Mo*sa"ic, a. Of or pertaining to the style of work called mosaic;
formed by uniting pieces of different colors; variegated; tessellated;
also, composed of various materials or ingredients.
A very beautiful mosaic pavement.
Addison.
Florentine mosaic. See under Florentine. -- Mosaic gold. (a) See
Ormolu. (b) Stannic sulphide, SnS2, obtained as a yellow scaly
crystalline powder, and used as a pigment in bronzing and gilding wood
and metal work. It was called by the alchemists aurum musivum, or aurum
mosaicum. Called also bronze powder. -- Mosaic work. See Mosaic, n.
Mo*sa"ic, a. [From Moses.] Of or pertaining to Moses, the leader of the
Israelites, or established through his agency; as, the Mosaic law,
rites, or institutions.
Mo*sa"ic*al (?), a. Mosaic (in either sense). "A mosaical floor." Sir
P. Sidney.
Mo*sa"ic*al*ly, adv. In the manner of a mosaic.
Mo"sa*ism (?), n. Attachment to the system or doctrines of Moses; that
which is peculiar to the Mosaic system or doctrines.
{ Mos"a*saur (?), Mos`a*sau"ri*an (?), } n. (Paleon.) One of an extinct
order of reptiles, including Mosasaurus and allied genera. See
Mosasauria.
||Mos`a*sau"ri*a (?), n. pl. [NL. See Mosasaurus.] (Paleon.) An order
||of large, extinct, marine reptiles, found in the Cretaceous rocks,
||especially in America. They were serpentlike in form and in having
||loosely articulated and dilatable jaws, with large recurved teeth,
||but they had paddlelike feet. Some of them were over fifty feet long.
||They are, essentially, fossil sea serpents with paddles. Called also
||Pythonomarpha, and Mosasauria.
||Mos`a*sau"rus (?), n. [NL., fr. L. Mosa the River Meuse (on which
||Meastricht is situated) + Gr. &?; a lizard.] (Paleon.) A genus of
||extinct marine reptiles allied to the lizards, but having the body
||much elongated, and the limbs in the form of paddles. The first known
||species, nearly fifty feet in length, was discovered in Cretaceous
||beds near Maestricht, in the Netherlands. [Written also Mososaurus.]
Mos"cha*tel` (?), n. [Gr. &?; musk: cf. F. moscatelline. See Muscadel,
Musk.] (Bot.) A plant of the genus Adoxa (A. moschatellina), the
flowers of which are pale green, and have a faint musky smell. It is
found in woods in all parts of Europe, and is called also hollow root
and musk crowfoot. Loudon.
Mos"chine (?), a. Of or pertaining to Moschus, a genus including the
musk deer.
Mos"el (?), n. & v. See Muzzle. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Mo*selle" (?), n. A light wine, usually white, produced in the vicinity
of the river Moselle.
Mo"ses (?), n. A large flatboat, used in the West Indies for taking
freight from shore to ship.
Mosk (?), n. See Mosque.
Mos"lem (mz"lm), n.; pl. Moslems (-lmz), or collectively Moslem. [Ar.
muslim a true believer in the Mohammedan faith, fr. salama to submit to
God, to resign one's self to the divine will. Cf. Islam, Mussulman.] A
Mussulman; an orthodox Mohammedan. [Written also muslim.] "Heaps of
slaughtered Moslem." Macaulay.
They piled the ground with Moslem slain.
Halleck.
<! p. 947 !>
Mos"lem (mz"lm), a. Of or pertaining to the Mohammedans; Mohammedan;
as, Moslem lands; the Moslem faith.
Mos"lings (?), n. pl. Thin shreds of leather shaved off in dressing
skins. Simmonds.
||Mos`o*sau"rus (?), n. [NL.] (Paleon.) Same as Mosasaurus.
Mosque (msk), n. [F. mosquée, Sp. mezquita, Ar. masjid, from sajada to
bend, adore.] A Mohammedan church or place of religious worship.
[Written also mosk.]
Mos*qui"to (ms*k*t), n.; pl. Mosquitoes (#). [Sp. mosquito, fr.
moscafly, L. musca. Cf. Musket.] (Zoöl.) Any one of various species of
gnats of the genus Culex and allied genera. The females have a
proboscis containing, within the sheathlike labium, six fine, sharp,
needlelike organs with which they puncture the skin of man and animals
to suck the blood. These bites, when numerous, cause, in many persons,
considerable irritation and swelling, with some pain. The larvæ and
pupæ, called wigglers, are aquatic. [Written also musquito.]
Mosquito bar, Mosquito net, a net or curtain for excluding mosquitoes,
-- used for beds and windows. -- Mosquito fleet, a fleet of small
vessels. -- Mosquito hawk (Zoöl.), a dragon fly; -- so called because
it captures and feeds upon mosquitoes. -- Mosquito netting, a
loosely-woven gauzelike fabric for making mosquito bars.
Moss (?), n. [OE. mos; akin to AS. meós, D. mos, G. moos, OHG. mos,
mios, Icel. mosi, Dan. mos, Sw. mossa, Russ. mokh', L. muscus. Cf.
Muscoid.] 1. (Bot.) 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 under Black, and Tillandsia. -- Bog moss. See Sphagnum.
-- Feather moss, any moss branched in a feathery manner, esp. 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 (Min.), a variety
of agate, containing brown, black, or green mosslike or dendritic
markings, due in part to oxide of manganese. Called also Mocha stone. -
- Moss animal (Zoöl.), a bryozoan. -- Moss berry (Bot.), the small
cranberry (Vaccinium Oxycoccus). -- Moss campion (Bot.), a kind of
mosslike catchfly (Silene acaulis), with mostly purplish flowers, found
on the highest mountains of Europe and America, and within the Arctic
circle. -- Moss land, land produced accumulation of aquatic plants,
forming peat bogs of more or less consistency, as the water is grained
off or retained in its pores. -- Moss pink (Bot.), a plant of the genus
Phlox (P. subulata), growing in patches on dry rocky hills in the
Middle United States, and often cultivated for its handsome flowers.
Gray. -- Moss rose (Bot.), a variety of rose having a mosslike growth
on the stalk and calyx. It is said to be derived from the Provence
rose. -- Moss rush (Bot.), a rush of the genus Juncus (J. squarrosus).
-- Scale moss. See Hepatica.
Moss, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Mossed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Mossing.] To
cover or overgrow with moss.
An oak whose boughs were mossed with age.
Shak.
Moss"back` (?), n. A veteran partisan; one who is so conservative in
opinion that he may be likened to a stone or old tree covered with
moss. [Political Slang, U.S.]
{ Moss"bank`er (?), Moss"bunk`er (?), } n. (Zoöl.) The menhaded.
Moss"-grown` (?), a. Overgrown with moss.
Moss"i*ness (?), n. The state of being mossy.
Moss"troop`er (?), n. [Moss + trooper.] One of a class of marauders or
bandits that formerly infested the border country between England and
Scotland; -- so called in allusion to the mossy or boggy character of
much of the border country.
Moss"y (?), a. [Compar. Mossier (?); superl. Mossiest.] 1. Overgrown
with moss; abounding with or edged with moss; as, mossy trees; mossy
streams.
Old trees are more mossy far than young.
Bacon.