mossy-backedadj.
/ˈmɒsɪbakt/, U.S. /ˈmɔsiˌbækt/, /ˈmɑsiˌbækt/ That is a mossyback; (also) that has a mossy back; = mossbacked adj.
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the world > time > relative time > the past > oldness or ancientness > [adjective] > old-fashioned or antiquated
moth-frettenOE
antiquate?a1425
antique?1532
rusty1549
moth-eaten1551
musty1575
worm-eatenc1575
overyear1584
out of date1589
old-fashioned1592
out of date1592
worm-eat1597
old-fashion1599
ancient1601
outdated1616
out-of-fashion1623
over-aged1623
superannuateda1634
thorough-old1639
overdateda1641
trunk-hosea1643
antiquitated1645
antiquated1654
out-of-fashioned1671
unmodern1731
of the old school1749
auld-farrant1750
old-fangled1764
fossila1770
fogram1772
passé1775
unmodernized1775
oxidated1791
moss-covered1792
square-toeda1797
old-fashionable1807
pigtail1817
behind the times1826
slow1827
fossilized1828
rococo1836
antiquish1838
old-timey1850
out of season1850
moss-grown1851
old style1858
antiqued1859
pigtaily1859
prehistoric1859
backdated1862
played1864
fossiled1866
bygone1869
mossy-backed1870
old-worldly1878
past-time1889
outmoded1896
dated1900
brontosaurian1909
antiquey1926
horse-and-buggy1926
vintage1928
Neolithic1934
time-warped1938
demoded1941
steam age1941
hairy1946
old school1946
rinky-dink1946
time warp1954
Palaeolithic1957
retardataire1958
throwback1968
wally1969
antwacky1975
1870 Harper's Mag. Nov. 951/2 A thorough-bred, mossy-backed mountaineer.
1876 Congress. Rec. 13 Jan. 411/1 [In the cotton states] those too cowardly to fight..were known as ‘mossy-backed rangers’ during the war.
1893 Outing 22 121/2 Earth-worms, fresh from the garden, will lure many a mossy-backed hermit from his lair.
1993 Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee) (Nexis) 3 Jan. a9 The governor added that some black legislators, like white members, can be ‘old mossy-backed politicians’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1870