moss´like´

moss «ms, mos», noun, verb.

–n.

1. very small, soft, green or brown plants that grow close together like a carpet on the ground, on rocks, or on trees. There are various kinds, making up a class of plants. Mosses have small stems and numerous, generally narrow leaves. They are bryophytic plants.

2. a matted mass of such plants growing together.

3. any one of several other plants which grow close together like mosses, such as certain lichens, club mosses, and liverworts.

4. Scottish. a bog or swamp, especially a peat bog: »

With anxious eye he wander'd o'er Mountain and meadow, moss and moor (Scott).

–v.t.

to cover with a growth of moss: »

an oak whose boughs were moss'd with age (Shakespeare).

╂[Old English mos bog; later, moss. See related etym. at mire. (Cf. ↑mire)]

–moss´like´, adjective.