spanish moss
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Spanish \Span"ish\, a.
Of or pertaining to Spain or the Spaniards.
[1913 Webster]
{Spanish bayonet} (Bot.), a liliaceous plant ({Yucca
alorifolia}) with rigid spine-tipped leaves. The name is
also applied to other similar plants of the Southwestern
United States and mexico. Called also {Spanish daggers}.
{Spanish bean} (Bot.) See the Note under {Bean}.
{Spanish black}, a black pigment obtained by charring cork.
--Ure.
{Spanish broom} (Bot.), a leguminous shrub ({Spartium
junceum}) having many green flexible rushlike twigs.
{Spanish brown}, a species of earth used in painting, having
a dark reddish brown color, due to the presence of
sesquioxide of iron.
{Spanish buckeye} (Bot.), a small tree ({Ungnadia speciosa})
of Texas, New Mexico, etc., related to the buckeye, but
having pinnate leaves and a three-seeded fruit.
{Spanish burton} (Naut.), a purchase composed of two single
blocks. A
{double Spanish burton} has one double and two single blocks.
--Luce (Textbook of Seamanship).
{Spanish chalk} (Min.), a kind of steatite; -- so called
because obtained from Aragon in Spain.
{Spanish cress} (Bot.), a cruciferous plant ({Lepidium
Cadamines}), a species of peppergrass.
{Spanish curlew} (Zool.), the long-billed curlew. [U.S.]
{Spanish daggers} (Bot.) See {Spanish bayonet}.
{Spanish elm} (Bot.), a large West Indian tree ({Cordia
Gerascanthus}) furnishing hard and useful timber.
{Spanish feretto}, a rich reddish brown pigment obtained by
calcining copper and sulphur together in closed crucibles.
{Spanish flag} (Zool.), the California rockfish
({Sebastichthys rubrivinctus}). It is conspicuously
colored with bands of red and white.
{Spanish fly} (Zool.), a brilliant green beetle, common in
the south of Europe, used for raising blisters. See
{Blister beetle} under {Blister}, and {Cantharis}.
{Spanish fox} (Naut.), a yarn twisted against its lay.
{Spanish grass}. (Bot.) See {Esparto}.
{Spanish juice} (Bot.), licorice.
{Spanish leather}. See {Cordwain}.
{Spanish mackerel}. (Zool.)
(a) A species of mackerel ({Scomber colias}) found both in
Europe and America. In America called {chub mackerel},
{big-eyed mackerel}, and {bull mackerel}.
(b) In the United States, a handsome mackerel having bright
yellow round spots ({Scomberomorus maculatus}), highly
esteemed as a food fish. The name is sometimes
erroneously applied to other species. See Illust. under
Mackerel.
{Spanish main}, the name formerly given to the southern
portion of the Caribbean Sea, together with the contiguous
coast, embracing the route traversed by Spanish treasure
ships from the New to the Old World.
{Spanish moss}. (Bot.) See {Tillandsia} (and note at that
entry).
{Spanish needles} (Bot.), a composite weed ({Bidens
bipinnata}) having achenia armed with needlelike awns.
{Spanish nut} (Bot.), a bulbous plant ({Iris Sisyrinchium})
of the south of Europe.
{Spanish potato} (Bot.), the sweet potato. See under
{Potato}.
{Spanish red}, an ocherous red pigment resembling Venetian
red, but slightly yellower and warmer. --Fairholt.
{Spanish reef} (Naut.), a knot tied in the head of a
jib-headed sail.
{Spanish sheep} (Zool.), a merino.
{Spanish white}, an impalpable powder prepared from chalk by
pulverizing and repeated washings, -- used as a white
pigment.
{Spanish windlass} (Naut.), a wooden roller, with a rope
wound about it, into which a marline spike is thrust to
serve as a lever.
[1913 Webster]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Moss \Moss\ (m[o^]s; 115), n. [OE. mos; akin to AS. me['o]s, D.
mos, G. moos, OHG. mos, mios, Icel. mosi, Dan. mos, Sw.
mossa, Russ. mokh', L. muscus. Cf. {Muscoid}.]
1. (Bot.) A cryptogamous plant of a cellular structure, with
distinct stem and simple leaves. The fruit is a small
capsule usually opening by an apical lid, and so
discharging the spores. There are many species,
collectively termed Musci, growing on the earth, on rocks,
and trunks of trees, etc., and a few in running water.
[1913 Webster]
Note: The term moss is also popularly applied to many other
small cryptogamic plants, particularly lichens, species
of which are called tree moss, rock moss, coral moss,
etc. Fir moss and club moss are of the genus
{Lycopodium}. See {Club moss}, under {Club}, and
{Lycopodium}.
[1913 Webster]
2. A bog; a morass; a place containing peat; as, the mosses
of the Scottish border.
[1913 Webster]
Note: Moss is used with participles in the composition of
words which need no special explanation; as,
moss-capped, moss-clad, moss-covered, moss-grown, etc.
[1913 Webster]
{Black moss}. See under {Black}, and {Tillandsia}.
{Bog moss}. See {Sphagnum}.
{Feather moss}, any moss branched in a feathery manner, esp.
several species of the genus {Hypnum}.
{Florida moss}, {Long moss}, or {Spanish moss}. See
{Tillandsia}.
{Iceland moss}, a lichen. See {Iceland Moss}.
{Irish moss}, a seaweed. See {Carrageen}.
{Moss agate} (Min.), a variety of agate, containing brown,
black, or green mosslike or dendritic markings, due in
part to oxide of manganese. Called also {Mocha stone}.
{Moss animal} (Zool.), a bryozoan.
{Moss berry} (Bot.), the small cranberry ({Vaccinium
Oxycoccus}).
{Moss campion} (Bot.), a kind of mosslike catchfly ({Silene
acaulis}), with mostly purplish flowers, found on the
highest mountains of Europe and America, and within the
Arctic circle.
{Moss land}, land produced accumulation of aquatic plants,
forming peat bogs of more or less consistency, as the
water is grained off or retained in its pores.
{Moss pink} (Bot.), a plant of the genus {Phlox} ({Phlox
subulata}), growing in patches on dry rocky hills in the
Middle United States, and often cultivated for its
handsome flowers. --Gray.
{Moss rose} (Bot.), a variety of rose having a mosslike
growth on the stalk and calyx. It is said to be derived
from the Provence rose.
{Moss rush} (Bot.), a rush of the genus {Juncus} ({Juncus
squarrosus}).
{Scale moss}. See {Hepatica}.
[1913 Webster]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Tillandsia \Til*land"si*a\, n. [NL., after Prof. Tillands, of
Abo, in Finland.] (Bot.)
An immense genus of epiphytic bromeliaceous plants confined
to tropical and subtropical America. They usually bear a
rosette of narrow overlapping basal leaves, which often hold
a considerable quantity of water. The spicate or paniculate
flowers have free perianth segments, and are often subtended
by colored bracts. Also, a plant of this genus.
Note: {Tillandsia usneoides}, called {Spanish moss}, {long
moss}, {black moss}, and {Florida moss}, has a very
slender pendulous branching stem, and forms great
hanging tufts on the branches of trees in the
Southeastern United States and south to Argentina. It
is often used for stuffing mattresses
[1913 Webster + Webster 1913 Suppl.]
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