Iceland moss

American  

noun

1. an edible lichen, Cetraria islandica, of Arctic regions, containing a starchlike substance used in medicine.

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Iceland moss British  

noun

1. a lichen, Cetraria islandica, of arctic regions and N Europe, with brownish edible fronds

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Etymology

Origin of Iceland moss

First recorded in 1795–1805

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Iceland moss

They live in a simple manner, drink sour whey and milk, eat rancid butter, fish, mutton, and occasionally the lichens called Iceland moss.

From Wealth of the World's Waste Places and Oceania by Jewett Castello Gilson

I'm no genealogist—and sends me Irish cheese, and Iceland moss, for my breakfast, and her waiting gentlewoman to namby-pamby me.

From Tales and Novels — Volume 06 by Maria Edgeworth

He stretched and straightened his stiff old limbs, and once more buried in the pillows his weather-beaten, yellowish-grey face, covered with white stubble like granite with Iceland moss.

From The Wish A Novel by Hermann Sudermann

The following articles may be substituted for elm: flaxseed, lily roots, gum arabic, poplar bark, Iceland moss.

From The American Reformed Cattle Doctor by George Dadd

Iceland moss is to be had of all chemists.

From A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes by Charles Elmé Francatelli