Wiktionary

moss

See also: MOSS, Moss, and möss

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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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 (which shows the same polysemy of "moss" and "bog, fen"), Danish mos (“moss”), Swedish mossa (“moss”), Icelandic mosi (“moss”), Latin muscus (“moss”), Russian мох (mox, “moss”),[1] Polish mech. Doublet of mousse.

Noun

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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 phylum Bryophyta (formerly division Musci).
    Hypernym: bryophyte
  2. (countable) A kind or species of such plants.
  3. (informal) Any alga, lichen, bryophyte, or other plant of seemingly simple structure.
    Hyponyms: alga, cryptogam, lichen
    Spanish moss
    Irish moss
    club moss
  4. (now chiefly UK regional) A bog; a fen.
    the mosses of the Scottish border
    Loynton Moss
  5. (American football, slang, countable) A spectacular catch made over 1 or multiple defenders, typically a jump ball.
    Bro, that moss was insane!

Usage notes
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  • The plural form mosses is used when more than one kind of moss (plant) is meant, or more than one bog. The singular moss is used referring to a collection of moss plants of the same kind.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Verb

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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.
  3. (American football, slang, transitive, intransitive) To make a spectacular catch over 1 or multiple defenders.
    You just got mossed!
Translations
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See also

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Etymology 2

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(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Verb

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

  1. (intransitive, MTE, slang) To relax, chill out.[2]
    • 2014 August 29, @7oneZ_FuckTDSB, Twitter‎[1]:
      Although I really shouldn't... I feel like cracking this stout and just mossing in the sun with a splif. Shit, maan. Its[sic] relaxation time!

References

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  1. ^ http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/vasmer/43590/%D0%BC%D0%BE%D1%85
  2. ^ Arti Patel (2012 December 19) “Slang Words: What Are Young People Saying These Days?”, in The Huffington Post Canada

Further reading

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  • 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

Anagrams

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Hungarian

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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mos +‎ -j

Pronunciation

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Verb

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moss

  1. second-person singular subjunctive present indefinite of mos
    Moss fogat! ― Brush your teeth! (literally, “Wash tooth!”)

Usage notes

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Not to be confused with mos (“to wash”).

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