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Entry 10 senses · 6 variants Webster, 1913

moot

/(mōt)/ · IPA /muːt/
01 v. See 1st Mot.
  1. 1.
    See 1st Mot.[Obs.] See: Mot
02 n. A ring for gauging wooden pins.
  1. 1.
    A ring for gauging wooden pins.(Shipbuilding)
03 v. t. To argue for and against; to debate; to discuss; to propose for discussion.
imp. & p. p. Mooted; p. pr. & vb. n. Mooting
  1. 1.
    To argue for and against; to debate; to discuss; to propose for discussion.
    “A problem which hardly has been mentioned, much less mooted, in this country.” — Sir W. Hamilton.
  2. 2.
    Specifically: To discuss by way of exercise; to argue for practice; to propound and discuss in a mock court.
    “First a case is appointed to be mooted by certain young men, containing some doubtful controversy.” — Sir T. Elyot.
  3. 3.
    To render inconsequential, as having no effect on the practical outcome; to render academic; as, the ruling that the law was invalid mooted the question of whether he actually violated it.
04 v. i. To argue or plead in a supposed case.
  1. 1.
    To argue or plead in a supposed case.
    “There is a difference between mooting and pleading; between fencing and fighting.” — B. Jonson.
05 n. A meeting for discussion and deliberation; esp., a meeting of the people of a village or district, in Anglo-Saxon times, for the discussion…
  1. 1.
    A meeting for discussion and deliberation; esp., a meeting of the people of a village or district, in Anglo-Saxon times, for the discussion and settlement of matters of common interest; -- usually in composition; as, folk-moot.
  2. 2.
    A discussion or debate; especially, a discussion of fictitious causes by way of practice.
    “The pleading used in courts and chancery called moots.” — Sir T. Elyot.
Phrases & compounds
Moot case — a case or question to be mooted; a disputable case; an unsettled question.
Moot court — a mock court, such as is held by students of law for practicing the conduct of law cases.
Moot point — a point or question to be debated; a doubtful question.
to make moot — to render moot{2}; to moot{3}.
06 a. Subject, or open, to argument or discussion; undecided; debatable; mooted.
  1. 1.
    Subject, or open, to argument or discussion; undecided; debatable; mooted.
  2. 2.
    Of purely theoretical or academic interest; having no practical consequence; as, the team won in spite of the bad call, and whether the ruling was correct is a moot question.