Definition of "mole" []

• A small congenital growth on the human skin, usually slightly raised and dark and sometimes hairy, especially a pigmented nevus. (noun)
• Any of various small insectivorous mammals of the family Talpidae, usually living underground and having thickset bodies with light brown to dark gray silky fur, rudimentary eyes, tough muzzles, and strong forefeet for burrowing. (noun)
• A machine that bores through hard surfaces, used especially for tunneling through rock. (noun)
• A spy who operates from within an organization, especially a double agent operating against his or her own government from within its intelligence establishment. (noun)
• A massive, usually stone wall constructed in the sea, used as a breakwater and built to enclose or protect an anchorage or a harbor. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Although the word mole comes from the Nahuatl mulli, meaning sauce or potage, it has been pointed out by culinary anthropologists that very few of the ingredients in mole poblano were indigenous to the New World."
• "I'm still eating chicken in mole from the case of it I bought in Xico last April."
• "The word "mole" is said to be derived from the Nahuatl word molli , which means, essentially, a bunch of ingredients ground up."