the.com/moat
a giant water trap proving the best defense is making attackers walk slower
means A deep, wide ditch—usually filled with water—dug around a castle or fortified building to keep attackers out.
from From Old French 'mote,' which oddly meant a mound or embankment of earth, not the ditch itself. The sense flipped over time: dig a defensive trench and you pile up the dug-out dirt as a hill, so 'mote' came to mean the watery hollow rather than the heap beside it. English borrowed it in the medieval period, eventually settling on the spelling 'moat.'
- not just water
- Some held spikes, sewage, or hungry crocodiles
- dry option
- Dry moats worked fine—just deep, awkward ditches
- business slang
- Warren Buffett calls competitive advantages an economic moat
- anti-tunnel
- Water-filled moats stopped enemies from digging underneath
- toilet duty
- Many doubled as the castle's open sewer
tower of london moat — defensive water barrier surrounding the fortress in london, england, built by william the conqueror in 1066
caerlaverock castle moat — triangular scottish castle near dumfries with a water-filled moat, built in 1270
bodiam castle moat — 14th-century english castle in east sussex surrounded by a 2-acre moat