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.
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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.
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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.