Meanings
plural mossybacks
- USinformalA person with old-fashioned views; hence, one who is very conservative or reactionary; a mossback.
Synonyms: conservative, reactionary, retrograde, traditionalist
- UShistoricalinformalobsoleteSynonym of mossback (“a person who stayed hidden to evade conscription (especially by the Confederate States Army) during the American Civil War (1861–1865)”).
Synonyms: mossback
- Senses relating to animals.
- USobsoleteThe menhaden, mossbanker, or mossbunker, a marine fish of the genus Brevoortia or Ethmidium.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA person with old-fashioned views; hence, one who is very conservative or reactionary; a mossback.
nounSynonym of mossback (“a person who stayed hidden to evade conscription (especially by the Confederate States Army) during the American Civil War (1861–1865)”).
Origin
From mossy + back (in sense 2 (“person who stayed hidden to evade conscription during the American Civil War”) probably a variant of mossback, which is attested earlier), alluding to someone or something that is so old or has remained so unmoving that it is as if moss has grown on them or it. Sense 3.2 (“menhaden”) may be influenced by mossbunker.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Polish staroświecka osoba, stara, duża ryba
- staroświecka osobaperson with old-fashioned views; one who is very conservative or reactionary
- stara, duża rybafish that is large and old
Cite this entry
mossyback. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mossyback
“mossyback.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mossyback. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mossyback,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mossyback.
Source: mossyback on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.