moot

moot
    adj 1: of no legal significance (as having been previously
           decided)
    2: open to argument or debate; "that is a moot question" [syn:
       {arguable}, {debatable}, {disputable}, {moot}]
    n 1: a hypothetical case that law students argue as an exercise;
         "he organized the weekly moot"
    v 1: think about carefully; weigh; "They considered the
         possibility of a strike"; "Turn the proposal over in your
         mind" [syn: {consider}, {debate}, {moot}, {turn over},
         {deliberate}]
    

Mot \Mot\ (m[=o]t), v. [Sing. pres. ind. {Mot}, {Mote}, {Moot}
   (m[=o]t), pl. {Mot}, {Mote}, {Moote}, pres. subj. {Mote};
   imp. {Moste}.] [See {Must}, v.] [Obs.]
   May; must; might.
   [1913 Webster]

         He moot as well say one word as another  --Chaucer.
   [1913 Webster]

         The wordes mote be cousin to the deed.   --Chaucer.
   [1913 Webster]

         Men moot [i.e., one only] give silver to the poore
         freres.                                  --Chaucer.
   [1913 Webster]

   {So mote it be}, so be it; amen; -- a phrase in some rituals,
      as that of the Freemasons.
      [1913 Webster]
    

Moot \Moot\, a.
   1. Subject, or open, to argument or discussion; undecided;
      debatable; mooted.
      [1913 Webster]

   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.
      [PJC]
    

Moot \Moot\, v. i.
   To argue or plead in a supposed case.
   [1913 Webster]

         There is a difference between mooting and pleading;
         between fencing and fighting.            --B. Jonson.
   [1913 Webster]
    

Moot \Moot\, n. [AS. m[=o]t, gem[=o]t, a meeting; -- usually in
   comp.] [Written also {mote}.]
   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.
      --J. R. Green.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. [From {Moot}, v.] A discussion or debate; especially, a
      discussion of fictitious causes by way of practice.
      [1913 Webster]

            The pleading used in courts and chancery called
            moots.                                --Sir T.
                                                  Elyot.
      [1913 Webster]

   {Moot case}, a case or question to be mooted; a disputable
      case; an unsettled question. --Dryden.

   {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} v. t. to render moot[2]; to moot[3].
      [1913 Webster +PJC]
    

moot \moot\ (m[=o]t), v.
   See 1st {Mot}. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
   [1913 Webster]
    

moot \moot\ (m[=oo]t), n. (Shipbuilding)
   A ring for gauging wooden pins.
   [1913 Webster]
    

Moot \Moot\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Mooted}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Mooting}.] [OE. moten, motien, AS. m[=o]tan to meet or
   assemble for conversation, to discuss, dispute, fr. m[=o]t,
   gem[=o]t, a meeting, an assembly; akin to Icel. m[=o]t, MHG.
   muoz. Cf. {Meet} to come together.]
   1. To argue for and against; to debate; to discuss; to
      propose for discussion.
      [1913 Webster]

            A problem which hardly has been mentioned, much less
            mooted, in this country.              --Sir W.
                                                  Hamilton.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Specifically: To discuss by way of exercise; to argue for
      practice; to propound and discuss in a mock court.
      [1913 Webster]

            First a case is appointed to be mooted by certain
            young men, containing some doubtful controversy.
                                                  --Sir T.
                                                  Elyot.
      [1913 Webster]

   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.
      [PJC]
    

MOOT, English law. A term used in the inns of court, signifying the exercise 
of arguing imaginary cases, which young barristers and students used to 
perform at certain times, the better to be enabled by this practice to 
defend their clients cases. A moot question is one which has not been 
decided. 
    

119 Moby Thesaurus words for "moot":
      abstract, academic, advance, agitate, arguable, argue, argufy,
      armchair, at issue, bandy words, bicker, bring before,
      bring forward, bring up, broach, canvass, cavil, choplogic,
      commend to attention, confutable, confuted, conjectural, contend,
      contest, contestable, contested, controversial, controvertible,
      cross swords, cut and thrust, debatable, debate, deniable,
      disbelieved, discept, discredited, disputable, dispute, disputed,
      doubtable, doubted, doubtful, dubious, dubitable, exploded,
      give and take, hassle, have it out, hypothetic, ideal, iffy,
      impractical, in dispute, in doubt, in dubio, in question,
      indefinite, introduce, join issue, launch, lay before, lock horns,
      logomachize, make a motion, mistakable, mistrusted, move, notional,
      offer a resolution, open to doubt, open to question, open up,
      pettifog, plead, polemicize, polemize, pose, posit, postulate,
      postulatory, prefer, problematic, problematical, proffer, propose,
      proposition, propound, put forth, put forward, put it to,
      questionable, questioned, quibble, recommend, refutable,
      set before, set forth, spar, speculative, start, submit, suggest,
      suppositional, suspect, suspected, suspicious, take sides,
      theoretical, thrash out, try conclusions, uncertain, undecided,
      under a cloud, under suspicion, undetermined, unresolved,
      unsettled, ventilate, wrangle