Word.ws English Dictionary

mossyback

Syllables: moss·y·backUK/ˈmɒsibæk//ˈmɔsiˌbæk/

mossyback noun: a person with old-fashioned views; hence, one who is very conservative or reactionary; a mossback.

Noun

mossyback (plural mossybacks)

  1. (US, informal) A person with old-fashioned views; hence, one who is very conservative or reactionary; a mossback.
  2. (US, historical, informal, obsolete) Synonym of mossback (“a person who stayed hidden to evade conscription (especially by the Confederate States Army) during the American Civil War (1861–1865)”).
    Synonyms:
    mossback
  3. (US, obsolete) A fish that is large and old, especially one that has algae growing on its back; a mossback.
  4. (US, obsolete) The menhaden, mossbanker, or mossbunker, a marine fish of the genus Brevoortia or Ethmidium.

Synonyms of mossyback

All synonyms of mossyback

Forms of mossyback

pluralmossybacks

Origin of mossyback

From mossy + back (in sense 2 (“person who stayed hidden to evade conscription during the American Civil War”) probably a variant of mossback, which is attested earlier), alluding to someone or something that is so old or has remained so unmoving that it is as if moss has grown on them or it. Sense 3.2 (“menhaden”) may be influenced by mossbunker.

Words formed from mossyback

  • mossybacked
  • mossy-backed

Questions about mossyback

What does mossyback mean?
Mossyback means a person with old-fashioned views; hence, one who is very conservative or reactionary; a mossback.
What part of speech is mossyback?
Mossyback is a noun.
How do you pronounce mossyback?
Mossyback is pronounced /ˈmɒsibæk/ (UK).
What is the plural of mossyback?
The plural of mossyback is mossybacks.

Words near mossyback in the dictionary

  1. mossy cells
  2. Mossy Point
  3. mossy saxifrage
  4. mossy saxifrages
  5. mossy stonecrop
  6. mossyback
  7. mossybacks
  8. mossycup
  9. mossycups
  10. mossys
  11. most

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: mossyback (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-mossyback.wav.

Cite this entry: “mossyback.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mossyback. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.