moose
See also: Moose
English
WOTD – 15 October 2011
Pronunciation
- enPR: mo͞os, IPA(key): /muːs/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -uːs
- Homophone: mousse
Etymology 1
Earlier mus, moos, from an Eastern Algonquian language name for the animal, such as Massachusett moos, mws, Narragansett moos or Penobscot mos (cognate to Abenaki moz), from Proto-Algonquian *mo·swa (“it strips”), referring to how a moose strips tree bark when feeding: compare Massachusett moos-u (“he strips, cuts smooth”).[1][2]
Noun
moose (plural moose or (dated, rare) mooses or (nonstandard, jocular) meese)
- The largest member of the deer family (Alces americanus, sometimes included in Alces alces), of which the male has very large, palmate antlers.
- We saw a moose at the edge of the woods.
- Any of the extinct moose-like deer of the genera Cervalces and Libralces.
- 2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 152:
- Europe’s giant beavers lived at the same time as the first moose, Libralces gallicus.
- (figuratively, derogatory, colloquial) An ugly person.
Usage notes
Synonyms
- (largest member of the deer family (Alces americanus)): elk (British, Commonwealth), Newfoundland speed bump (Canadian, humorous)
Derived terms
- Alaska moose (Alces americanus gigas)
- Bull Moose
- eastern moose (Alces americanus americanus)
- ghost moose
- meese
- moosebird (Perisoreus canadensis)
- moose deer
- moose knuckle
- mooseknuckle
- mooselimb
- moose limb
- mooseling
- moose maple
- moose milk
- Moose River
- moose test
- moosey
- moose yard
- mooseyness
- northwestern moose (Alces americanus andersoni)
- Shiras moose (Alces americanus shirasi)
- spirit moose
- stag moose
Descendants
Translations
largest member of the deer family (Alces alces)
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Noun
moose
- (US, military, slang) An Asian girl taken as a lover.
- 2005, Rupert Nelson, Like the Rings of a Tree, page 279:
- In military bases in the rear areas it was common for soldiers to have a moose.
- 2011, Michael Cullen Green, Black Yanks in the Pacific, page 75:
- Even the lowest ranked serviceman, because of his salary, benefits, and status as an American occupationaire, could afford to “maintain a ‘Moose’ and still take care of his other obligations.”
References
- Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “moose”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- “moose”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
Ojibwe
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