molt

To shed part or all of a coat or an outer covering, such as feathers, cuticle, or skin, which is then replaced by a new growth.

To shed or cast off (a bodily covering).

The act or process of molting.

The material cast off during molting.

An obsolete preterit of melt.

To shed or cast, as feathers, hair, or skin; slough off: often used figuratively.

To cast or shed feathers, hair, skin, or the like; undergo or accomplish a molt; exuviate; mew. See the noun.

To be about to be cast off or shed, as plumage.

The act or process of shedding or casting any tegumentary, cuticular, or exoskeletal structures or appendages, as feathers, hair, skin, nails, horns, hoofs, claws, or shell; ecdysis; exuviation.

The period or time of molting.