spot on skin, Old English mal "spot, mark, blemish," especially on cloth or linen, from Proto-Germanic *mailan "spot, mark" (cf. Old High German meil, German Mal, Gothic mail "wrinkle"), from PIE root *mai- "to stain, defile" (cf. Greek miainein "to stain, defile," see miasma). Specifically of dark marks on human skin from late 14c.
type of small burrowing mammal (Talpa europea), mid-14c., probably from obsolete moldwarp, literally "earth-thrower." Spy sense first recorded 1974 in John le Carré (but suggested from early 20c.), from notion of "burrowing." Metaphoric use for "one who works in darkness" is from c.1600.
"breakwater," 1540s, from Middle French môle "breakwater" (16c.), ultimately from Latin moles "mass, massive structure, barrier," from PIE root *mo- "to exert oneself" (cf. Greek molos "effort," molis "hardly, scarcely;" German mühen "to tire," müde "weary, tired;" Russian majat' "to fatigue, exhaust," maja "hard work").
unit of molecular quantity, 1902, from German Mol coined 1900 by German chemist Wilhelm Ostwald (1853-1912), short for Molekül (see molecule).
mole 1 (mōl)
n.
A small congenital growth on the skin, usually slightly raised and dark and sometimes hairy, especially a pigmented nevus. Also called nevus pigmentosus.
mole 2
n.
A fleshy abnormal mass formed in the uterus by the degeneration or abortive development of an ovum.
See hydatidiform mole.
mole 3 or mol (mōl)
n.
The amount of a substance that contains as many atoms, molecules, ions, or other elementary units as the number of atoms in 0.012 kilogram of carbon 12. The number is 6.0225 × 1023, or Avogadro's number. Also called gram molecule.
The mass in grams of this amount of a substance, numerically equal to the molecular weight of the substance. Also called gram-molecular weight.
A person who works undercover within an organization and passes information about it to others (1974+)
Heb. tinshameth (Lev. 11:30), probably signifies some species of lizard (rendered in R.V., "chameleon"). In Lev. 11:18, Deut. 14:16, it is rendered, in Authorized Version, "swan" (R.V., "horned owl"). The Heb. holed (Lev. 11:29), rendered "weasel," was probably the mole-rat. The true mole (Talpa Europoea) is not found in Palestine. The mole-rat (Spalax typhlus) "is twice the size of our mole, with no external eyes, and with only faint traces within of the rudimentary organ; no apparent ears, but, like the mole, with great internal organs of hearing; a strong, bare snout, and with large gnawing teeth; its colour a pale slate; its feet short, and provided with strong nails; its tail only rudimentary." In Isa. 2:20, this word is the rendering of two words _haphar peroth_, which are rendered by Gesenius "into the digging of rats", i.e., rats' holes. But these two Hebrew words ought probably to be combined into one (lahporperoth) and translated "to the moles", i.e., the rat-moles. This animal "lives in underground communities, making large subterranean chambers for its young and for storehouses, with many runs connected with them, and is decidedly partial to the loose debris among ruins and stone-heaps, where it can form its chambers with least trouble."