mosey
Americanverb (used without object)
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moseys,
present (3rd person singular)
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moseyed,
past participle, past
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moseying
present participle
-
to wander or shuffle about leisurely; stroll; saunter (often followed by along, about, etc.).
-
to leave quickly; decamp.
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
moseysimple
-
moseyssimple
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have moseyedperfect
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has moseyedperfect
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am moseyingprogressive
-
are moseyingprogressive
-
is moseyingprogressive
-
have been moseyingperfect progressive
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has been moseyingperfect progressive
Past
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moseyedsimple
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had moseyedperfect
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was moseyingprogressive
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were moseyingprogressive
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had been moseyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of mosey
An Americanism dating back to 1820–30; origin uncertain
Explanation
When you mosey, you stroll along in no particular hurry. You might mosey down the street to the town pool on a hot summer day. People mosey when they're in no rush to get where they're going. You're more likely to mosey over to the book store on a Saturday than you are to mosey to work when you're running late. The verb mosey is early-1800s American slang with an uncertain origin. Some experts think it comes from the British slang mose, "to go about in a dull, stupid way," while others see a connection to the Spanish vamos, or "let us go."
Vocabulary lists containing mosey
Bunnicula
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The Color of Water
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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
There are already plenty of places in the capital where a mosey around merely needs a mouse.
From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2023
We’ll go here first and then mosey on over to the actual farmers market.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2023
We wring our hands like maiden aunts as they mosey blithely into danger: What could possibly go wrong in this cobwebbed basement/cabin in the woods/polygamist doomsday cult?
From New York Times ● May 25, 2023
Don’t miss the looming Keechelus Lake Wildlife Overcrossing between milepost 61 and 62 — thousands of elk, hares, mule deer, porcupines and coyotes mosey over this animal-only bridge annually.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 22, 2023
Had they just heard about auditions this morning and decided to mosey on by?
From "It All Comes Down to This" by Karen English
Ringo Starr moseys up to the restaurant at the Sunset Marquis in a spotless white cowboy hat and matching white denim jacket.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2024
Tim, an African spurred tortoise, moseys near the rabbit hutch.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 8, 2023
In other words, what could have been a taut, gripping, emotional story ends up being diluted by a surrounding narrative that meanders and moseys to the point of irrelevance.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 12, 2021
She moseys, she circles, she lies in wait.
From New York Times ● Oct. 13, 2020
So Tukkey he putts 'em on an' moseys down ter de branch ter look at hisse'f in de water.
From The Wit and Humor of America, Volume VII. (of X.) by Marshall Pinckney Wilder
All that is to say, when Black moseyed into a Bluesky hornet’s nest about the upcoming HBO “Harry Potter” series, I honestly think he underestimated how much he’d get stung.
From Salon ● Apr. 2, 2026
That afternoon, I tagged along with Kaylee Aleu, 19, and Chloe Wangensteen, 21, as they moseyed around a quad filled with students and alumni who had set up camp before the game.
From Slate ● Oct. 30, 2024
The pair moseyed the budget-friendly aisles, going from consumers to culture jammers in the process.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 26, 2023
Someone else showed up for the phone, gave her a nod and moseyed away.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 19, 2023
With the bored indifference that cats exhibit even when they are doing as they have been told, the feline troublemaker moseyed over to Cassiopeia and allowed herself to be picked up.
From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood
Their first crack at it, they were kind of moseying down that water.
From Salon ● Dec. 25, 2023
In a confidently moseying delivery, she talked about falling out of the public eye and coming out of the closet on Facebook, then defensively insisted that’s just where old people are.
From New York Times ● May 9, 2022
Instead of ending his career Wednesday, White spent a full hour moseying through the media area.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 9, 2022
They've also been spotted hoovering up crops in their wake and moseying into people's houses - on one occasion, lining up in a courtyard to drink water, successfully turning on a tap with their trunks.
From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2021
We were nicely strung out where you saw those graves on that last ridge of sand-hills, when there they were about a mile ahead of us, moseying along.
From Cattle Brands A Collection of Western Camp-fire Stories by Andy Adams
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
