noun
mot
moh
noun
1
A clever, witty remark.
"His speech was full of clever mots that had the room laughing."
verb
1
(UK, informal) To have a vehicle undergo its annual roadworthiness inspection.
"I need to get the car MOT'd before the end of the month."
How to Use Mot
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishEither a witty one-liner, or (British) shorthand for the compulsory yearly vehicle safety test.
UK vs US
The "MOT test" sense is exclusively British; Americans have no direct equivalent term.
Word Forms
MOTed past tense, mots plural, mots plural, MOTs singular
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Etymology
From French mot, "word" — a doublet of "motto"; the vehicle-testing sense comes from the acronym MOT (Ministry of Transport), unrelated to the French word.