| moss | To cover or overgrow with moss. "An oak whose boughs were mossed with age." (Shak) Origin: Mossed; Mossing. 1. <botany> 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. The term moss is also popularly applied to many other small cryptogamic plants, particularly lichens, species of which are called tree moss, rock moss, coral moss, etc. Fir moss and club moss are of the genus Lycopodium. See Club moss, under Club, and Lycopodium. 2. A bog; a morass; a place containing peat; as, the mosses of the Scottish border. Moss is used with participles in the composition of words which need no special explanation; as, moss-capped, moss-clad, moss-covered, moss-grown, etc. Black moss. See Black, and Tillandsia. Bog moss. See Sphagnum. Feather moss, any moss branched in a feathery manner, especially. Several species of the genus Hypnum. Florida moss, Long moss, or Spanish moss. See Tillandsia. Iceland moss, a lichen. See Iceland Moss. Irish moss, a seaweed. See Carrageen. Moss agate, a bryozoan. <botany> Moss berry, a rush of the genus Juncus (J. Squarrosus). Scale moss. See Hepatica. Origin: OE. Mos; akin to AS. Meos, D. Mos, G. Moos, OHG. Mos, mios, Icel. Mosi, Dan. Mos, Sw. Mossa, Russ. Mokh', L. Muscus. Cf. Muscoid. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| moss starch | <chemistry> A substance isomeric with starch, extracted from several species of moss and lichen, especially. From Iceland moss. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| Moss tube | A triple-lumen, nasogastric, feeding-decompression tube, that utilises a gastric balloon to occlude cardioesophageal junction, with simultaneous oesophageal aspiration and intragastric feeding, a double-lumen, gastric lavage tube, that provides continuous delivery of saline via a small bore, with simultaneous aspiration of fluid and some particles via a large bore. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Moss, Gerald | <person> U.S. Physician, *1931. See: Moss tube. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Moss, Melvin | <person> U.S. Oral pathologist, *1923. See: Gorlin-Chaudhry-Moss syndrome. (05 Mar 2000) |
| moss-lichen wetland | <ecology> A wetland dominated by mosses (mainly peat mosses) and lichens with little taller vegetation. (09 Oct 1997) |
| mossback | A veteran partisan; one who is so conservative in opinion that he may be likened to a stone or old tree covered with moss. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| mossbunker | <zoology> The menhaded. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| mosses | A class of plants within the bryophyta comprising the mosses, which are found in both damp (including freshwater) and drier situations. Mosses possess erect or prostrate leafless stems, which give rise to leafless stalks bearing capsules. Spores formed in the capsules are released and grow to produce new plants. (12 Dec 1998) |
| mossiness | The state of being mossy. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| Mossman fever | A fever, noted especially among sugar cane cutters in the Mossman District of North Queensland, caused by a leptospira. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Mosso's sphygmomanometer | An apparatus for measuring the blood pressure in the digital arteries. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Mosso, Angelo | <person> Italian physiologist, 1846-1910. See: Mosso's ergograph, Mosso's sphygmomanometer. (05 Mar 2000) |
| mossy | 1. Overgrown with moss; abounding with or edged with moss; as, mossy trees; mossy streams. "Old trees are more mossy far than young." (Bacon) 2. Resembling moss; as, mossy green. Origin: Mossier; Mossiest. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| mossy cell | One of the two types of neuroglia cell's, consisting of a rather large body with numerous short branching processes. (05 Mar 2000) |
| pearl moss | Synonym: cartilage. 2. The plant Chondrus crispus, Fucus crispus, or Gigartina mamillosa (family Gigartinaceae); a demulcent in chronic and intestinal disorders. Synonym: carrageen, carragheen, Irish moss, pearl moss. Origin: G. Chondros, gristle (05 Mar 2000) |
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| peat moss | A highly absorbent moss used as a substitute for absorbent cotton or gauze in surgical dressing and sanitary napkins. Synonym: muskeag moss, peat moss. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Ceylon moss | A red seaweed; a source of agar. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Gorlin-Chaudhry-Moss syndrome | <syndrome> Craniofacial dysostosis, patent ductus arteriosus, hypertrichosis, hypoplasia of labia majora, and dental and ocular abnormalities; sporadic, and no basic mechanism is proposed. See: Weill-Marchesani syndrome. (05 Mar 2000) |
| club moss | <botany> A genus of mosslike plants, the type of the order Lycopodiaceae; club moss. Lycopodium powder, a fine powder or dust composed of the spores of Lycopodium, and other plants of the order Lycopodiaceae. It is highly inflammable, and is sometimes used in the manufacture of fireworks, and the artificial representation of lightning. Origin: NL, from Gr. Wolf +, a foot. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| muskeag moss | A highly absorbent moss used as a substitute for absorbent cotton or gauze in surgical dressing and sanitary napkins. Synonym: muskeag moss, peat moss. (05 Mar 2000) |
| sea moss | <zoology> Any branched marine bryozoan resembling moss. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| sphagnum moss | A highly absorbent moss used as a substitute for absorbent cotton or gauze in surgical dressing and sanitary napkins. Synonym: muskeag moss, peat moss. (05 Mar 2000) |
| iceland moss | <botany> A kind of lichen (Cetraria Icelandica) found from the Arctic regions to the North Temperate zone. It furnishes a nutritious jelly and other forms of food, and is used in pulmonary complaints as a demulcent. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| Irish moss | Synonym: cartilage. 2. The plant Chondrus crispus, Fucus crispus, or Gigartina mamillosa (family Gigartinaceae); a demulcent in chronic and intestinal disorders. Synonym: carrageen, carragheen, Irish moss, pearl moss. Origin: G. Chondros, gristle (05 Mar 2000) |
| Irish moss gelatin | Gelatin extracted from Irish moss; used to make the mucilage of Irish moss that is used as a substitute for gum arabic in making emulsions. (05 Mar 2000) |