I. məˈlest transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English molesten, from Middle French molester, from Latin molestare, from molestus burdensome, annoying, irregular from moles mass — more at mole (structure)
1. obsolete
a. : inconvenience , harass , plague
the heats of summer are … incapable of molesting you — Joseph Addison
b. : to affect injuriously : afflict
they were generally molested with … sciatica — Sir Thomas Browne
2.
a. : annoy , persecute , disturb , torment
painted in a loft, drawing up the ladder after him that he might not be molested by his family — Laurence Binyon
leaders … should not be molested in any way nor should their party be outlawed — Sidney Hook
specifically : raid
traders turn to molesting the Spanish borderlands — R.A.Billington
b. : to meddle or interfere with unjustifiably often as a result of abnormal sexual motivation
charges of being drunk and molesting a woman — Frank Yerby
molesting small boys in the washroom of a moving picture house — Wenzell Brown
II. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French moleste, irregular from Latin molestia trouble, from molestus + -ia -y
: molestation
within his walls, secure from all molest — W.J.Linton