The Collaborative International Dictionary
Moate \Moate\, v. i. [See Mute to molt.] To void the excrement, as a bird; to mute. [Obs.]
Wikipedia
Moate is a town in County Westmeath, Ireland.
The name An Móta is derived from the term motte-and-bailey, as the Normans built an example of this type of fortification here. The earthwork is still visible behind the buildings on the main street.
The town later became an important marketplace and Quaker village. There are several extant examples of Quaker houses on the main street, which itself is typical of an Irish marketplace.
Usage examples of "moate".
An island stood in the middle of the chamber, moated by a ring of uninviting water.
Lord Edward was able to move, to conduct him to Hanley Castle, where he would be in a safer asylum than in our small moated grange, should his track be followed by those Lancastrians, who would hear of his having been seen in the Chase of Gloucester.
Stone was a franklin, whose ancestors lived at the little moated grange, which he now occupies, well nigh two hundred years ago.