lichenous

comparative more lichenous · superlative most lichenous · alternative lichenose

1. biologyCovered in lichen.

   We made a few gargantuan strides, leapt three or four times more, and sat down at last in a lichenous hollow.

   1900 December – 1901 August, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “chapter 9”, in The First Men in the Moon, London: George Newnes, […], published 1901, →OCLC

   1 more example

   Green-graped upon their walls An ancient hoary vine Hath clustered their carven, lichenous stones With tendril serpentine.

   1917, Walter de la Mare, “The Two Houses”, in The Sunken Garden, and Other Poems, London: Beaumont Press, page 39

2. biologyComposed of lichen.

   The tree sloths of the South American forests are among the oddest of mammalian types. They are small nocturnal forms with a lichenous growth which often gives a greenish tinge to their gray hair.

   1933, Alfred Sherwood Romer, chapter 9, in Man and the Vertebrates, 2nd edition, University of Chicago Press, published 1937, page 206

   1 more example

   He went on foot across the wilder recesses of the park, where slimy streams of green moisture, exuding from decayed holes caused by old amputations, ran down the bark of the oaks and elms, the rind below being coated with a lichenous wash as green as emerald.

   1886 May – 1887 April, Thomas Hardy, “chapter 27”, in The Woodlanders […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published 1887, →OCLC

3. biologyResembling lichen.

   1907, Louis Fischer, Diseases of Infancy and Childhood, Philadelphia: F.A. Davis, Chapter 6. Disorders Resulting from Improper Nutrition, p. 358, The mouth becomes the seat of a parasitic stomatitis; the skin is harsh and dry; small boils or a lichenous rash make their appearance.

   1 more example

   As the day advanced we saw the miracle of the desert flowers in vivid contrast to the lichenous grey of the persistent bushes and shrubs with which I had grown familiar throughout the journey.

   1958, Ritchie Calder, Men Against the Desert, Allen & Unwin, page 89