A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1971 (DOST Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1513, 1596-1700+
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Mossy, -ie, a. [e.m.E. in this sense (1661).] a. Marshy, boggy, peaty; also, of the colour or appearance of peaty soil. b. Abounding in bogs or moorland. — 1513 Doug. vii. Prol. 57.
Brovne muris kythit thar wysnyt mossy hew 1596 Dalr. I. 35/28.
This land … will be sax, sevin or viii cubites hich of fat mossie ground as glew bot maist barren 1633 (1711) Sibbald's Orkn. & Shetl. 70.
Yell … is more mossie than the other isles, tho there is in it some good pasturage and corn land 1683 Coll. Aberd. & B. 105.
That which hath a great tincture of mossie soile, except the earth that it's dunged with encline much to claye 1701 Brand Orkney & Shetl. 103
This countrey is generally mossy, soft and spungey
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"Mossy adj.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 16 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/mossy>
