mossiness
(ˈmɒsɪnɪs)
[f. mossy a. + -ness.]
The condition of being mossy (in senses of the adj.); concr. a mossy substance or growth.
| [1538: see mosiness s.v. mosy a.] 1558 Warde tr. Alexis' Secr. i. iv. (1580) 75 b, The firste softe haire, or mossinesse of the face. 1625 Bacon Ess., Gardens (Arb.) 561 That the Water be neuer by Rest Discoloured, Greene, or Red, or the like; Or gather any Mossinesse or Putrefaction. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Oak, The frequent Mossiness of most Trees on the North Side. 1817 Keats Spec. Induct. to Poem 22 Th' half seen mossiness of linnets' nests. 1893 Burrell & Cuthell Indian Mem. 175 A Himalayan forest is a wealth of leafiness and mossiness. |