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10 dictionary results for: Moss

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

moss

[maws, mos] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	any tiny, leafy-stemmed, flowerless plant of the class Musci, reproducing by spores and growing in tufts, sods, or mats on moist ground, tree trunks, rocks, etc.

2.	a growth of such plants.

3.	any of various similar plants, as Iceland moss or club moss.

4.	Chiefly Scot. and North England. a swamp or bog.

–verb (used with object)

5.	to cover with a growth of moss: to moss a crumbling wall.

[Origin: bef. 1000; ME mos(se), OE mos moss, bog; akin to G Moos, ON mȳrr mire

]

—Related forms

mosslike, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

Moss

[maws, mos] Pronunciation Key

–noun

Howard, 1922–1987, U.S. poet, editor, and playwright.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

moss (môs, mŏs) Pronunciation Key
n.

1. Any of various green, usually small, nonvascular plants of the class Musci of the division Bryophyta.
2. A patch or covering of such plants.
Any of various other unrelated plants having a similar appearance or manner of growth, such as the club moss, Irish moss, and Spanish moss.

tr.v. mossed, moss·ing, moss·es
To cover with moss.

[Middle English, from Old English mos, bog, and from Medieval Latin mossa, moss (of Germanic origin).]

(Download Now or Buy the Book)
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
moss

O.E. meos "moss," related to mos "bog," from P.Gmc. *musan (cf. O.H.G. mios, Ger. Moos), also in part from O.N. mosi "moss, bog," and M.L. mossa "moss," from the same Gmc. source, from PIE *meus- (cf. L. muscus "moss," Lith. musai "mold, mildew," O.C.S. muchu "moss"), from base *meu- "moist, marsh." All the Gmc. languages have the word in both senses, which is natural since moss is the characteristic plant of boggy places. It is impossible to say which sense is original.

"Selden Moseþ þe Marbelston þat men ofte treden." ["Piers Plowman," 1362]

Scott (1805) revived 17c. moss-trooper "freebooter infesting Scottish border marshes." Mossback "conservative" is 1878, originally of poor whites from Carolina, originally (1872) in ref. to those who hid out to avoid service in the Confederate army (and would have stayed out till the moss grew on their backs).

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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

moss
noun
tiny leafy-stemmed flowerless plants

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American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms - Cite This Source - Share This

moss

see rolling stone gathers no moss.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

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The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

moss (môs) Pronunciation Key

Any of numerous small bryophyte plants belonging to the phylum Bryophyta. Mosses, unlike liverworts, have some tissues specialized for conducting water and nutrients. As in the other bryophytes, the diploid sporophyte grows on the haploid gametophyte generation, which supplies it with nutrients. Mosses often live in moist, shady areas and grow in clusters or mats. Sphagnum mosses play a crucial role in the ecology of peat bogs. See more at bryophyte.
Any of a number of plants that look like mosses but are not related to them. For instance, reindeer moss is a lichen, Irish moss is an alga, and Spanish moss is a bromeliad, a flowering plant.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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U.S. Gazetteer - Cite This Source - Share This

Moss Beach, CA (CDP, FIPS 49446) Location: 37.52180 N, 122.50560 W
Population (1990): 3002 (1113 housing units)
Area: 5.9 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 94038

Moss Bluff, LA (CDP, FIPS 52425) Location: 30.30414 N, 93.20377 W
Population (1990): 8039 (2832 housing units)
Area: 39.4 sq km (land), 1.6 sq km (water)

Moss Point, MS (city, FIPS 49240) Location: 30.42550 N, 88.52903 W
Population (1990): 17837 (6605 housing units)
Area: 64.8 sq km (land), 4.5 sq km (water)

Moss, TN Zip code(s): 38575

U.S. Gazetteer, U.S. Census Bureau

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Moss

Moss\, n. [OE. mos; akin to AS. me['o]s, D. mos, G. moos, OHG. mos, mios, Icel. mosi, Dan. mos, Sw. mossa, Russ. mokh', L. muscus. Cf. Muscoid.]

1. (Bot.) A cryptogamous plant of a cellular structure, with distinct stem and simple leaves. The fruit is a small capsule usually opening by an apical lid, and so discharging the spores. There are many species, collectively termed Musci, growing on the earth, on rocks, and trunks of trees, etc., and a few in running water.

Note: The term moss is also popularly applied to many other small cryptogamic plants, particularly lichens, species of which are called tree moss, rock moss, coral moss, etc. Fir moss and club moss are of the genus Lycopodium. See Club moss, under Club, and Lycopodium.

2. A bog; a morass; a place containing peat; as, the mosses of the Scottish border.

Note: Moss is used with participles in the composition of words which need no special explanation; as, moss-capped, moss-clad, moss-covered, moss-grown, etc.

Black moss. See under Black, and Tillandsia.

Bog moss. See Sphagnum.

Feather moss, any moss branched in a feathery manner, esp. several species of the genus Hypnum.

Florida moss, Long moss, or Spanish moss. See Tillandsia.

Iceland moss, a lichen. See Iceland Moss.

Irish moss, a seaweed. See Carrageen.

Moss agate (Min.), a variety of agate, containing brown, black, or green mosslike or dendritic markings, due in part to oxide of manganese. Called also Mocha stone.

Moss animal (Zo["o]l.), a bryozoan.

Moss berry (Bot.), the small cranberry (Vaccinium Oxycoccus).

Moss campion (Bot.), a kind of mosslike catchfly (Silene acaulis), with mostly purplish flowers, found on the highest mountains of Europe and America, and within the Arctic circle.

Moss land, land produced accumulation of aquatic plants, forming peat bogs of more or less consistency, as the water is grained off or retained in its pores.

Moss pink (Bot.), a plant of the genus Phlox (P. subulata), growing in patches on dry rocky hills in the Middle United States, and often cultivated for its handsome flowers. --Gray.

Moss rose (Bot.), a variety of rose having a mosslike growth on the stalk and calyx. It is said to be derived from the Provence rose.

Moss rush (Bot.), a rush of the genus Juncus (J. squarrosus).

Scale moss. See Hepatica.

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Moss

Moss\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Mossed; p. pr. & vb. n. Mossing.] To cover or overgrow with moss.

An oak whose boughs were mossed with age. --Shak.

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