What's the difference between moss and mossback?

Moss


Definition:

  • (n.) 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.
  • (n.) A bog; a morass; a place containing peat; as, the mosses of the Scottish border.
  • (v. t.) To cover or overgrow with moss.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Results obtained from a such study are here compared with levels obtained from a comparative determination of the metals in the mosses by three other techniques: Differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry (DPASV), Direct current plasma (atomic emission) spectroscopy (DCPS) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy.
  • (2) Narrow paths weave among moss-covered ornate arches and towers on the 80-acre site, and huge abstract sculptures and staircases lead nowhere, but up to the sky.
  • (3) Water was being trapped by capillary action between the minute overlapping moss leaves long enough for it to deposit its load of calcium salts, enclosing the plants in a stone straitjacket.
  • (4) The comedy extravaganza featured an array of TV, music and sports stars, including David Beckham, Kate Moss and Robbie Williams.
  • (5) The West Ham striker Andy Carroll has lambasted the referee Jon Moss for an unacceptable performance, even accusing the official of trying to even things up by awarding Leicester a stoppage-time penalty.
  • (6) It was lined with moss and three trunks had grown out of its sides.
  • (7) Two of the epitopes (I and III) are widely conserved in 34 kDa proteins (presumably B-36 homologues) from the various species tested (Chlamydomonas, moss, fern, oat, onion, carrot, and bean).
  • (8) Prof Gus John, who led the Moss Side Defence Committee that criticised the Hytner report into the 1981 Moss Side riots, says "key lessons will be missed" if the government fails to set up a proper inquiry.
  • (9) Three bacterial isolates, a Pseudomonas sp., a Bacillus sp., and an Arthrobacter sp., commonly isolated from a hummocky sedge-moss meadow at Devon Island, N.W.T., Canada, were selected for further taxonomic characterization and for a study of the effects of temperature and limiting carbon source on growth.
  • (10) A naturalised British subject, he spent most of his working life in London and was frequently seen at the most salubrious bars and restaurants, often in the company of beautiful young women such as Kate Moss, who he once painted.
  • (11) The dark-green Audi in which he journeyed to his last escapades had moss growing in its foot-wells ("three different sorts", he pointed out, proudly), and a variety of useful knives in the glove-box.
  • (12) I was flicking through a copy of this month's Vogue and there's Kate Moss topless.
  • (13) While environmental samples of moss from the Wisconsin supplier were negative, Sporothrix schenckii was cultured from multiple samples of the sphagnum moss obtained from one of six Pennsylvania tree nurseries, representing the nursery that was identified as the source for 79 (94%) of the moss-associated cases.
  • (14) The staff member reiterated concerns outlined by former integrity commissioner Philip Moss in his review into allegations at the centre, and said that asylum seekers feared giving information to staff “and would not complain because they might be targeted”.
  • (15) Green, who has enlisted his friend Kate Moss to design a range for Topshop, is the closest thing business has to a rock star.
  • (16) Top tip: The Hall of Mosses trail in Hoh is a short, one-mile loop through old growth rainforest.
  • (17) The Tower’s steps are covered in golden slime, and on its walls crawls a “rich greenlike moss” that inscribes letters and words on the masonry – before entering and authoring the bodies of the explorers themselves.
  • (18) "If necessary the police should be properly equipped and even armed, before such a step was taken," said the Downing Street note of a conversation between the home secretary, Willie Whitelaw, and Thatcher on 11 July when riots erupted in Moss Side, Manchester.
  • (19) If you use that locally you're supporting decarbonising, you're displacing coal and you're supporting renewables," said Andrew Austin, chief executive of IGas, the operator at Barton Moss.
  • (20) Gathers no Moss Inspired by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, director Mike Figgis filmed his latest digital work, Suspension of Disbelief , in Highgate, London.

Mossback


Definition:

  • (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.

Example Sentences:

Words possibly related to "mossback"