<B>mossback, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(U.S. Slang.) a person whose ideas are out of date; extreme conservative; fogy. <BR> <I>Ex. He says Major Garnet means well, only he's a mossback (George Washington Cable).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(U.S.) a large and old fish or turtle with a growth of algae on its back. </DL>
<A NAME="mossbacked">
<B>mossbacked, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) behind the times; conservative; unchanging. <BR> <I>Ex. ... there were some who tried to dismiss the whole matter as a mossbacked anachronism (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="mossbauer">
<B>Mossbauer</B> or <B>Mossbauer effect,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Physics.) a method of producing gamma rays with a precise wave length that makes measurements by gamma radiation possible. </DL>
<A NAME="mossbunker">
<B>mossbunker, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Dialect.) the menhaden. </DL>
<A NAME="mosscampion">
<B>moss campion,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any one of several low, mosslike campions, having reddish, purplish, or white flowers and growing in arctic and mountainous regions. </DL>
<B>moss hag,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Scottish.) <DD><B> 1. </B>a hollow in a bog. <DD><B> 2. </B>a hole or pit from which peat has been dug. </DL>
<A NAME="mossi">
<B>Mossi, </B>noun, pl. <B>-si</B> or <B>-sis,</B> adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a member of the largest tribe of Upper Volta, a country in western Africa. <DD><B> 2. </B>the Gur language of this tribe. <DD><I>adj. </I> of or belonging to the Mossi. <BR> <I>Ex. the Mossi kingdom.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="mosso">
<B>mosso, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Music.) rapid (used as a direction). </DL>
<A NAME="mosspink">
<B>moss pink,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a low-growing phlox of the eastern United States, with pink, white, or lavender flowers; ground pink. </DL>
<A NAME="mossrose">
<B>moss rose,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a cultivated cabbage rose with mosslike growth on the calyx and stem. </DL>
<A NAME="mosstrooper">
<B>moss-trooper, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a marauder of the Scottish border during the 1600's. <DD><B> 2. </B>a raider; brigand. </DL>
<A NAME="mosstroopery">
<B>moss-troopery, </B>noun, pl. <B>-eries.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the condition of being moss-troopers. <DD><B> 2. </B>the acts of moss-troopers. </DL>
<B>mossy, </B>adjective, <B>mossier,</B> <B>mossiest.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>covered with moss or a mosslike substance. <BR> <I>Ex. a mossy bank. A wood of mossy distorted trees (Francis Parkman).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>like moss. <BR> <I>Ex. mossy green.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>covered as if with moss; downy; velvety. <BR> <I>Ex. the mossy antlers of a deer.</I> noun <B>mossiness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="mossycupoak">
<B>mossy-cup oak, =bur oak.</B></DL>
<A NAME="most">
<B>most, </B>adjective. (used as superlative of <B>much</B> and <B>many,</B> with the comparative <B>more</B>), noun, adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>greatest in quantity, amount, measure, degree, or number. <BR> <I>Ex. The winner gets the most money.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>almost all. <BR> <I>Ex. Most children like candy.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>the greatest quantity, amount, degree, or number. <BR> <I>Ex. He did most of the work. Who gave the most? Most of my books are old.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the greatest number of persons; the majority. <BR> <I>Ex. He has a better appetite than most.</I> <DD><I>adv. </I> <B>1. </B>in the highest degree; to the greatest extent. <BR> <I>Ex. This tooth hurts most.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>as a superlative. <BR> <I>Ex. most kind, most kindly, most truly, most easily, most rapid, most curious.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>Also, <B>'most.</B> (Informal.) almost; nearly. <BR> <I>Ex. I felt so lonesome I most wished I was dead (Mark Twain).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>at</B> (<B>the</B>) <B>most,</B> </I>not more than; at the utmost extent; at furthest; at the outside. <BR> <I>Ex. Within an hour at most I will tell you. They [the works of the great poets] have only been read as the multitude read the stars, at most astrologically, not astronomically (Thoreau).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>for the most part.</B> </I>See under <B>part.</B> <BR><I>expr. <B>make the most of,</B> </I>to make the best use of; use to the best advantage. <BR> <I>Ex. making the most of an opportunity. Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend (Edward FitzGerald).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>the most,</B> </I>(Slang.) the ultimate; the absolute superlative (used predicatively). <BR> <I>Ex. Last week the general and even the Pentagon conceded that the bop campaign was the most, to say the least (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="most">
<B>'most, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> most (def. 3). </DL>
<A NAME="most">
<B>-most,</B> suffix forming superlatives of adjectives and adverbs.<DL COMPACT><DD> greatest in amount, degree, or number, as in <I>foremost, inmost, outmost, hithermost, topmost, uttermost.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="moste">
<B>moste, </B>verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> past tense of <B>mote</B> (2). </DL>
<A NAME="mostest">
<B>mostest, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Slang.) the most. <BR> <I>Ex. the hostess with the mostest.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="mostexcellentmaster">
<B>Most Excellent Master,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a Mason of the third degree of the York Rite. </DL>
<A NAME="mostfavorednation">
<B>most favored nation,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the nation receiving from another nation the most advantageous terms in respect to duties, tariffs, and quotas of commodities. Terms granted to the most favored nation are frequently taken as the standard fixing the terms to be granted by the other nation to a third, in treaties or trade agreements. adj. <B>mostfavored-nation.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="mostly">
<B>mostly, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> almost all; for the most part; mainly; chiefly. <BR> <I>Ex. The work is mostly done. All afternoon we sat together, mostly in silence (Robert Louis Stevenson).</I> (SYN) principally. </DL>
<A NAME="mot">
<B>mot, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a clever or witty remark. <BR> <I>Ex. He moved easily and with a certain pleasure in political circles, loving to note down mots of Balfour and others (London Times).</I> (SYN) witticism. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Archaic.) a note sounded on a bugle, huntsman's horn, or the like. <BR> <I>Ex. Three mots on this bugle will ... bring round, at our need, a jolly band of yonder honest yeomen (Scott).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="mot">
<B>MOT</B> (no periods),<DL COMPACT><DD> Ministry of Transport (of Great Britain). </DL>
<A NAME="mote">
<B>mote</B> (1), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a speck of dust. <BR> <I>Ex. thick as motes in the sunbeam (Chaucer).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) any very small thing. <BR> <I>Ex. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye (Matthew 7:3).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="mote">
<B>mote</B> (2), intransitive verb, past tense <B>moste.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(Archaic.) may or might. <BR> <I>Ex. Was never knight on ground mote be with him compared (James Thomson).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Obsolete.) must. <BR> <I>Ex. At last their ways so fell, that they mote part (Edmund Spenser).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="moted">
<B>moted, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> full of motes. <BR> <I>Ex. the moted sunlight (John Greenleaf Whittier).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="motel">
<B>motel, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a roadside hotel or group of furnished cottages or cabins providing overnight lodging for motorists; motor court. Most motels have units that can be entered directly from an outdoor court where cars are parked. </DL>
<A NAME="motet">
<B>motet, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Music.) a vocal composition in polyphonic style, on a Biblical or similar prose text, intended for use in a church service. <BR> <I>Ex. The boy and I again to the singing of Mr. Porter's motets (Samuel Pepys).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="moth">
<B>moth, </B>noun, pl. <B>moths.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a winged insect very much like a butterfly, but lacking knobs at the ends of the antennae, having less brightly colored wings, and flying mostly at night. There are various kinds, of the same order of insects as the butterfly. Moths are destructive only in the larval stage. The clothes moth lays eggs in cloth and fur, and its larvae eat holes in the material. Some larvae, such as the silkworm, are useful to man. </DL>
<A NAME="mothball">
<B>moth ball,</B> or <B>mothball, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a small ball of naphthalene or camphor, used to keep moths away from wool, silk, fur, and other types of clothing or blankets. <BR><I>expr. <B>in</B> (or <B>into</B>) <B>moth balls,</B> </I>in or into storage protected against deterioration or damage. <BR> <I>Ex. The Navy has 3 carriers of the Midway class, ... and 24 of the Essex class, of which 9 are in active service and 15 in moth balls (Newsweek).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="mothball">
<B>moth-ball</B> or <B>mothball, </B>verb, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> (U.S.) to store (as a ship, tank, or machinery) protected against deterioration. <BR> <I>Ex. The Navy should moth-ball battleships and similar outdated ships of the line (Time).</I> <DD><I>adj. </I> moth-balled; stored in a state protecting against deterioration. <BR> <I>Ex. moth-ball vessels, the mothball fleet, moth-ball wheat.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="motheaten">
<B>moth-eaten, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>eaten by moths; having holes made by moths. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) looking as if eaten into by moths; worn-out; out-of-date. <BR> <I>Ex. the moth-eaten battlecries of an old revolutionary.</I> (SYN) passe. </DL>
