mossy
adjUK /ˈmɒsi/ · US /ˈmɔsi/
Etymology From Middle English mossy, equivalent to moss + -y.
1
Covered in or overgrown with moss.
- The moſſy pales that ſkirt the orchard-green, / Here hid by ſhrub-vvood, there by glimpſes ſeen; […]1798, [Samuel Rogers], “An Epistle to a Friend”, in An Epistle to a Friend, with Other Poems. […], London: […] R. Noble, for T[homas] Cadell, Junior, and W[illiam] Davies, […], →OCLC, page 10, lines 19–20:
- A Violet by a mossy stone / Half-hidden from the Eye! / —Fair, as a star when only one / Is shining in the sky!1798 (date written), W[illiam] Wordsworth, “Song [She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways]”, in Lyrical Ballads, with Other Poems. […], 2nd edition, London: […] T[homas] N[orton] Longman and O[wen] Rees, […], by Biggs and Co., […], published 1800, →OCLC, page 52:
1 more example
- Two particularly attractive cottages, roofed with mossy and lichened slates, stand at the churchyard's eastern gate, looking up a long avenue of yew trees.1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 127:
- Derived terms
- mossily, mossiness, mossy-back, mossy-backed, mossy cell, mossy crêpe, mossy-cup oak, mossy fiber, mossy fibre, mossy foot, mossy horn, mossy New Caledonian gecko, mossy saxifrage, mossy stonecrop, mossy zinc, Vietnamese mossy frog