Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various green, usually small, nonvascular plants of the division Bryophyta, having leaflike structures arranged around the stem and spores borne in a capsule.
  • noun A patch or covering of such plants.
  • noun Any of various other unrelated plants having a similar appearance or manner of growth, such as Irish moss, Spanish moss, and the club mosses.
  • transitive verb To cover with moss.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A small herbaceous plant of the natural order Musci, with simple or branching stems and numerous generally narrow leaves: usually applied to a matted mass of such plants growing together; also, in popular use, any small cryptogamic plant, particularly a lichen: as, Iceland moss, club-moss, rock-moss, coral-moss, etc., and sometimes small matted phanerogams, as Pyxidanthera.
  • noun Money: in allusion to the proverb, “a rolling stone gathers no moss.”
  • To cover with moss.
  • To become mossy; gather moss.
  • noun A swamp or bog; specifically, a peatbog or a tract of such bogs; also, peat.
  • noun An erroneous form of morse.
  • To fill with moss, as the crevices between the logs in a logging-camp.
  • noun The widow's-cross, Sedum pulchellum.
  • noun The haircap-moss, Polytrichum juniperinum.
  • noun Same as golden moss .
  • noun Same as flowering moss .

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (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.
  • noun A bog; a morass; a place containing peat.
  • noun See under Black, and Tillandsia.
  • noun See Sphagnum.
  • noun any moss branched in a feathery manner, esp. several species of the genus Hypnum.
  • noun See Tillandsia.
  • noun a lichen. See Iceland Moss.
  • noun a seaweed. See Carrageen.
  • noun (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.
  • noun (Zoöl.) a bryozoan.
  • noun (Bot.) the small cranberry (Vaccinium Oxycoccus).
  • noun (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.
  • noun 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.
  • noun (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.
  • noun (Bot.) a variety of rose having a mosslike growth on the stalk and calyx. It is said to be derived from the Provence rose.
  • noun (Bot.) a rush of the genus Juncus (Juncus squarrosus).
  • noun See Hepatica.
  • transitive verb To cover or overgrow with moss.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A bog; a swamp.
  • noun Any of various small green plants growing on the ground or on the surfaces of trees, stones etc.; now specifically, a plant of the division Bryophyta (formerly Musci).
  • noun countable A type or species of such plant.
  • verb intransitive To become covered with moss.
  • verb transitive To cover (something) with moss.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun tiny leafy-stemmed flowerless plants

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

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

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

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

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Examples

  • I was feeling like a complete failure because, jeepers, java moss is supposed to be fairly indestructiable.

    Day in the Life of an Idiot lyda222 2009

  • With the dry weather we've had, the moss is yellowing and the new leaves on the tree are very light green.

    Mr and Mrs Duck nathreee 2010

  • Castle; then came yesterday evening to this Town, Slept sound, and this morning engaged an old Welshman with a cart with benches, and three little horses, to carry us to the summit of the Sugar loaf Mountain, Such fun, such a road, and such a feast on the mountain moss, and such a sight!

    Letter 213 2009

  • While the moss is dried and not alive, you can breathe a sigh of relief knowing you never have to worry about it dying and disappearing when you forget to water it.

    Moss Table Adds a Micro-Landscape to Your Living Room | Inhabitat 2010

  • With the dry weather we've had, the moss is yellowing and the new leaves on the tree are very light green.

    Mr and Mrs Duck nathreee 2010

  • On the Northend you get lots of snow, the trees covered in moss, the ocean.

    Twilight Lexicon » Could Breaking Dawn Move to Louisiana? 2010

  • Yet never did it ring more loudly than that night, as I watched her draw back the blanket of moss from the coals, blow up the fire, and cook the evening meal.

    Chapter 30 2010

  • I got moss on the brain from writing the word moss so many times too.

    Moss « Fairegarden 2010

  • We are manipulating the search with this experiment, mentioning the word moss frequently.

    Moss « Fairegarden 2010

  • I should have done some research first before causing brain damage from writing the word moss so many times.

    Moss « Fairegarden 2010

Comments

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  • My lawn consists largely of this!

    October 15, 2007

  • Lucky you! (In all seriousness.)

    October 15, 2007

  • Exactly--green, and it never needs cutting.

    October 15, 2007

  • It's even invaded the patio!

    October 15, 2007

  • Oh, that's gorgeous! Thanks for the visual, SG.

    October 15, 2007

  • Sounds nice. No mowing, no chemicals, good for the environment....

    *wondering how long it would take for moss to cover the yard*

    October 15, 2007

  • A rolling stone gathers no moss

    October 14, 2011

  • Julian now barefoot to ease his aching feet , felt the damp moss under his toes

    August 22, 2015

  • A video game that proves VR is viable.

    March 13, 2018