| 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) |
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| 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) |
| Moss, Gerald | <person> U.S. Physician, *1931. See: Moss tube. (05 Mar 2000) |
| moss-lichen wetland | <ecology> A wetland dominated by mosses (mainly peat mosses) and lichens with little taller vegetation. (09 Oct 1997) |
| Moss, Melvin | <person> U.S. Oral pathologist, *1923. See: Gorlin-Chaudhry-Moss syndrome. (05 Mar 2000) |
| 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) |
| 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) |