moss

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“
You know how thick the moss is there under the trees.

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Definitions (57)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. noun Any of various green, usually small, nonvascular plants of the class Musci of the division Bryophyta.
  2. noun A patch or covering of such plants.
  3. noun Any of various other unrelated plants having a similar appearance or manner of growth, such as the club moss, Irish moss, and Spanish moss.
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Examples (50)

  • Tony had put the top down, and a warm breeze whipped her hair as they sped past rolling meadows where horses grazed under towering oak trees draped in Spanish moss. —  In His Own Defense
  • Walking along the wing, he pulled down armloads of the clammy aërial moss from the vines and drooping branches overhead This moss was the variety called "old man's beard" by the natives. —  003 - Quest of the Spider
  • The colonists explained quite frankly that in peacetime, when thousands visited the holy places, the sale of this moss was an extremely lucrative business. —  Commandant of Auschwitz
  • Zaara: Jeans {jewelled} * moss* | Maitreya - Jules Jeans Skirt Dirty. accessories. —  Fashion World of SL
  • (AP) - Hurricanes that whip the Gulf and Atlantic coasts of Southern states take a human toll, but they also claim another victim on an enormous scale _ the majestic trees, many draped in Spanish moss, that form canopies over historic streets across the region. —  WTOP / Business / Biz Stories
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Etymologies (4)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old English mos, bog, and from Medieval Latin mossa, moss (of Germanic origin).

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (3)

  1. (a) Early modern English also mosse; from Middle English mos, from Anglo-Saxon *mos (not found in this form) = Middle Dutch mos, also mosch, mosse, moss, mold, Dutch mos, moss, = Middle Low German mos = Old High German Middle High German mos, German moos = Icelandic mosi = Swedish mossa = Danish mos, moss; akin to (b) English dial. mese, from Middle English *mese, from Anglo-Saxon meós = Old High German mios, Middle High German G. mies, moss (the two series of forms being related phonetically like loss, n., and lese, leese, v.); akin to L. muscus (later Italian Spanish musco = Provencal mossa = Old French muiz, mousse, French mousse, the Provencal and F. forms prob. in part from Old High German), moss; cf. Welsh mwswg, mwswgl, mwswn, moss; Old Bulgarian mŭhŭ = Bulgarian mŭh = Servian mah = Bohemian Polish mech = Russian mokhŭ (later Hungarian moh), moss. Cf. moss.
  2. from Middle English mossen, mosen; from moss, n.
  3. from Middle English moss, mos, from Anglo-Saxon mos (moss-), a swamp, = Middle Dutch mose, a swamp, bog, sink, kitchen-sink, = Old High German Middle High German mos, German moos = Icelandic mosi = Swedish mosse, måsse = Danish mose, a swamp; akin to English mire, from Middle English mire, myre, from Icelandic my¯rr, my¯ri = Swedish myra = Danish myre, myr = Old High German mios, Middle High German G. mies, a swamp (see mire); prob. orig. 'a place overgrown with moss,' derived from and partly confused with moss.
 

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/mɔs/
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