A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1971 (DOST Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
(Moch,) Mothe, v. [f. Moch a. Also in the mod. northeastern Sc. dial. as moch, moach, etc.] intr. Of corn in the stack: To become tainted or fusty through damp. (It is possible that the 1624 quot. under Moth(e v. also belongs here, in a sense ‘to decay or rot, through damp’. The difficulty of allocating quots. between moch ‘damp’ and moth, moch ‘moth’ is increased by the confusion which existed in the handwriting of many MSS. between the letters c and t: cf. the note to Moth n.) —c1650 Spalding I. 81.
The cornes weill stakit began to mothe and rot whill they war cassin over agane
