| to spend time idly; loaf. |
| to steal or take dishonestly (money, esp. public funds, or property entrusted to one's care); embezzle. |
before 1000; Middle English mos(se), Old English mos moss, bog; akin to German Moos, Old Norse mȳrr mire
Related forms
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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moss (mɒs) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | See also peat moss any bryophyte of the phylum Bryophyta, typically growing in dense mats on trees, rocks, moist ground, etc |
| 2. | a clump or growth of any of these plants |
| 3. | any of various similar but unrelated plants, such as club moss, Spanish moss, Ceylon moss, rose moss, and reindeer moss |
| 4. | (Scot), (Northern English) a peat bog or marsh |
| [Old English mos swamp; compare Middle Dutch, Old High German mos bog, Old Norse mosi; compare also Old Norse mӯrr | |
| 'mosslike | |
| —adj | |
| 'mossy | |
| —adj | |
| 'mossiness | |
| —n | |
| Moss (mɒs) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | Kate. born 1974, British supermodel. |
| 2. | Sir Stirling. born 1929, English racing driver |
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moss
"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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moss  (môs) Pronunciation Key
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Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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moss
town and port, southeastern Norway, on the eastern shore of Oslo Fjord. Moss was founded in the 16th century. On Aug. 14, 1814, it was the site of the signing of the Convention of Moss, which ended the short war between Norway and Sweden that preceded their union. The town has paper and cotton mills, metalworks, shipyards, textile factories, breweries, and facilities for glass, asphalt, and tar production. The harbour is protected by adjacent Jel Island, called the "Pearl of Oslo Fjord" for its fine resort area and many large estates. The Moss River drains into Vann Lake and then flows through the town and into Oslo Fjord. Pop. (2007 est.) mun., 28,633.
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