mossy
part of speech
adjective (mossy, mossier, mossiest)
meaning for a pupil
1) Covered with moss, the soft, green, low plant that grows on damp stones, trees and ground. tree →
2) Like moss: soft, green and springy. tree →
sense in the lessons
Used in science (moss grows in damp, shady places, often on the north side of trees in the Northern Hemisphere, though this is not a reliable compass) and in stories to paint a quiet, old, damp place: mossy stones, mossy walls, a mossy forest floor. Safety: mossy rocks and steps are slippery.
examples
- The path through the woods was soft and mossy. tree →
- Be careful, those mossy rocks are slippery! tree →
- An old mossy wall ran round the garden. tree →
- The frog sat on a mossy log by the pond. tree →
- We found tiny insects living in the mossy bark. tree →
- The roof of the shed was green and mossy. tree →
- The fairy house was built on a mossy stump. tree →
- As usual, her attendants let her do anything she pleased, and sitting down on a mossy bank where a little stream tinkled by, soon fell sound asleep. tree →
note
Adjective from "moss" + "-y". Comparative "mossier", superlative "mossiest". Myth: moss does not always grow on the north side of trees, so it is not a safe way to find north.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «mossy» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.