moss-grown
/ˈmɔsˌɡɹoʊn/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.82 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Old; old-fashioned, out of date.
Example Sentences
- "Diſeaſed nature oftentimes breakes forth, / In ſtrange eruptions, oft the teeming earth / Is with a kind of collicke pincht and vext, / By the impriſoning of vnruly wind / Within her vvombe, vvhich for enlargement ſtriuing / Shakes the old Beldame earth, and topples down / Steeples and moſſegrovvn towers."
- "In theſe lone walls (their days eternal bound) / Theſe moſs-grown domes with ſpiry turrets crown'd, / Where awful arches make a noon-day night, / And the dim windows ſhed a ſolemn light; / Thy eyes diffus'd a reconciling ray, / And gleams of glory brighten'd all the day."
- "In one spot distinguished by a moss-grown gothic monument, which retained the name of Queen's Standing, Elizabeth herself was said to have pierced seven bucks with her own arrows."
- "[A]ll these objects were as well known to me as the cold hearth of my deserted home, and every moss-grown wall and plot of orchard ground, alike as twin lambs are to each other in a stranger's eye, yet to my accustomed gaze bore differences, distinction, and a name."
- "As we pass onward, we catch the amusing incidents by the way, explore the villages, meditate among their grave yards, and pluck the grass away from the moss grown head stones to decypher the names of those who sleep beneath."
- "Immediately beyond the bridge, on the right-hand side of the road, a rusty iron gate, between solid but mouldy stone pillars, surmounted with mossgrown stone balls, imparted an air of yet lingering importance to what had once been a well-kept walled garden, […]"
Etymology
From moss + grown. Sense 2 (“old; old-fashioned, out of date”) refers to the fact that moss will often grow on an object that has remained outdoors in one place for some time.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈmɔsˌɡɹoʊn/
- British English: /ˈmɒsɡɹəʊn/