| 释义 |
▪ I. moss, n.1|mɒs|
Forms: 1, 3, 6 mos, 2, 6 mose, 4–6 mosse, 5 moos, mosh, 4– moss.
[OE. mos neut., bog (also 12th c. mose moss), corresponding to MDu., MLG. mos bog, also moss, lichen, mildew (Du. mos moss), OHG., MHG. mos (mod.G. moos) bog, moss, MSw., Da. mos:—OTeut. *musom; declensional variants are represented by Flemish moze mud, ON. mose wk. masc., bog, moss, Sw. mosse masc., bog, mossa fem., moss. From a different ablaut-grade of the same root (OTeut. *meus-, meuz-) are OE. méos (? masc.) moss (see mese n.1), OHG. mios masc., moss (mod.G. mies masc., neut., moss, lichen; in some dialects bog), ON. mýr-r mire n.1 Cognates outside Teut. (f. Indogermanic *mus-) are L. muscus moss, OSl. mŭchŭ moss, ? Lith. musai scum on sour milk. The Fr. mousse fem. (Pr. mossa), moss, is prob. of Teut. origin.
All branches of Teut. exc. Gothic have the word or its cognates in both the senses ‘bog’ and ‘moss’ (the plant). As moss is the characteristic plant of bogs, there is no reason for doubting the identity of the word in the two senses. Which is the prior sense is doubtful; the fact that the cognates outside Teut. have the sense ‘moss’ only is not decisive. The sense ‘bog’ is the only one known in OE.; but the use as the name of the plant (called in OE. méos) presumably existed in OE., as a late adoption from continental Teut. would be very improbable. The 12th c. northern form mose (sense 3, quot. c 1150) is perh. adopted from ON.; it cannot be the ancestor of the mod. form with unvoiced (s).]
I.
1. a. A bog, swamp, or morass; a peat-bog. (Chiefly Sc. and north. dial.)
975Grant in Birch Cartul. Sax. III. 646 Of þære dic in þæt micle mos; of þæm mose in þæt sic. c1260[cf. peat-moss 1]. 1375Barbour Bruce viii. 167 Apon athir syde Wes a gret moss, mekill & braid. a1400Morte Arth. 2014 The mosse and the marrasse. 1485Rolls of Parlt. VI. 382/1 Oure Mosse of Penwortham, otherwise called there the Kings Mosse, in oure Countie of Lancastre. 1486Bk. St. Albans E iv b, In moore or in moos he hidyth hem fast. 1535Coverdale Jer. xiv. 6 The wilde Asses shall stonde in the Mosse. 1535Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) I. 19 The mos, the mure, the craigis, and the clewis. 1573Satir. Poems Reform. xxxix. 347 He raid throw montanes many, mose, and myre. a1706Evelyn Sylva i. xviii (1776) 228 In many of the mosses of the West-Riding of Yorkshire are often dug up Birch-trees that burn and flame like Fir. 1790Burns Tam o' Shanter 7 We think na on the lang Scots miles, The mosses, waters, slaps, and styles. 1810Scott Lady of L. i. v, With anxious eye he wandered o'er Mountain and meadow, moss and moor. 1813Bakewell Introd. Geol. (1815) 259 The great moss of Cree in Galloway lies close upon the sea, on a bed of clay. 1880Haughton Phys. Geog. v. 221 The White Nile takes its origin in a gigantic boggy plain or moss.
b. Wet spongy soil; bog.
1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 9 Scharpe and hard hillis full of mosse, more and marrase. 1769De Foe's Tour Gt. Brit. (ed. 7) III. 332 A Tract of Ground full of Holes, filled with a boggy Substance, which in this Country is called Moss. 1773Gentl. Mag. XLIII. 265 The Solway-flow contains 1300 acres of very deep and tender moss. 1887Stevenson Merry Men i, The road..went over rough boulders, so that a man had to leap from one to another, and through soft bottoms where the moss came nearly to the knee.
2. Border dial. [Short for moss-crop: see 6 b.] Cotton-grass, Eriophorum vaginatum.
1798R. Douglas Agric. Surv. Roxb. 108 Early in spring, sheep, in marshy districts, feed much upon the Eriophorum vaginatum, called by the farmers and their shepherds moss. 1893Northumbld. Gloss., Moss, the first shoots and the flower stalks of the cotton grass, Eriophorum vaginatum.
II. The plant.
3. Any of the small herbaceous cryptogamous plants constituting the class Musci, some of which form the characteristic vegetation of bogs, while others grow in crowded masses covering the surface of the ground, or of stones, trees, etc. In popular language, the term is often extended to small cryptogams of other orders, esp. lichens and lycopods, and occas. to small phanerogams resembling mosses in appearance and habit.
a. collect. Plants of this kind massed together.
Formerly often referred to as a material for filling the chinks between roofing slabs or slates, or for stopping crevices in mill-dams; also as bedding for cattle.
c1150Durham Gloss., Muscus, mose. 1324–5Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 15 Mulieribus colligentibus mosse pro eodem [stagno]. 1355–6Ibid. 557 Cum colleccione Bruerae et Mos pro eodem [molendino]. 1370Robt. Cicyle 59 Fyftene yere he levyd thare, Wyth rotys, and grasse, and evylle fare, And alle of mosse hys clothyng was. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xv. 282 Poule primus heremita had parroked hym-selue, Þat no man miȝte hym se for mosse and for leues. c1400Mandeville (1839) xxx. 304 The Walles ben covered alle over with Mosse. 1447O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 51 A sparow fedyng hyr bryddes she seye In a nest made of mosh & cleye. 1485Caxton St. Wenefr. 5 The mosse that groweth vpon the sayde stones smellyth lyke encense. 1502Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 267 Rogero Sclayter, 6d., tegenti super cameram..Sclaytston, 4d., ad idem opus, ac del mose, 1d., pro dicto opere. 1523Fitzherb. Husb. §132 Croppe them [sc. the trees] in wynter that thy beestes maye eate..the mosse of the bowes. 1573–4Rewley Accts. (Feuillerat) 193 Torchebearers vj attyred in Mosse & Ivye. 1588Shakes. Tit. A. ii. iii. 95 The Trees..Ore-come with Mosse, and balefull Misselto. 1626Bacon Sylva §340 Mosse is a Kinde of Mould, of the Earth, and Trees. But it may be better sorted as a Rudiment of Germination. 1657W. Coles Adam in Eden xv. 31 The last [sort] which is the Mosse of a dead Mans Skull is oftner brought out of Ireland, then found with Us. 1712Steele Spect. No. 514 ⁋2, I saw three figures seated on a bank of moss. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v., There is also a kind of greenish moss growing on human skulls that have been long exposed to the air, called usnea humana, or muscus calvarius. The antients made a deal of use of it as an astringent, &c. 1765A. Dickson Treat. Agric. iv. vi. (ed. 2) 483 Moss is commonly ranked in the class of vegetables. 1784Cowper Task i. 270 Hence, ancle-deep in moss and flow'ry thyme, We mount again. 1809Med. Jrnl. XXI. 398, I packed it carefully in fresh moss. c1830Mrs. Sherwood in Houlston Tracts III. lxi. 8 Is it not a deal, a great deal to me, to see the one whom I love best in all the world wearing away like moss under a dripping rock, from trouble and from weariness. 1864Skeat Uhland's Poems 312 On couch of moss sat Merlin.
fig.1559Mirr. Mag., Dk. Suffolk xx, Affirming me to have brought the realme to mosse. 1679C. Nesse Antichrist Ded., Nobility..is but the moss of time. 1680H. More Apocal. Apoc. 353 The rest being no part of that..Christianity, but at best mere moss and filth added to it.
b. Proverb. a rolling stone gathers no moss: used to imply that a man who restlessly roams from place to place, or constantly changes his employment will never grow rich. Hence, in slang or allusive use, moss occas. = money.[Cf. Cotgrave s.v. Mousse, Jamais tu ne cueilleras mousse, Thou wilt neuer grow rich; from the Prouerbe; Pierre qui se remue n'accueille point de mousse; Pro. The rolling stone gathers no Mosse.] [1362,c1460: cf. moss v. 1 a.] a1541Wyatt How to use the Court 4 On the stone that styll doth turne about, There groweth no mosse. These prouerbes yet do last. 1546J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 26 The rollyng stone neuer gatherth mosse. 1548Bradford Let. in Foxe A. & M. (1583) 1662/2 A tumblyng stone gathereth no mosse. 1621Sanderson Serm. I. 212 Some men are ever restless,..every new crotchet putteth them into a new course. But thes rowling stones carry their curse with them; they seldom gather moss. a1635Naunton Fragm. Reg. (Arb.) 48 He [Rawleigh] foresaw his own destiny; that he was first to roul..before he could come to a repose, and as the stone doth by long lying gather moss. 1853,1866[see rolling stone 1]. 1914G. B. Shaw Misalliance p. lxxxiv, We keep repeating the silly proverb that a rolling stone gathers no moss, as if moss were a desirable parasite. 1936A. Christie ABC Murders xxxiv. 241 You have been the rolling stone—and you have gathered very little moss. You were bitterly jealous of your brother's wealth.
c. With a and pl.: A species or kind of moss.
1562Turner Herbal ii. 36 Lichen..cleueth vnto watery stones, or such as at the leste are somtyme sprynkled wyth water as a mosse. 1691Ray Creation i (1692) 100 Such Mosses as grow upon Walls, the Roofs of Houses [etc.]. 1785Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xxxii. (1794) 491 The Mosses, have leaves like the more perfect vegetables, distinct from the stalk. 1814Scott Ld. of Isles iii. xiv, On high Benmore green mosses grow. 1849Lyell 2nd Visit U.S. (1850) II. xxxii. 215, I saw, on the damp ground beneath the trees, abundance of mosses, with scarcely a blade of grass. 1866Treas. Bot. s.v. Mosses, Small species of Sedum..are sometimes termed Mosses—of course merely on account of their habit. 1882Vines tr. Sachs' Bot. 903 Such as the Ferns, Equisetaceæ, the Mosses, and others.
d. Applied to sea-weed. rare.
1543Traheron Vigo's Chirurg. (1586) 436 Coraline, corolina, is thought to be Brion, which is mosse growing to stones in the sea. 1601Chester Love's Mart. (1878) 82 Mosse of the Sea, and yellow Succorie. 1830Tennyson Mermaid 49 In the hueless mosses under the sea. 1895Mar. L. Pool Boss in Chapbook III. 478 Granny often wheeled her to the breakwater where she could see the moss gathered. Ibid., The water had gone far out so that one could get to one of the ledges where the moss grew.
4. With defining word.
American moss, the dried stems of Florida moss, which are used in upholstery; animal moss = moss-animal; black moss = Florida moss; Canary moss, Parmelia perlata, a lichen used for dyeing (Treas. Bot. 1866); Ceylon moss, the common name for Plocaria candida, which is imported from Sri Lanka (Ceylon) with some other species (Treas. Bot.); see also quot. 1889; † chin-cough moss, ? = chalice-moss (chalice 4); club-foot moss = club-moss (Cent. Dict. 1890); Corsican moss (see quot. 1866); film moss, Hymenostomum (Treas. Bot.); Florida moss, Tillandsia usneoides; flowering moss U.S., (a) the creeping evergreen plant, Pyxidanthera barbulata; (b) = moss-pink (see 7 d); (c) Sedum pulchellum (Britton & Brown Flora 1896–8); † hairy moss, ? = hair moss (hair n. 10); † head moss (see quot. 1688); heath-moss (see quot. 1753); idle-moss (see quot. 1866); Jaffna moss, Alectoria sarmentosa, a dye lichen collected in Sri Lanka (Ceylon) (Treas. Bot. 1866); see also quot. 1889; snake moss, Lycopodium clavatum (Treas. Bot., Suppl. 1874); velvet moss, Gyrophora murina (Ibid.); white moss, a name for various lichens. Also beard-moss, bog-moss, carrageen moss, chalice moss, club-moss, horned moss, Iceland moss, long-moss, etc., q.v. as main words or under their first element.
1597Hairy moss [see golden a. 10 b]. 1610Chin-cough moss [see chalice-moss s.v. chalice 4]. 1653Walton Angler iv. 96 White Moss, which grows on some heaths, and is hard to be found. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp., Heath-moss, Coralloides, in botany, the name of a genus of the mosses. Ibid. s.v. Heath-moss, Of the Cup-mosses, with less perfect cups, the following are the known species: 1. The skewer Coralloides... It is commonly called horned Moss. 1796W. Marshall W. England I. 222 During the winter months, a West Devonshire Orchard.., appears as if hung with hoar frost; owing to the white moss which hangs in ribbons from its boughs. 1857Gray First Lessons Bot. (1866) 34 We have two or three flowering air-plants in the Southern States,..one of them is..the Long-Moss, or Black Moss, so called. 1866Treas. Bot., Moss, Corsican, a supposed vermifuge, once in some repute, but now almost exploded. If genuine, it should consist of Gracilaria Helminthochorton, one of the rose-spored Algæ, but for this the common Laurencia obtusa is frequently substituted. Ibid., Moss, idle, an old name for various tree lichens, especially those which are pendulous. 1882J. Smith Dict. Econ. Plants 277 American or New Orleans Moss. 1884Cassell's Fam. Mag. Apr. 316/2 A new material for paper..is the white moss which grows so largely in Norway and Sweden. 1888Florida moss [see moss-head in 7 d below]. 1889G. S. Boulger Uses of Plants 50 Ceylon Moss, Jaffna Moss..(Sphærococcus lichenioides, Agardh) another of the Florideæ from..Ceylon, Burma, etc...now used as a demulcent food jelly for invalids. 1890Century Dict., Animal moss.
5. transf.
a. An excrescence or incrustation resembling moss; esp. the mossy covering of the stalk and calyx of the moss rose.
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 278 The Hedg-hog..is..beset..with sharpe thorney haires,..and those sharpe prickles are couered with a kind of soft mosse. 1837T. Rivers Rose Amateur's Guide 6 The Double Moss Rose..covered with that glandular excrescence which we term moss. 1864Lowell Fireside Trav. 10 Coals, over which a gray, soft moss of ashes grew.
b. Confectionery. (See quots.) ? Obs.
1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), Moss,..Also a kind of fine Sugar-Work, made by Confectioners, in Imitation of Moss. 1727Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Confectioner, Pastils and Mosses which are sugar works that may be made in the season. 1841Guide to Trade, Baker 64 [Cakes] Moss.—Rub a little rout cake paste through a fine sieve, and it will look like moss. Gently squeeze a little together, about the size of half-a-crown, and bake them.
c. slang. (See quot.)
1796Grose's Dict. Vulgar T. (ed. 3), Moss, a cant term for lead, because both are found on the tops of buildings.
d. Ellipt. for moss green.
1897Sears Roebuck Catal. 333/1 Crepe Tissue Paper..in the following colors..Apple, Moss, Grass, Nile and Sea Green. 1923Daily Mail 26 May 1 (Advt.), Superb colours, including: Rose Pink,..Moss, Tomato. 1971Vogue Dec. 148/2 Jersey.. colours..rosewood, oak, moss.
e. Hair. slang.
1942in Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §121/43. 1966 J. S. Cox Illustr. Dict. Hairdressing 99/2 Moss. (1) Head hair. Slang. (2) Pubic hair. Vulgarism.
III. Combinations.
6. In sense 1.
a. General comb., as moss-bank, moss-bound adj., moss-cart, moss-field, moss-fog (fog n.1 2), moss-ground, moss-hole, moss-land, moss-pit, moss-pot (= hole), moss-sod, moss-traversing adj., moss-work.
1799J. Robertson Agric. Perth 494 He then digs a new drain at the foot of the *moss-bank.
1840J. Buel Farmer's Comp. 206 If the land is poor, or *moss-bound.
1834Brit. Husb. I. 165 A peculiar sort of cart..called a *moss-cart, which appears to be admirably adapted to the application of marl..to the surface of peaty soils.
1527in Lanc. Wills (Chetham Soc.) I. 25, I will that the seid John have..the *mosse fylds..in the severall holldings of the seid John Dutton [and others].
1831W. Patrick Pop. Descr. Plants Lanarksh. Pref. 20 Tracts of land,..yielding chiefly Heather..and *Moss-fogs, such as Sphagnums, Bryums, Polytrichums.
1584Cogan Haven Health (1636) 258 In Lankashire, in their *mosse grounds where they dig their turves, there is great store of it.
1746Compl. Farmer s.v. Watering Flax, *Moss-holes..frequently answer well for watering the flax.
1887T. Darlington Folk-Speech S. Cheshire 264 *Moss⁓land, boggy land. 1934Geogr. Jrnl. LXXXIII. 425 The surviving mosslands of the Lancashire plain. 1971Daily Tel. 3 July 9/2 Greater provision for visitors is planned for the Wildfowl Trust's projected reserve at Martin Mere, on the mosslands east of Southport.
c1510Reg. Burrough lf. v. b (P.R.O.), Hey hille lyes betwix the scharthe Hylle and *Mosse pyttes.
1845Jane Robinson Whitehall xl. II. 191 What hath any of us done, that grace should come and lug us out of the *moss⁓pot into which we have strayed of our own folly?
1844Stephens Bk. Farm III. 1038, I cover with *moss-sods (from the turf-banks) laid perfectly close, the shear of each fitted to the other.
1785Burns Address to Deil 73 And aft your *moss-traversin Spunkies Decoy the wight that late an' drunk is.
1799J. Robertson Agric. Perth 509 Though *moss-work be laborious.
b. In names of plants growing in bogs: as moss-berry, the cranberry, Vaccinium Oxycoccos; moss-corn, the silverweed, Potentilla anserina; moss-crop, (a) applied to various species of cotton-grass, esp. Eriophorum vaginatum and E. polystachion; (b) see moss-corn above; (c) the tufted club-rush, Scirpus cæspitosus; moss-rush, goose-corn, Juncus squarrosus; moss-whin, Genista anglica; moss-willow, ? Salix fusca.
1732J. Martyn Tournefort's Hist. Plants II. 153 Oxycoccus... Cran-berries,..*Moss-berries, or Moor-berries. 1868Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869) 178 Among them [sc. small fruits] may be noted..mossberries [etc.].
1818Hogg Brownie of B. etc. II. 269 He [sc. a boar] found nothing to eat, save one or two *moss-corns [etc.].
c1475Cath. Angl. 244/2 (Addit. MS.) A *Mosse croppe. 1696Plukenet Opera Bot. (1769) II. 201 Juncus Alpinus cum caudâ Leporina... Moss-Crops Vestmorlandicis dicitur. 1808–18Jamieson, Moss-corns, Silver-weed,..also called Moss-crops, and Moor-grass. 1815Pennecuik's Descr. Tweed. 53 note, Their [sc. sheep's] earliest spring food is a plant bearing a white cotton head, vulgarly designed Moss-crop. 1879J. Lucas in Zoologist Sept. 356 Sheep feed greedily on the flowers of the moor-silk (cotton-grass), or, as it is termed in the dale [Nidderdale] ‘Mosscrops and cutthroats’.
1762W. Hudson Flora Angl. 130 Juncus culmo nudo,..*Moss⁓rush or Goose-corn.
1863Prior Plant-n. 154 Moor-whin, or *Moss-whin, a whin that grows on bleak heaths and mosses. Genista anglica, L.
a1869C. Spence Fr. Braes of Carse (1898) 60 Lichen, and liver grass, And the *moss willow Curtain the narrow pass.
c. Special comb.: moss-cheeper, (a) the meadow pipit, Anthus pratensis; (b) white winged moss-cheeper, the reed-bunting, Emberiza schœniclus; moss-earth, earth composed of, or largely mixed with, peat; moss-flow, a semi-fluid part of a bog or morass; moss-oak, oak-wood preserved in a black state in peat-bogs, etc., bog-oak; also, a seat made out of bog-oak; moss-reeve, ‘a bailiff or reeve appointed to regulate claims for land on the mosses’ (Cheshire Gloss. 1886); moss-tenant, the tenant of a moorland farm; moss-wood, the wood of trees found buried in peat-bogs. Also moss-hag, moss-trooper.
1684Sibbald Scotia Illustrata ii. II. 22 Titlinga, Titling, or *Moss-cheeper. 1901Shooting Times 22 June 21/2 The reed bunting is almost entirely known in the North of Ireland as the ‘white winged moss-cheeper’.
1805W. Aiton (title) A Treatise on the origin, qualities, and cultivation of *Moss-earth.
1816Scott Old Mort. viii, The hundreds forced from their ain habitations to the deserts, mountains, muirs, mosses, *moss-flows, and peat-hags.
1785Burns Halloween xxiii, He taks a swirlie, auld *moss-oak, For some black, grousome Carlin. 1824Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl. (1876) 23 He claps his auld bum down on the mossaik by the cheek o' the chaumer door.
1552in Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1883) I. 59 *Moss Reeves Thos Eyre Jno Sudley.
1799J. Robertson Agric. Perth 496 The obloquy of becoming a *moss-tenant gradually became less regarded.
1686Plot Staffordsh. 217 This *moss-wood (as some call it) grew not far from where found.
7. In sense 3.
a. simple attrib., as moss-bank, moss-bed, moss-root.
1742Collins Oriental Ecl. iii. 18 The violet-blue, that on the moss-bank grows. 1830Tennyson Merman 39 Soft are the moss-beds under the sea. 1883G. Meredith Poems & Lyrics 131 Rich with life as moss-roots breathe of earth In the first plucking of them.
b. instrumental, as moss-bearded, † moss-begrown, moss-bordered, moss-cankered, moss-clad, moss-covered, moss crowned, moss-dappled, moss-hung, moss-inwoven, moss-lain, moss-lined, moss-mantled, moss-shadowed, † moss-thrummed, moss woven.
1851H. Melville Moby Dick III. ii. 26 Venerable *moss-bearded Daniel Boone. 1959D. Davie Forests of Lithuania iv. 37 A moss-bearded oak that bears The weight of full five hundred years.
c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xxxiii. 150 It es all *mosse begrowen and couerd so with mosse and with bruschez. 1668H. More Div. Dial. v. xxxiii. (1713) 507 Philoth... It was not still to have ly'n unpolished or Moss-begrown.
1849M. Arnold New Sirens xxx, By *moss-border'd statues sitting.
1904Kipling Traffics & Discov. 304 The *moss-cankered oak and beech.
1747Ld. Lyttelton Mem. Lady 90 Or under Campden's *moss-clad mountains hoar.
1792M. Wollstonecraft Rights Wom. v. 253 *Moss-covered opinions..indolently adopted only because age has given them a venerable aspect.
1742Collins Oriental Ecl. ii. 24 Here, where no springs in murmurs break away, Or *moss-crown'd fountains mitigate the day.
1945J. Betjeman New Bats in Old Belfries 6 The view from my bedroom of *moss-dappled path.
1869‘Mark Twain’ Innoc. Abr. 421 Look down upon these *moss-hung ruins.
1818Shelley Marenghi xiv, And hillocks heaped of *moss-inwoven turf.
1819Keats Ode to Psyche 57 There by zephyrs, streams, and birds, and bees, The *moss-lain Dryads shall be lulled to sleep.
1727–46Thomson Summer 625 An ample chair, *moss-lined and overhead, By flowering umbrage shaded.
1923R. Graves Feather Bed 11 By falls of scree, *moss-mantled slippery rock. 1931C. Day Lewis From Feathers to Iron 19 The virgin spring moss-shadowed near the shore.
1613–16W. Browne Brit. Past. ii. i, Each *mosse-thrumb'd mountaine bends.
1779Mason Eng. Gard. iii. 205 Their *moss-woven nest.
c. similative, as moss-like.
1648Herrick Hesper., Oberon's Palace 42 *Mosse-like silk. 1881Tyndall Floating Matter of Air 161 Patches of moss-like matter would appear here and there in the field of the microscope.
d. Special comb.: moss-agate, a popular name for a variety of agate containing brown or black moss-like dendritic forms; moss-animal, -animalcule, a bryozoon or polyzoon (see Bryozoa and Polyzoa); moss-bag Canad. (see quot. 1865); moss-basket (see quot.); moss-bass, ‘the large-mouthed black-bass, Micropterus salmoides’ (Cent. Dict. 1890); moss-bee = moss-carder bee (see below); moss-box Coal-mining, a stuffing-box filled with moss, used in Kind and Chaudron's method of sinking shafts through water-bearing strata; moss campion, a dwarf, perennial, tufted moss-like plant (Silene acaulis) with purple flowers, growing in northern latitudes; moss-carder, also moss-carder bee, Bombus muscorum, a variety of humble-bee; moss-copper (see quot.); moss-coral = moss-animalcule (see above); moss crêpe (see quots.); moss-fibre Anat. (see quot. 1906); moss-gold, a fungus, Clavaria muscoides; moss green, a green colour resembling that of moss; † moss hair, hair resembling moss, ‘woolly’ hair; moss-head, a name given by the Negroes of Charleston, South Carolina, to the hooded merganser, Mergus cucullatus; moss horn = mossy horn; moss-house, a garden shelter lined or covered with moss; moss-locust, an American name for the rose acacia, Robinia hispida; moss opal, a variety of opal containing dendritic markings like those of moss-agate; moss-peat, peat formed from mosses, esp. those of the genus Sphagnum; moss pink, a species of phlox (Phlox subulata), with dark purple flowers, growing on rocky hills and sandy soils in the central United States; moss-polyp = moss-animalcule (see above); moss-rake, a kind of rake used in gathering Irish moss; moss-seat, a mossy seat; also, a seat artificially mossed; moss-starch = lichenin; † moss-work, (a) decoration resembling moss; (b) moss arranged so as to form a covering. See also moss-back, moss-rose.
1798G. Mitchell tr. D. L. G. Karsten's Description Minerals in Leskean Mus. I. 98 Milk white *Moss Agate, traversed by brownish particles; from Ceylon. 1837J. D. Dana Syst. Min. vi. 343 Dendrachates..was our moss agate. 1845J. C. Atkinson in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. No. 13. 132 Chert, hornstone, and moss agate, may be found. 1904L. J. Spencer tr. M. Bauer's Precious Stones ii. 507 Moss-agate is characterised by the presence of green enclosures, such as are found in many specimens of rock crystal. These enclosures..have the general effect of a piece of moss; hence the term moss-agate. 1943R. D. George Minerals & Rocks xix. 414 Moss agate is similar to agate, but the coloring is in arborescent or moss-like forms. 1947J. C. Rich Materials & Methods of Sculpture viii. 236 Moss agate is a variety of agate whose decorative appearance militates against its use as a sculptural medium. 1962R. Webster Gems I. x. 178 In England and America the term mocha stone is used synonymously with moss agate, but in European countries the green moss agate alone is known as moss agate while the black and red coloured dendritic agate is termed mocha stone.
1881Cassell's Nat. Hist. V. 269 The Bryozoa, or *Moss-animals.
1890Century Dict., *Moss-animalcule.
1865Milton & Cheadle N.W. Passage by Land vi. 85 The ‘*moss-bag’ or Indian cradle. This is a board with two side flaps of cloth, which lace together up the centre. The child is laid on its back on the board, packed with soft moss, and laced firmly down, with its arms to its side, and only its head at liberty. 1960J. J. Rowlands Spindrift 120 A baby whimpered in its moss bag laced to a back⁓board. 1963Beaver Summer 37/2 The 15-day-old baby sleeping in a moss bag.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Moss-basket, a fancy basket for a room, conservatory, &c., covered with moss.
1863Chamb. Encycl. V. 454/1 One of the most abundant [species of the humble-bee] is the yellow and orange *Moss-bee (Bombus muscorum), the Foggie of the Scotch.
1877H. Bauerman in Encycl. Brit. VI. 63/1 *Moss-box.
1791C. Smith Celestina IV. 191 Lichen and *moss campion.
1853Zoologist XI. 4097 A *moss-carders' nest.
1861Percy Metallurgy, Fuel, etc. 359 *Moss-copper. In copper-works this term is commonly used to designate those accumulations of filamentous, or moss⁓like copper, which are formed in cavities in pigs of certain kinds of regulus.
1955E. Ostick Draper's Encycl. iii. 84 *Moss crêpe is a dress fabric which relies for its characteristic effect on a special yarn called a moss crêpe yarn. 1966E. Palmer Plains of Camdeboo ii. 20 The people of Pearston district in dark suits and moss crêpe demurely assembling for church on a Sunday.
1906Cunningham Text-bk. Anat. (ed. 2) 514 The fibres which end in the granular layer are called *moss-fibres..because..they present at certain points moss⁓like thickenings.
1887Hay Brit. Fungi 117 Clavaria muscoides, the *Moss-gold.
1884West. Daily Press 29 May 3/7 The rest of the trimmings are in *moss green. 1938R. Field All this & Heaven Too (1939) xxiii. 302 She..selected her best dress, the moss-green moire with bands of russet. 1972H. C. Rae Shooting Gallery iii. 210 Tight broadcloth pants in moss green.
1689Lond. Gaz. No. 2433/4 Run away.., a Negro Man of a Tawny Complexion, with *Mosse Hair.
1888G. Trumbull Bird Names 75 The colored women often use a large bunch of ‘Florida moss’, Tillandsia usneoides, as a cushion for the heavy loads they carry on their heads, and I am inclined to believe that ‘*Moss-head’ was suggested by this practice, rather than by any resemblance to moss in the bird's crest.
1944H. Wentworth Amer. Dial. Dict. 398/1 *Mosshorn, n., old cattle; an old cowboy. 1948H. L. Mencken Amer. Lang. Suppl. II. xi. 742 Mosshorn, an old steer; also, an old cowboy. 1968R. F. Adams Western Words (rev. ed.) 201/1 Mossy horn,..also called moss horn.
1793Cowper (title) Inscription for a *Moss-house in the Shrubbery at Weston. 1824Loudon Encycl. Gard. (ed. 2) §1816 Roofed seats, boat-houses, moss houses [etc.], are different modes of forming resting-places containing seats.
1890Century Dict., *Moss-locust.
1904L. J. Spencer tr. M. Bauer's Precious Stones ii. 386 Milk-opal sometimes exhibits black arborescent markings, or dendrites so-called, similar to those in certain varieties of chalcedony. Opal of this kind is known as *moss-opal. It is cut so as to bring the markings..near the surface. 1966J. Sinkankas Mineralogy ii. 447 If containing dendritic or mossy inclusions, it is called moss opal.
1875S. F. Peckham in Amer. Cycl. XIII. 217/2 *Moss-peat is oftenest fibrous, and when dried forms elastic masses. 1955Times 21 May 10/6 Bracken..is admirable as a mulch, having all the good qualities of moss-peat, plus a high nutrition value. 1974Country Life 2 May 1076/1 Moss peat can be bought from all suppliers of horticultural sundries, in bags or bales.
1856Gray Man. Bot. (1860) 332 Phlox subulata (Ground or *Moss Pink).
1879tr. Haeckel's Evol. Man. II. 369 The *moss-polyps (Bryozoa).
1883Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 195 Sponge-hook, *moss-rakes.
1806J. Black Falls of Clyde iii. i. 139 Upon a *moss-seat Jamie sits alone, In pensive guise. 1821Scott Kenilw. xxxiii, A grotto, ornamented with rustic work and moss-seats.
1615G. Sandys Trav. 181 The compassed roofe adorned with *mos-worke and Mosaique guilding. 1648Herrick Hesper., To Robin Red-brest, Laid out for dead, let thy last kindnesse be With leaves and mosse-work for to cover me.
▪ II. † moss, n.2 Obs.
[? A use of prec.; ? or repr. some eastern word.]
A ‘head’ of raw silk.
1753Hanway Trav. 11. i. v. 18 The moss, or head of silk, often appears fair to the eye, when much coarseness is concealed under it. Ibid., A moss, which is about 60 inches in the round, can be most conveniently reeled off. Ibid., They generally comb the heads of the mosses to deceive the buyer.
▪ III. moss, n.3
Short for moss rose.
1837T. Rivers Rose Amateur's Guide 8 The Perpetual White Moss is a Damask Rose. Ibid. 9 The New Striped Moss has not yet bloomed here. 1869S. R. Hole Bk. about Roses 103 He admires the..Mosses, Chinas and Bourbons.
▪ IV. moss, v.|mɒs|
Forms: 4–5 mose, 6–8 mos, 7– moss.
[f. moss n.1]
1. intr. To become mossy (in various senses).
1362Langl. P. Pl. A. x. 101 Selden Moseþ þe Marbelston þat men ofte treden. c1460in Q. Eliz. Acad. (1869) 39 Syldon mossyth the stone þat oftyn ys tornnyd & wende. 1654Gayton Pleas. Notes ii. iii. 42 Sancho's face moss'd, and his chinne had a down sprung out. 1939G. Greene Lawless Roads iv. 119 Would the Cupid's bow just moss a little more as the flowers dropped?
2. To gather or collect moss.
1700, etc. [implied in mossing vbl. n.]. 1895Mar. L. Pool Boss in Chapbk. III. 480 I've moss'd twenty year, 'n' I never slipped to speak of before.
3. trans.
†a. To cover with moss. Obs.
c1420Pallad. on Husb. iii. 365 Do cley vppon and mose hit al aboute. Ibid. 419 Bende as a bowe or vynes that men pleche, And cleme hit, mose it, bynd hit soft abowte.
b. To cover with a growth of moss.
1600Shakes. A.Y.L. iv. iii. 105 Vnder an old Oake, whose bows were moss'd with age. 1797W. Nicol Sc. Forcing Gardener 175 Washing the branches and stem of trees, which are anywise mossed, with soapsuds and sulphur. 1836Mrs. Browning Poet's Vow v. x, When years had mossed the stone. 1862Macm. Mag. Sept. 426 How was it [the island] lichened and mossed, ferned and heathered.
fig.1660Waterhouse Arms & Arm. 3 But when they are sober, learned, and usefull, to let them be Mossed over with the scurfe of neglect. 1839Bailey Festus xxix. (1852) 477 The world shall rest, and moss itself with peace.
†c. To roof with moss (i.e. to put moss between or under the slates or tiles). Obs.
1591Churchw. Acc. Minchinhampton in Archæologia (1853) XXXV. 436 To William Webbe, the tyler, upon a bargin for mosing and tiling and pynting of the church house and pentises, vij s. 1657Churchw. Acc. Prestwich in Ch. Times 24 Mar. (1905) 395 Pd. to George Milln's son ffor mossinge the church 01. 06. 08. 1722Churchw. Acc. Finghall (MS.), Pd. for liming & mossing y⊇ Ch'ch, 10s 6d.
d. To cover the trunks of (cinchona trees) with moss to increase the yield of alkaloid.
1863–4W. G. McIvor Extract fr. Rep. Govt. Chinchona Plantations §35 With the permission of Government I will at once moss from 7,000 to 10,000 of our largest plants. 1876Encycl. Brit. V. 781/2.
†4. To remove moss from (trees, etc.). Obs.
1677Dade's Prognostication A vij, May{ddd}Weed your Hop-Gardens, and take away superfluous Branches, and Moss your Gardens. 1707Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 78 If the Moss is much and long..it may..do well to prune off the greatest part of the Branches, and to Moss the rest.
5. intr. To work in a peat-bog; to cut and prepare peats.
1866W. Gregor Dial. Banffsh. 115. |