musciform

English

Etymology 1

From Latin mūscus (“moss”) +‎ -iform.

Adjective

musciform (comparative more musciform, superlative most musciform)

(botany) Having the appearance or form of a moss.
The surface had an irregular, musciform quality, interrupted by various ridges and valleys.
- 1832, Carl Ludwig Giesecke, A Descriptive Catalogue of a New Collection of Minerals in the Museum of the Royal Dublin Society‎^[1], Dublin: R. Graisberry, page 129:
  8. Native Gold, of a bright gold-yellow colour, in musciform leaves, upon saxum metalliferum; from the same place (very rich.)
- 1871, Theodore Hilgard, “Investigations on the Development of the Yeast, or Zymotic Fungus.”, in Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (Nineteenth Meeting)‎^[2], Cambridge, Massachusetts: Joseph Lovering, page 310:
  ...they connect with the theciferous, partly "peristomiate," and radiately divided (hence musciform) group of fungi...
- 1880, Henri Baillon, The Natural History of Plants‎^[3], volume VI, London: L. Reeve & Co., page 118:
  Kelleria and Drapetes are humble subshrubby and caespitose, musciform plants, with sessile and imbricate leaves.

Etymology 2

From Musca +‎ -form.

Adjective

musciform (comparative more musciform, superlative most musciform)

Having the form or structure of flies of the genus Musca or family Muscidae.
The insect had a distinctly musciform appearance, although its shiny, golden colouration was altogether more agreeable.
- 1918, J. R. Malloch, “A Preliminary Classification of Diptera, Exclusive of Pupipara, Based upon Larval and Pupal Characters”, in Bulletin of the Illinois State Laboratory of Natural History‎^[4], volume XII, Urbana, page 401:
  Larva.—Length, 7–9 mm. White, head black. General shape musciform, tapered anteriorly, blunt posteriorly.
- 1925, A. D. Imms, A General Textbook of Entomology‎^[5], London: Methuen & Co., page 657:
  They hatch out into musciform larvae which feed upon the nutriment collected by the bees for their own larvae.
- 1965, Fritz Zumpt, Myiasis in Man and Animals in the Old World: A Textbook for Physicians, Veterinarians, and Zoologists‎^[6], Butterworths, page 8:
  In many musciform flies the first two segments are also fused...

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “musciform”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)