MOLD, n. [L. mollis.]

1. Fine soft earth, or earth easily pulverized; such as constitutes soil; as, black mold. Ed. W. Indies. A mortal substance of terrestrial mold. Hoole.
2. A substance like down which forms on bodies which lie long in warm and damp air. The microscope exhibits this substance as consisting of small plants. Encyc.
3. Matter of which any thing is formed. Nature formed me of her softest mold. Addison.

1. The matrix in which any thing is cast and receives its form. Molds are of various kinds. Molds for casting cannon and various vessels, are composed of some species of earth, particularly clay. Molds for other purposes consist of a cavity in some species of metal, cut or formed to the shape designed, or are otherwise formed, each for its particular use.
2. Cast; form; as, a writer of vulgar mold. Crown'd with an architrave of antique mold. Pope.
3. The suture or contexture of the skull. Ainsworth.
4. In ship-building, a thin flexible piece of timber, used as a pattern by which to form the curves of the timbers and compassing pieces. Encyc.
5. Among gold-beaters, a number of pieces of vellum or a like substance, laid over one another, between which the leaves of gold and silver are laid for beating. Encyc.

To contract mold; to become moldy. Bacon.

1. To cause to contract mold. Knolles.
2. To cover with mold or soil. Edwards.

1. To form into a particular shape; to shape; to model. He forgeth and moldeth metals. Hall. Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay / To mold me man? Milton.
2. To knead; as, to mold dough or bread. Ainsworth.

1. A spot; a blemish; a mole.
   
   
   [Obs.] Spenser.
2. Crumbling, soft, friable earth; esp., earth containing the remains or constituents of organic matter, and suited to the growth of plants; soil.
3. To cover with mold or soil.
   
   
   [R.]
4. A growth of minute fungi of various kinds, esp. those of the great groups Hyphomycetes, and Physomycetes, forming on damp or decaying organic matter.
   
   

   * The common blue mold of cheese, the brick-red cheese mold, and the scarlet or orange strata which grow on tubers or roots stored up for use, when commencing to decay, are familiar examples. M. J. Berkley.

5. To cause to become moldy; to cause mold to grow upon.
6. To become moldy; to be covered or filled, in whole or in part, with a mold.
7. The matrix, or cavity, in which anything is shaped, and from which it takes its form; also, the body or mass containing the cavity; as, a sand mold; a jelly mold.
   
   
   Milton.
8. To form into a particular shape; to shape; to model; to fashion.
   
   

   He forgeth and moldeth metals. Sir M. Hale.

   Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay
   To mold me man? Milton.

9. Earthy material; the matter of which anything is formed; composing substance; material.
   
   

   The etherial mold,
   Incapable of stain. Milton.

   Nature formed me of her softest mold. Addison.

10. That on which, or in accordance with which, anything is modeled or formed; anything which serves to regulate the size, form, etc., as the pattern or templet used by a shipbuilder, carpenter, or mason.
    
    

    The glass of fashion and the mold of form. Shak.

11. To ornament by molding or carving the material of; as, a molded window jamb.
12. Cast; form; shape; character.
    
    

    Crowned with an architrave of antique mold. Pope.

13. To knead; as, to mold dough or bread.
14. A group of moldings; as, the arch mold of a porch or doorway; the pier mold of a Gothic pier, meaning the whole profile, section, or combination of parts.
15. To form a mold of, as in sand, in which a casting may be made.
16. A fontanel.
17. A frame with a wire cloth bottom, on which the pump is drained to form a sheet, in making paper by hand.