moll

noun

ˈmäl How to pronounce moll (audio)
ˈmȯl
plural molls
1
a
: a gangster's girlfriend
2
dated : a woman who engages in sex acts and especially sexual intercourse in exchange for pay : a woman who is a sex worker

Examples of moll in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
But this harlequin moll can’t match Joker’s lunacy as either lawbreaker or musician. Armond White, National Review, 29 Nov. 2024 Also starring in the production are Rhett Guter as conman Rooster and Isabella De Souza Moore as his moll Lily St. Regis. Philip Potempa, Chicago Tribune, 13 Nov. 2024 Gomez makes Jessi so much more than the telenovela version of a gangster's moll, while also leaning into the soapiness of such a character with gusto. Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 2 Sep. 2024 As she’s poised in a YA triangle between selfish dreamboat Ryan and earnest nerd Collin (Taeho K), JJ just happens (or not) to have a run-in with a gang of baddies presided over by Nancy, an oligarch’s moll played by Anna Faris in wet-look platinum hair and magenta lipstick and raccoon eyeshadow. Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 18 July 2024 This time, Grier’s moll, Lee Daniels (like the director!), and Margaret Markov’s revolutionary, Karen Brent, are the interracial prisoners chained together. Odie Henderson, Vulture, 4 Mar. 2024 Bonello attempts, with some success, to subvert the stereotypes of women as passive victims or as gangster molls serving as mere accessories for dominant males. Deborah Bonello, Foreign Affairs, 22 Aug. 2023 The Breen office was hip to the scam Hollywood always played in the gangster pictures — revel for 85 minutes in the gunplay, fast cars, cool clothes, and slinky molls before exacting a crime-does-not-pay penalty in the last five minutes. Thomas Doherty, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 July 2023 Yet had people not worked tirelessly to uncover the truth of what happened—the truth that had been buried underneath a morass of facts—Breonna Taylor might still be remembered as a suspect and some drug kingpin’s moll, not a tireless essential worker whose goal in life was to help people. Zz Packer, The New Yorker, 27 Sep. 2020

Word History

Etymology

probably from Moll, nickname for Mary

First Known Use

1604, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Time Traveler
The first known use of moll was in 1604

Dictionary Entries Near moll

Cite this Entry

“Moll.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/moll. Accessed 19 Dec. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on moll

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!