mossy

From Middle English mossy, equivalent to moss +‎ -y.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɒsi/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑːsi/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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• Rhymes: -ɒsi
• Rhymes: -ɔːsi

mossy (comparative mossier, superlative mossiest)

1. Covered in or overgrown with moss.

   Synonym: moss-grown

   • 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:

     The moſſy pales that ſkirt the orchard-green, / Here hid by ſhrub-vvood, there by glimpſes ſeen; […]

   • 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:

     A Violet by a mossy stone / Half-hidden from the Eye! / —Fair, as a star when only one / Is shining in the sky!

   • 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 127:

     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.

mossy (plural mossies or mossys)

1. (UK, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) Alternative form of mossie (“mosquito”).