moss-pink 
moss-pink (mos'pingk), . A plant, /'War sub- 
ulata, foxind 011 the rocky hills of the central 
United States, and often cultivated for its 
handsome pink-purple flowers. 
moss-polyp (m6s'pol"ip), re. Same as moss-ani- 
luiilcule. 
moss-rake (mos'rak), n. A kind of rake used 
in gathering Irish moss, Chondrus crispns. 
moss-rose (mos'roz), n. A beautiful cultivated 
rose, so named from its moss-like calyx. It is 
considered a variety of the cabbage-rose. 
moss-rush. (m6s'rush), re. An Old World species 
of rush, growing on peaty land : same as goose- 
corn. 
moss-trooper (m6s'tr6"per), . One of a num- 
ber of men who troop or range over the mosses 
or bogs (compare bog-trotter) : applied specifi- 
cally to the marauders who infested the bor- 
ders of England and Scotland in former times. 
A fancied moss-trooper, the boy 
The truncheon of a spear bestrode, 
And round the hall, right merrily, 
In mimic foray rode. Scott, L. of L. M., i. 19. 
The moss-troopers of Connecticut. 
Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 305. 
moss-trooping (rnds'tro^ping), a. Having the 
habits of a moss-trooper. 
A stark mass-trooping Scott was he, 
As e'er couched border lance by knee. 
Scott, L. of L. M., i. 21. 
moss- wood (m6s'w<id), re. Trunks and stumps of 
trees frequently found in morasses. Halliwell. 
mossy (mos'i), a. [Early mod. E. also mossie, 
and with single s (as in ME. mots), also mosy, 
mosie, moosie, moocie, etc., dial, mosy, mosey; < 
moss 1 + -(/!.] 1. Overgrown with moss; abound- 
ing with moss. 
We are both old, and may be spar'd, a pair 
Of fruitless trees, mossie and withered trunks. 
Shirley (and Fletcherl), Coronation, ii. 1. 
A violet by a mossy stone. Wordsworth, Lucy. 
The mossy marbles rest 
On the lips that he has pressed 
In their bloom. 0. W. Holmes, The Last Leaf. 
2. Like moss. Specifically (a) Hairy; rough. (6) 
Downy. Levins. 
Incipient barba, a younge moocie bearde. Elyot, 1559. 
(c) Mealy, (d) Moldy. |In these specific senses mostly 
prov. Eng. or Scotch, and usually mosy.] 
most (most), a. and n. [< ME. most, mast, < AS. 
moist = OS. mest = OFries. mast = D. meest = 
MLG. mest, meist = OHG. MHG. G. meist = 
Icel. mestr = Sw. Dan. mest = Goth, moists, 
most; superl. going with more and mo, corn- 
par.: see wiorei.] I. a. 1. Greatest in size or 
extent; largest: superlative of much or mickle 
in its original sense 'great,' 'large.' 
They slepen til that it was prime large, 
The moste part, but it were Canace. 
Chaucer, Squire's Tale, 1. 354. 
Hit wern the fayrest of forme & of face als, 
The most & the myriest that maked wern euer. 
Alliterative Poems (E. E. T. S.), ii. 254. 
2f. Greatest in age; oldest. 3f. Greatest in 
rank, position, or importance ; highest ; chief. 
Thanne Ooddard was sikerlike 
Under God the moste swike [traitor) 
That cure in erthe shaped was. Havelok, L 422. 
But thou art thy moste Enemy. 
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furuivall), p. 190. 
Chese yow a wyf in short tyme atte leste 
Born of the gentilleste and of the meste 
Of al this lond. Chaucer, Clerk's Tale, 1. 75. 
Feith, hope, & charite, nothing colde ; 
The mooste of hem is charite. 
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.), p. 117. 
So both agreed that this their bridale feast 
Should for the Gods in Proteus house be made ; 
To which they all repayr'd, both most and least. 
Spenser, F. Q., IV. xl. 9. 
4. Greatest in amount, degree, or intensity: 
superlative of much, 
Thou hast lore thin cardinals at thi meste nede. 
Flemish Insurrection (Child's Ballads, VI. 273). 
I had most need of blessing. Shak., Macbeth, ii. 2. 32. 
5. Greatest in number; numerous beyond 
others; amounting to a considerable majority: 
superlative of many : used before nouns in the 
plural. 
Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness. 
Prov. xx. 6. 
He thinks most sorts of learning flourished among them. 
For the most part, mostly; principally. 
II. n. 1. The greatest or greater number: in 
this sense plural. 
Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his 
mighty works were done. Mat. xi. 20. 
He has his health and ampler strength indeed 
Than most have of his age. Shak., W. T., iv. 4. 415. 
3870 
2. Greatest value, amount, or advantage; ut- 
most extent, degree, or effect. 
A covetous man makes the most of what he has and can 
get. Sir K. L' Estrange. 
At most, or at the most, at the utmost extent ; at fur- 
thest ; at the outside. 
Within this hour at moat 
I will advise you. Shak., Macbeth, iii. 1. 128. 
They [the works of the great poets] have only been read 
as the multitude read the stars, at most astrologically, not 
astronomically. Thoreau, Walden, p. 113. 
Least and mostt. See fcasti. To make the most of. 
See moAei. 
most (most), adv. [< ME._most, mast, < AS. 
moist, adv., orig. neut. of moist, a. : see most, .] 
1. In the greatest or highest or in a very great 
or high degree, quantity, or extent; mostly; 
chiefly; principally. 
Thy soverein temple wol I most honouren 
Of any place. Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 1549. 
Women are most fools when they think they 're wisest. 
Beau, and Ft., Scornful Lady, iv. 1. 
Those nearest the king, and most his favourites, were 
courtiers and prelates, Milton. 
He for whose only sake, 
Or most for his, such toils I undertake. 
Dryden, ^Eneid, i. 859. 
2. Used before adjectives and adverbs to form 
a superlative phrase, as more is to form a com- 
parative: as, most vile; most wicked; most illus- 
trious ; most rapidly. Like more with comparatives, 
it was formerly often used superfluously with superlatives : 
thus, most boldest, dearest, heaviest, worst, etc. See morel. 
For whan his semblant is moste clere, 
Thau is he moste derke in his thought. 
Qower, Conf. Amant., ii. 
For in the wynter season the fowler spedyth not but in 
the moost hardest and coldest weder ; whyche is grevous. 
Juliana, Berners, Treatyse of Fysshynge, p. 4. 
This was the most unkindest cut of all. 
Shak., J. C., iii. 2. 187. 
Most an-endt. See an-end. 
-most. [An altered form, by confusion with 
most, of ME. -mest, < AS. -mest, a double superl. 
suffix, < -ma (= L. -mus), as in forma, first, for- 
mer, + -est (E. -est 1 ), as infyrst, first.] A dou- 
ble superlative suffix associated with -more, a 
comparative suffix, now taken as a suffixal form 
of most, as used in forming superlatives, as in 
foremost, hindmost, uppermost, utmost, inmost, 
topmost, etc. Compare -morel. 
mosteM, mostent, v. Middle English forms of 
must 1 . 
moste 2 t, a. and n. A Middle English form of 
moist. 
mostly (most'li), adv. For the greatest part ; 
for the most part ; chiefly ; mainly ; generally. 
This image of God, namely natural reason, if totally or 
mostly defaced, the right of government doth cease. 
Bacon. 
My little productions are mostly satires and lampoons on 
particular people. Sheridan, School for Scandal, i. 1. 
mosto (mos'to), . [= Sp. Pg. It. mosta, < L. 
mustum: see musft, .] Must; specifically, a 
preparation used for "doctoring" wines of in- 
ferior quality : same as doctor, 6. 
mostourt, A Middle English form of moist- 
ure. 
mostwhatt (most'hwot), adv. For the most 
part. 
For all the rest do most-what fare amis. 
Spenser, Colin Clout, 1. 757. 
mosy, a. See mossy. 
mot^t, n. An obsolete form of mote 1 . 
mot 2 (mot), re. [< F. mot = Pr. mot = Sp. Pg. 
mote = It. motto (> E. motto), a word, motto, < 
ML. muttum, a word, L. a mutter, a grunt, < 
L. muttire, mutire, mutter: see mutter.] If. A 
word; a motto. 
God hath not onely graven 
On the brass Tables of swift-turning Heav'n 
His sacred Mot. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Columnes. 
2 (F. pron. mo). A saying, especially a brief 
and forcible or witty saying; abon-mot. [Re- 
cent.] 
But, in fact, Descartes himself was author of the mot 
"My theory of vortices is a philosophical romance." 
Sir W. Hamilton. 
mot 3 (mot), n. [< ME. mote, mot, < OF. mot, 
a note of a horn (another use of mot, a word), 
< L. muttum, a murmur, grunt: see o< 2 .] A 
note on the bugle, hunting-horn, or the like; 
also, a note in the musical notation for such 
instruments. 
Strakande fill stoutly mouy stif motez. 
Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. 9>.\ 1. 1364. 
Three mots on this bugle will, I am assured, bring round, 
at our need, a jolly band of yonder honest yeomen. 
Scott, Ivanhoe, xl. 
mote 
(mot), n. [See wont 1 .] 1. An obsolete or 
dialectal form of moat. 2. A mark for players 
at quoits. Halliwell. 
motacil (mot'a-sil), n. [= F. motacille = Sp. 
motac'Ma = Pg. motacilla, < L. motacilla, the 
white water-wagtail, < motus (with dim. suffix), 
pp. of movere, move: see move. The L. word 
is commonly explained as lit. 'wagtail,' as if 
irreg. < L. motare, move (freq. of movere, move), 
+ *cilla, assumed to mean ' tail.'] A wagtail. 
See Motacilla. 
Motacilla (mo-ta-sil'a), n. [NL.,< L. motacil- 
la, the white water- wagtail : see motacil.'] A 
genus of chiefly Old World oscine passerine 
birds, typical of the family Motacillida; or wag- 
tails. The name has been used with great latitude and 
little discrimination for many small singing birds of all 
parts of the world, as the true SylviidoK or Old World war- 
blers, various MusdcapicUe or Old World flycatchers, many 
of the American Sylmcolidoz or wood-warblers, and for all 
the Motacillidce, including the pipits or titlarks of the 
subfamily Anthince. It is now restricted to the black- 
and-white or pied wagtails, as M. alba, of lithe form, with 
massed coloration of black, white, and ashy, long vibratile 
tail of twelve weak narrow feathers, pointed wings whose 
tip is formed by the first three primaries, and whose inner 
secondaries are long and flowing, and long slender feet 
without specially lengthened or straightened hind claws. 
There are many species, widely distributed in Europe, 
Asia, and other parts of the Old World, one or two of which 
sometimes straggle to America. Thus, M. alba has been 
found in Greenland and M. ocularis in California. 
Motacillid.se (mo-ta-sil'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < 
Motacilla + -ida;."] A family of oscine birds of 
the order Passeres, typified by the genus Mota- 
cilla ; the wagtails. The bill is shorter than the head, 
straight* slender, acute, and notched ; the primaries are 
nine in number ; the inner secondaries are lengthened ; 
the feet are long and slender, with scutellat* tarsi and 
usually long and straightened claw ; and the tall is usually 
as long as the wings. The Motacillida are small insec- 
tivorous birds of terrestrial habits, resembling larks (Alau- 
<//'/") in some respects, but widely separated by the lami- 
nlplantation of the podotheca. Two subfamilies are gen- 
erally recognized, Motacillince and Ant/ana:, or wagtails 
proper and pipits or titlarks. 
Motacillinse (mo'ta-si-li'ne), n. pi. [< Mota- 
cilla + -i<E.] 1. The Motacillida; as a sub- 
family of some other family, as St/lviida!. 2. 
A subfamily of Motacillida:. It contains the wag- 
tails proper as distinguished from the pipits or AntMnce, 
having the point of the wing formed by the first three 
primaries, the tail as long as the wing or longer, and the 
coloration either pied with black and white or varied with 
yellow and green. There are some 50 species, chiefly of 
two leading genera Motacilla and Budytes. See wagtail. 
motacilline (mo-ta-sil'in), a. Pertaining to or 
resembling the Motacillinc?. 
motationt (mo-ta'shon), re. [< LL. motatio(n-), 
< L. motare, keep moving, freq. of movere, move : 
see move.] The act of moving; mobility. Bai- 
ley, 1731. 
motatorious (mo-ta-to'ri-us), a. [< LL. mote- 
tor, a mover, < L. motare, pp. motatus, move: 
see motation.] Vibratory; mobile: said of 
the legs of an insect or arachnid which, on 
alighting, has the habit of moving them rapid- 
ly, keeping the body in a constant state of vi- 
bration. This habit is found espcially among 
certain long-legged spiders and crane-flies. 
Motazilite (mo-taz'i-llt), n. [From an Arabic 
word meaning 'to separate.'] One of a numer- 
ous and powerful sect of Mohammedan heretics, 
who to a great extent denied predestination, 
holding that man's actions were entirely within 
the control of his own will. They held extremely 
heretical opinions with reference to the quality or attri- 
butes of Deity. They appeared a few generations after 
Mohammed, and became one of the most important and 
dangerous sects of heretics in Islam. 
mote 1 (mot), n. [Formerly aiso moat ; < ME. 
mot (dat. mote), < AS. mot, a particle, atom, 
= D. mot, dust; cf. D. moet, a knob, speck, 
mark; Sp. mota, a bur in cloth. Cf. mo(tfl.~\ 
1. A small particle, as of dust visible in a ray 
of sunlight; anything very small. 
As thikke as motes in the sonne-beame. 
Chaucer, Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 12. 
Why beholdest thon the mote that is in thy brother's 
eye? Mat. vii. 3. 
These Eels did lie on the top of that water, as thick as 
motes are said to be in the sun. 
/. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 159. 
2f. A stain ; a blemish. 
Mote ne spot is non in the. 
Alliterative Poem* (ed. Morris), i. 763. 
3. An imperfection in wool. 4. The stalk of a 
plant. Halliirell. [Prov. Eng.] 5. A match 
or squib with which, before the introduction of 
the safety-fuse, it was customary to ignite the 
charge in blasting. 
mote- (mot), v. [< ME. mote, mot (pret. moste), 
< AS. 'motan (pres. mot, pret. moste; not found 
in inf.) = OS. motan, pres. mot = OFries. pres. 
