From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
moat
n : ditch dug as a fortification and usually filled with water
[syn: fosse]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Moat \Moat\, v. t.
To surround with a moat. --Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Moat \Moat\, n. [OF. mote hill, dike, bank, F. motte clod, turf:
cf. Sp. & Pg. mota bank or mound of earth, It. motta clod,
LL. mota, motta, a hill on which a fort is built, an
eminence, a dike, Prov. G. mott bog earth heaped up; or perh.
F. motte, and OF. mote, are from a LL. p. p. of L. movere to
move (see Move). The name of moat, properly meaning, bank
or mound, was transferred to the ditch adjoining: cf. F. dike
and ditch.] (Fort.)
A deep trench around the rampart of a castle or other
fortified place, sometimes filled with water; a ditch.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Ditch \Ditch\ (?; 224), n.; pl. Ditches. [OE. dich, orig. the
same word as dik. See Dike.]
1. A trench made in the earth by digging, particularly a
trench for draining wet land, for guarding or fencing
inclosures, or for preventing an approach to a town or
fortress. In the latter sense, it is called also a moat
or a fosse.
[1913 Webster]
2. Any long, narrow receptacle for water on the surface of
the earth.
[1913 Webster]