| 释义 |
moot point, a moot pointA point, aspect, or topic that is no longer relevant or can no longer be questioned or debated. Whether or not he's the best person for the job is a moot point now that he's tenured. A: "Have you looked at Harvard's program?" B: "That's a bit of a moot point, don't you think? I've already accepted a place at NYU."See also: moot, pointmoot pointA debatable question, an issue open to argument; also, an irrelevant question, a matter of no importance. For example, Whether Shakespeare actually wrote the poem remains a moot point among critics, or It's a moot point whether the chicken or the egg came first. This term originated in British law where it described a point for discussion in a moot, or assembly, of law students. By the early 1700s it was being used more loosely in the present sense. See also: moot, pointmoot point, aA debatable question. This term was originally exclusively a legal one, a moot case or moot point being a case for discussion in a moot, or meeting, of law students. By the eighteenth century, however, it was being used figuratively in a far more general way. For example, “It is a very moot point to which of those causes we may ascribe the universal dulness of the Irish,” wrote Sir C. Wogan (1732–33), cited by the OED.See also: moot |