moose
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See also: Moose
English
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c9/Moose-Gustav.jpg/220px-Moose-Gustav.jpg)
Pronunciation
- enPR: mo͞os, IPA(key): /muːs/
Audio (US): (file) Audio (General Australian): (file)
- (Scotland, Northern Ireland) IPA(key): /mʉs/
- 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
- The usual plural of moose is moose; compare the names of many animals, such as sheep, deer and fish, which are also invariant.
- Other plurals are rare and non-standard: mooses (with the usual English plural-forming suffix -s) and meese (jocularly formed by analogy to goose → geese).
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
- → Irish: mús
- → Khmer: មូហ្ស (muuhsɑɑ)
- → Korean: 무스 (museu)
- → Persian: موس (mus)
- → Arabic: مُوظ (mūẓ)
- → Thai: มูส (múus)
- Thai: กวางมูส (gwaang-múus)
- → Welsh: mws
Translations
largest member of the deer family (Alces alces)
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See also
Etymology 2
Borrowed from Japanese むすめ (“daughter”).
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
Noun
moose (plural mooseg)
Scots
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0d/%D0%9C%D1%8B%D1%88%D1%8C_2.jpg/220px-%D0%9C%D1%8B%D1%88%D1%8C_2.jpg)
Etymology
From Middle English mous.
Pronunciation
Noun
moose (plural mice)
Categories:
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/uːs
- Rhymes:English/uːs/1 syllable
- English terms with homophones
- English terms derived from Eastern Algonquian languages
- English terms derived from Massachusett
- English terms derived from Proto-Algonquian
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English indeclinable nouns
- English nouns with irregular plurals
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- English derogatory terms
- English colloquialisms
- English terms borrowed from Japanese
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- English nouns with unknown or uncertain plurals
- American English
- en:Military
- English slang
- en:Cervids
- Ojibwe lemmas
- Ojibwe nouns
- Ojibwe animate nouns
- oj:Animals
- Scots terms derived from Old English
- Scots terms inherited from Old English
- Scots terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- Scots terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- Scots terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Scots terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Scots terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Scots terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European
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- Scots terms derived from Middle English
- Scots terms with IPA pronunciation
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- Scots nouns
- sco:Rodents