moss
/mɒs
/noun
1 [mass noun] A small flowerless green plant which lacks true roots, growing in low carpets or rounded cushions in damp habitats and reproducing by means of spores released from stalked capsules: the trees are overgrown with vines and moss [count noun]: the bog is home to rare mosses
- Class Musci, division Bryophyta.
- The room was smooth and white, with friendly-looking mosses and plants growing out of the wall across from him.
- Silky green moss grew through the cracks of the stone path.
1.1Used in names of algae, lichens, and higher plants resembling moss, e.g. reindeer moss, Ceylon moss, Spanish moss.The study team calculates these plants would have produced about six times more methane than today's bog-dwelling plants such as sphagnum moss....
- Sphagnum peat moss and sand can be added to amend heavy soils.
- For alkaline soil, ample addition of an acidic organic matter such as sphagnum peat moss is beneficial.
2 (also moss green) [mass noun] A green colour like that of moss.The fabrics he used were predominantly tweeds and wools in countryside colours: moss green, rust brown and autumnal red....
- Products range from cotton jackets with jersey linings to sweaters and fleeces; colours range from neutrals to moss green and tones of brown.
- The 279 bedrooms, including 67 suites, are laid out over five floors and decorated in either blue, yellow, rose, moss green or peach.
3Scottish & Northern English A bog, especially a peat bog.Thanks to the efforts of the fire brigade, he said, the peat below the mosses did not catch fire and damage was limited to the surface vegetation of around five per cent of the mosses....
- The mosses, managed by English Nature, are classified as a Special Conservation Area and are one of the finest areas of lowland raised mire habitats in Europe.
- It's been a privilege to watch the wildlife reclaim the moss.
verb [with object] (usually as adjective mossed)
Cover with moss: the mossed old trees...
- We would have had difficulty identifying it as a logging site as the stumps were mossed and the beech seedlings and undergrowth were abundant - a total contrast from the sites we were accustomed to seeing after harvesting by the old method.
- You are invited to come along to The Convent Flower Shop to see all the mossed swags, door and cemetery wreaths, logs and Christmas decorations.
Derivatives
moss-like
- This element is moss-like and rare, but it does exist.
- Even Antarctica's only two species of flowering plants, hairgrass and pearlwort, have changed their positions of dominance: the moss-like pearlwort appears more adaptable to the warming.
- This marine invertebrate appears unremarkable and similar to a variety of moss-like sea creature.
Origin
Old English mos 'bog or moss', of Germanic origin; related to Dutch mos and German Moos.