mossback
Americannoun
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Informal.
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a person holding very antiquated notions; reactionary.
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a person living in the backwoods; rustic.
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an old turtle.
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Angling. a large and old fish, as a bass.
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a wild bull or cow.
noun
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an old turtle, shellfish, etc, that has a growth of algae on its back
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informal a provincial or conservative person
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of mossback
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.
In true mossback fashion, he bought a plot of land on a particularly damp section of the island because he loved the rain.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 1, 2023
Rausch's six-month rule may strike some as draconian, but the bishop is no mossback.
From Time Magazine Archive
South Carolina's grumpy, mastiff-faced old Ellison DuRant Smith may be the Senate's No. 1 mossback, but South Carolina loves him still, treasures him as a precious relic.
From Time Magazine Archive
As a starter, the government bought out mossback electric companies, built dams, strung transmission lines, and thus provided the electricity that powers today's boom.
From Time Magazine Archive
Indeed the boys so loved this work and were so proud of their skill, that when an unusually vicious old "mossback" was encountered, each strove to be the first catch and master him.
From The Red-Blooded Heroes of the Frontier by Bronson, Edgar Beecher
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
