mossie

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See also: Mossie

English

A mossie (Passer melanurus)

Etymology 1

From Afrikaans, from Dutch mus (“a sparrow”).

Pronunciation

Noun

mossie (plural mossies)

  1. (South Africa) Any of various species of sparrow, especially Passer melanurus.
    • 1963, Lady Joy Petersen Packer, Home from Sea, page 221:
      Our four baby mossies have left the nest.
    • 1969, J. M. Winterbottom, Cornelis Janse Uys, Some Birds of the Cape, page 93:
      Another highly successful species, which has become a serious pest of fruit, is the Mossie or Cape Sparrow. The male mossie, with his black and white head and rufous mantle, is rather a handsome little bird; his wife lacks the head markings, being grey-brown with a pale eye-stripe.
    • 2004, Troy Blacklaws, Karoo Boy, page 78:
      He laughs a deep laugh that rumbles up from somewhere in his drumskin stomach. It spooks the mossies on the overhead telegraph wire.

Etymology 2

Diminutive formed from mosquito. Compare Dutch meuzie (“mosquito”).

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

mossie (plural mossies)

  1. (UK, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) A mosquito.
    • 1996, Patricia Shaw, The Opal Seekers, unnumbered page:
      She came out, standing a head taller than him, tugging a loose cotton shift into place, and made for a rough brick fireplace beside a pile of rusting pots and pans.
      ‘Come inside,’ Willi said. ‘The mossies will eat you alive out here.’
    • 2003, Jack Lagan, A B Sea: A Loose-Footed Lexicon, page 211:
      Tip 1 : Make sure there is clearance between your body and the net. If the net touches your skin, the mossie will be able to bite you through it.
    • 2012, Susan Kurosawa, Coasting: A Year by the Bay, unnumbered page:
      He had becoms full of Bay intelligence about mosquito repellent measures. Apart from the obvious—mossie coils, citronella candles, zappers, fine nets suspended over beds and Rid roll-on or spray—he decided to invest in bush gear from an army disposal store. The mossies, who know a city slicker when they bite one, had been stinging clear through his Calvin Clone T-shirts from the Hong Kong markets and feasting on his bare arms as if presented with a juicy buffet.

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