MOON


Meaning of MOON in English

I. moon 1 W3 /muːn/ BrE AmE noun

[ Language: Old English ; Origin: mona ]

1 . the moon/the Moon the round object that you can see shining in the sky at night, and that moves around the Earth every 28 days:

the craters on the surface of the moon

The Americans landed on the Moon in 1969.

The moon appeared from behind a cloud.

The moon rose into the sky.

The moon was shining in the sky.

2 . [countable usually singular] the appearance or shape of the moon at a particular time:

It was the night of the full moon.

a clear night with a bright moon

a thin crescent moon

3 . [countable] a round object that moves around a ↑ planet other than Earth:

the moons of Saturn

4 . ask for the moon ( also cry for the moon British English ) informal to ask for something that is difficult or impossible to obtain:

There’s no point in crying for the moon.

5 . over the moon British English informal very happy:

She’s over the moon about her new job.

6 . many moons ago literary a long time ago:

It all happened many moons ago.

⇨ once in a blue moon at ↑ once 1 (15), ⇨ promise somebody the moon at ↑ promise 1 (3)

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COLLOCATIONS (for Meaning 2)

■ ADJECTIVES/NOUN + moon

▪ bright

The moon was very bright.

▪ a full moon (=with a completely round shape)

A full moon hung low in the sky.

▪ a half moon (=looking like half a circle)

A half moon was up now, pale and cool.

▪ a crescent moon (=with a thin curved shape)

The stars and thin crescent moon gave just enough light to see the path.

▪ a new moon (=a very thin moon which is just starting to get bigger)

It was twilight and a new moon was rising.

▪ a silver/yellow moon

It was a frosty night, with a cold silver moon.

▪ a pale moon

Her face glowed in the light of the pale moon.

▪ a harvest moon (=the full moon that appears in late September or early October)

Over the potato fields a harvest moon was rising.

■ verbs

▪ the moon shines

The moon shone through the window.

▪ the moon rises ( also the moon comes up )

He watched the full moon come up over the trees.

▪ the moon appears

A brilliant moon appeared over the mountains.

▪ the moon comes out (=appears as it gets dark or a cloud moves)

The moon came out from behind the clouds.

▪ the moon hangs somewhere literary (=stays there for a long time)

The moon hung over the quiet sea.

▪ the moon sets (=goes down so that you cannot see it)

The moon had set, but the sky was clear.

▪ the moon waxes (=gets bigger each night)

The moon waxed larger over the next few days.

▪ the moon wanes (=gets smaller each night)

The August moon was waning.

■ phrases

▪ the light of the moon

The clouds blocked out the light of the moon.

▪ there is no moon

There was no moon, and the fields were completely dark.

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THESAURUS

■ in the sky

▪ star a large ball of burning gas in space, which can be seen at night as a point of light in the sky:

The dark night sky was clear and full of stars.

▪ planet one of the large objects that goes around the sun, for example the Earth, Saturn, Mercury, or Mars:

The planet Uranus was discovered in 1781.

▪ sun the star that gives us light and heat, around which the planets move. There are also many millions of other suns in the universe:

The sun came out from behind a cloud.

|

a dying sun

▪ moon the round object that moves around the Earth every 28 days, or a similar object that goes around another planet:

The moon rose in the night sky.

|

Titan is one of the moons of Saturn.

▪ asteroid a mass of rock that moves around the sun. Most asteroids are found between Jupiter and Mars:

the asteroid belt

▪ pulsar a type of star that is far away in space and produces ↑ radiation and RADIO WAVES

▪ quasar an object like a star that is far away in space and shines extremely brightly

▪ supernova a very large exploding star

▪ constellation a group of stars that forms a particular pattern and has a name:

The constellation of Orion is one of the most easily recognizable patterns of stars in the night sky.

▪ galaxy one of the large groups of stars that make up the universe:

Astronomers have detected a galaxy 11 billion light years away.

▪ the universe all space, including all the stars and planets:

How many planets in the universe have life?

II. moon 2 BrE AmE verb [intransitive and transitive]

informal to bend over and show your ↑ buttock s as a joke or a way of insulting someone

moon about/around phrasal verb

British English informal to spend your time lazily, moving around with no real purpose:

I wish you’d stop mooning about and do something useful!

moon over somebody/something phrasal verb

old-fashioned to spend your time thinking about someone that you are in love with:

She sits mooning over his photograph for hours.

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.      Longman - Словарь современного английского языка.