n.
- a small flowerless green plant which grows in low carpets or rounded cushions in damp habitats and reproduces by means of spores.
[Class Musci.]
▸used in names of algae, lichens, and other low-growing plants, e.g. reindeer moss.
- Scottish & N. English a peat bog.
v.
[
usu. as adj. mossed]
cover with moss.
Derivative
- mossiness n.
- mossy adj.
(mossier, mossiest)
.
Etymology
OE mos ‘bog or moss’, of Gmc origin.