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Webster 1913 Edition

Moss

Moss

(mŏs; 115)
,
Noun.
[OE.
mos
; akin to AS.
meós
, 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.
☞ 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
.
☞ 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
(Zool.)
,
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
(
Phlox 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
(
Juncus squarrosus
).
–
Scale moss
.
See
Hepatica
.

Moss

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Mossed
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Mossing
.]
To cover or overgrow with moss.
An oak whose boughs were
mossed
with age.
Shakespeare

Webster 1828 Edition

Moss

MOSS

,
Noun.
[L. muscus.] The mosses are one of the seven families or classes into which all vegetables are divided by Linne in the Philosophia Botanica. In Ray's method, the mosses form the third class, and in Tournefort's, they constitute a single genus. In the sexual system, they are the second order of the class cryptogamia, which contains all the plants in which the parts of the flower and fruit are wanting or not conspicuous.
The mosses, musci, form a natural order of small plants, with leafy stems and narrow simple leaves. Their flowers are generally monecian or diecian, and their seeds are contained in a capsule covered with a calyptra or hood.
The term moss is also applied to many other small plants, particularly lichens, species of which are called tree-moss, rock-moss, coral-moss, &c. The fir-moss and club-moss are of the genus Lycopodium.
1.
A bog; a place where peat is found.

MOSS

,
Verb.
T.
To cover with moss by natural growth.
An oak whose boughs were mossed with age.

Definition 2024

Moss

Moss

See also: moss, MOSS, and möss

English

Proper noun

Moss

  1. A surname​.

Luxembourgish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /mos/
    • Rhymes: -os

Noun

Moss f ‎(plural Mossen)

  1. (slang) chick, bird, girl

Norwegian

Proper noun

Moss

  1. A municipality in Østfold, Norway

moss

moss

See also: MOSS, Moss, and möss

English

Noun

moss ‎(countable and uncountable, plural mosses)

  1. Any of various small, green, seedless plants growing on the ground or on the surfaces of trees, stones, etc.; now specifically, a plant of the division Bryophyta (formerly Musci).
  2. (countable) A kind or species of such plants.
  3. (informal) Any alga, lichen, bryophyte, or other plant of seemingly simple structure.
    Spanish moss; Irish moss; club moss.
  4. (now chiefly Britain regional) A bog; a fen.
    the mosses of the Scottish border

Usage notes

  • The plural form mosses is used when more than one kind of moss is meant. The singular moss is used referring to a collection of moss plants of the same kind.

Hyponyms

Hypernyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

moss ‎(third-person singular simple present mosses, present participle mossing, simple past and past participle mossed)

  1. (intransitive) To become covered with moss.
    An oak whose boughs were mossed with age.
  2. (transitive) To cover (something) with moss.

Translations

See also

References

  • A New English dictionary on historical principles, Volume 6, Sir James Augustus Henry Murray, Sir William Alexander Craigie, Charles Talbut Onions, editors, Clarendon Press, 1908, pages 684-6

Hungarian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈmoʃː] (Do not confuse with mos ‎(“to wash”).)

Verb

moss

  1. second-person singular subjunctive present indefinite of mos
    Moss fogat! - Brush your teeth!

Etymology

From Middle English mos, from Old English mos ‎(“bog, marsh, moss”), from Proto-Germanic *musą ‎(“marsh, moss”), from Proto-Indo-European *mūs-, *meus- ‎(“moss”). Cognate with Old High German mos ‎(“moss”) (German Moos), Icelandic mosi, Danish mos, Swedish mossa, Latin muscus ‎(“moss”).

Pronunciation

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