Descendants

• Catalan: mola, moll (see there for further descendants)
• → Ancient Greek: μόλος (mólos)
  • → Italian: molo
    • → Danish: mole
    • → English: mole
    • → French: môle
    • → German: Mole
    • → Hungarian: móló
    • → Norwegian Nynorsk: molo
    • → Polish: molo
    • → Russian: мол (mol)
• Italian: mole
• Portuguese: mó
• Spanish: mole
• Borrowings:
  • → English: mole
  • → Portuguese: mole

References

• “moles”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “moles”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• moles in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• moles in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
• moles in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[1], pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• Dizionario Latino, Olivetti

Portuguese

Adjective

moles

1. masculine/feminine plural of mole

Noun

moles m

1. plural of mol

Noun

moles f

1. plural of mole

Spanish

Adjective

moles m pl or f pl

1. plural of mole

Noun

moles m pl

1. plural of mol
2. plural of mole

Verb

moles

1. second-person singular present subjunctive of molar