(US, New England dialects) Any of several plants, particularly the false wintergreen (Pyrola americana), the Sorbus americana, or the Viburnum lantanoides. From Abenaki mozmezi(“moose wood”).
1826, Dr. John Williams' last legacy, and useful family guide, page 93:
For jaundice, take moose miss, […]
1884, in The American Magazine, volume 18, page 152:
And as we drift by this moose-misse bush do you hear the hermit-thrush giving the day his vesper song? Is it not a lovely one?
1837, Abel Tennant, The vegetable materia medica and practice of medicine, page 185:
Moose misse and sweet fern are also excellent articles.
1976, Edwin Way Teale, The American seasons, page 60:
(also reprinted in 1996, by Richard Rankin, as North Carolina nature writing: four centuries of personal narratives and descriptions, page 136:)
Or he may return with juglans, kinnikinnic, hackmatack, missey-moosey, daffydowndilly, hurr-burr or robins-runs-away. In the cavernous loft of the building at Lenoir we walked among piles of white pine and wild cherry bark, […]
