moss
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English mos, from Old English mos (“bog, marsh, moss”), from Proto-West Germanic *mos (“marsh, moss”), from Proto-Germanic *musą (“marsh, moss”), from Proto-Indo-European *mews- (“moss”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Moas (“moss”), West Frisian moas (“moss”), Dutch mos (“moss”), German Low German Moss (“moss”), German Moos (“moss”), Danish mos (“moss”), Swedish mossa (“moss”), Icelandic mosi (“moss”), Latin muscus (“moss”), Russian мох (mox, “moss”),[1] Polish mech. Doublet of mousse.
PronunciationEdit
- (UK) IPA(key): /mɒs/
- (US) enPR: môs, IPA(key): /mɔs/
- (cot–caught merger, Canada) enPR: mäs, IPA(key): /mɑs/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɒs
- Rhymes: -ɔːs
NounEdit
moss (countable and uncountable, plural mosses)
- 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 phylum Bryophyta (formerly division Musci).
- Hypernym: bryophyte
- (countable) A kind or species of such plants.
- (informal) Any alga, lichen, bryophyte, or other plant of seemingly simple structure.
- (now chiefly UK regional) A bog; a fen.
- the mosses of the Scottish border
Usage notesEdit
- 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.
Derived termsEdit
- American moss (Tillandsia usneoides)
- animal moss (Bryozoa)
- apple-moss (Bartramia spp.)
- arctic moss (Cladonia rangiferina)
- a rolling stone gathers no moss
- Ashton Moss
- ball moss (Tillandsia recurvata)
- beard moss (Usnea spp., Schistidium apocarpum et al)
- bear moss (Polytrichum juniperinum)
- besom moss (Polytrichum juniperinum)
- bird's-nest moss (Selaginella lepidophylla)
- black moss (Tillandsia usneoides)
- blanket moss (Spirogyra spp, Cladophora spp.)
- bog moss (Sphagnum moss, Mayaca plant)
- broom moss (Dicranum scoparium)
- Canary moss (Parmelia perlata, now Parmotrema perlatum)
- caribou moss (Cladonia rangiferina)
- carrageen moss (Chondrus crispus)
- cedar moss (Ceratophyllum demersum)
- ceratodon moss (Ceratodon spp.)
- Ceylon moss (Plocaria candida?, Gracilaria lichenoides)
- chalice moss (Cladonia)
- chin-cough moss (Cladonia)
- Christmas moss (Vesicularia montagnei)
- club moss, club-moss, club-foot moss (Lycopodiaceae)
- common moss (Polytrichum commune)
- coral moss (Nertera granadensis)
- cord moss (Funaria spp.)
- Cornish path moss (Ditrichum cornubicum)
- Corsican moss (Alsidium helminthochorton)
- crape moss (Tillandsia usneoides)
- cup-moss (Cladonia)
- cypress moss (Hypnum cupressiforme; Lycopodium alpinum)
- ditch moss (Elodea spp.)
- draw moss (Eriophorum vaginatum)
- duck moss (Potamogeton pectinatus)
- dyer's moss (Rocella tinctoria)
- enmoss
- feather moss (Hyphnum spp. et al)
- fern moss (Thuidium spp.)
- film moss (Hymenostomum)
- fire moss (Ceratodon purpureus)
- fir moss (Lycopodium selago)
- Florida moss (Tillandsia usneoides)
- flowering moss (Pyxidanthera barbulata; Portulaca grandiflora; (Sedum pulchellum)
- fountain moss (Fontinalis spp.; Philonotis fontana)
- giant moss (Dawsonia spp.)
- gold moss/golden moss (Sedum acre)
- gold spoon moss (Calliergon richardsonii)
- granite moss (Chondrus crispus)
- gray moss (Tillandsia usneoides; Usnea spp.)
- haircap moss (Polytrichum juniperinum)
- hair moss, hairy moss (Polytrichum)
- hanging moss (Tillandsia usneoides)
- head moss (Usnea spp., Schistidium apocarpum et al)
- heath-moss (Polytrichum)
- horned moss (Asplenium septentrionale)
- house moss
- Iceland moss (Cetraria islandica)
- idle-moss
- Irish moss (Chondrus crispus)
- Jaffna moss (Umbilicaria murina, Umbilicaria grisea)
- Java moss (Taxiphyllum barbieri, Vesicularia dubyana)
- long moss (Tillandsia usneoides)
- luminous moss (Schistostega osmundacea)
- lung moss (esp. Pulmonaria officinalis)
- maidenhair moss (Alectoria sarmentosa, Fissidens adianthoides)
- moss-agate
- moss-back, mossback
- moss-backed, mossbacked, mossy-backed
- moss-bag
- moss-bank
- moss-basket
- moss-box
- moss-cheeper (Anthus pratensis; Emberiza schoeniclus)
- moss-copper (Mielichhoferia spp.)
- moss-earth
- moss-fiber, moss-fibre
- moss-flow
- moss-grown, mossgrown
- moss-hag, moss-hagg
- moss-hagger
- moss-head
- moss-house
- moss-litter
- moss-locust (Robinia hispida)
- moss-oak
- moss-peat
- moss-polyp (Bryozoa)
- moss-rake
- moss-reeve
- moss-rush (Juncus bryoides, Juncus squarrosus)
- moss-seat
- moss-starch
- moss-tenant
- moss-trooper
- moss-trooping
- moss-wood
- moss-work
- moss animal, moss animalcule (Bryozoa)
- moss bass (Micropterus salmoides)
- moss bee (Bombus muscorum)
- moss berry, mossberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos)
- mossbluiter (Botaurinae)
- moss bush (Cassiope hypnoides)
- moss campion (Silene acaulis)
- moss carder, moss-carder bee (Bombus muscorum)
- moss coral (Bryozoa)
- moss corn (Potentilla anserina)
- moss crab (Loxorhynchus crispatus)
- moss crêpe
- moss crop (Eriophorum vaginatum; Eriophorum polystachion; Potentilla anserina; Scirpus caespitosus, now Eleocharis palustris)
- moss duck (Anas platyrhynchos)
- mossed
- mossen
- mosser
- mossery
- moss fern (Polypodium)
- moss forest
- moss frog (Rhacophoridae)
- mossful
- moss gold (Clavaria muscoides, now Clavulinopsis corniculata)
- moss green
- moss hair
- moss horn
- mossify
- mossland
- mossless
- mosslike
- moss opal
- moss phlox (Phlox subulata)
- moss pink (Phlox subulata)
- mossplant (Cassiope hypnoides)
- moss rose (Portulaca grandiflora)
- moss stitch
- mosstroopery
- moss whin (Genista anglica)
- moss willow (Salix musca)
- mossy
- muskeag moss (Sphagnum spp.)
- oak moss (Evernia prunastri)
- old moss
- pearl moss (Chondrus crispus)
- peat moss (Sphagnum)
- pigeon-wheat moss (Polytrichum)
- plume moss (Hypnum crista-castrensis
- purple horn toothed moss (Ceratodon purpureus)
- rainbow moss (Selaginella uncinata)
- reindeer moss (Cladonia rangiferina)
- rock moss (Chondrus crispus)
- rose moss (Portulacca grandiflora)
- round-leaved feather-moss (Rhynchostegium rotundifolium)
- salt rock moss (Chondrus crispus)
- scale-moss (Jungermanniales)
- sea moss (Chondrus crispus, Gracilaria spp.)
- snake moss (Lycopodium clavatum)
- southern moss (Tillandsia usneoides)
- Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides)
- spike moss (Selaginellaceae)
- split moss (Andreaeales)
- springy turf moss (Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus)
- square goose-neck moss (Rhytidiadelphys squarrosus)
- staghorn moss, stag's horn moss (Lycopodium clavatum)
- starry thyme-moss/stellar calcareous moss (Mnium spp.)
- sun moss (Portulacca grandiflora)
- swamp moss (Sphagnum spp.)
- thrush moss (Peltigera apthosa)
- tree moss (esp. Climacium)
- Turk's-cap moss (Physcomitrium turbinatum)
- unmossed
- urn moss (Physcomitrium)
- velvet moss (Gyrophora muring)
- water moss (Fontinalis spp.)
- white moss (Leucobryum)
- willow moss (Hypnaceae, possibly Taxiphyllum barbieri)
- wolf's moss (Letharia vulpina)
- worm moss (Alsidium helminthochorton)
TranslationsEdit
plants of the division Bryophyta
|
a kind or species of such plants
|
(informal) plant of seemingly simple structure
bog — see bog
VerbEdit
moss (third-person singular simple present mosses, present participle mossing, simple past and past participle mossed)
- (intransitive) To become covered with moss.
- An oak whose boughs were mossed with age.
- (transitive) To cover (something) with moss.
TranslationsEdit
to become covered with moss
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See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
- 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
Further readingEdit
AnagramsEdit
HungarianEdit
Alternative formsEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
VerbEdit
moss
- second-person singular subjunctive present indefinite of mos
- Moss fogat! ― Brush your teeth! (literally, “Wash tooth!”)
Usage notesEdit
Not to be confused with mos (“to wash”).