I. ˈmün noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English mone, moone, from Old English mōna; akin to Old High German māno moon, Old Norse māni, Gothic mena moon, Latin mensis month, Greek mēn month, mēnē moon, Sanskrit mās, māsa moon, month, and perhaps to Sanskrit māti he measures — more at measure
1.
a. : the earth's only known natural satellite and next to the sun the most conspicuous object in the heavens shining by the sun's reflected light, revolving about the earth from west to east in about 29 1/2 days with reference to the sun or about 27 1/3 days with reference to the stars, having a diameter of 2160 miles and a mean distance from the earth of about 238,857 miles, a mass about one eightieth that of the earth and a volume about one forty-ninth, and rotating as it revolves so that it always presents nearly the same face to the earth
b. : one complete moon cycle consisting of four phases
the old moon in the arms of the new
— see full moon , new moon ; compare eclipse , gibbous , libration , tide
c. : any satellite in the sky
observing the moons of Jupiter or Saturn
launching of a man-made moon — L.V.Berkner
2. : the time of a synodic month
labored for many moons to complete this unusual work of primitive art — American Guide Series: Connecticut
3. : moonlight
keep out of the moon or it may turn your head — H.R.Haggard
4. : something that resembles a moon: as
a. : a disk on the face of a clock showing the phases of the moon
the plate that carries the moon — James Ferguson
b. : a globe surrounding a light
a green moon of porcelain over a naked electric bulb — Frances Towers
c. : a slice bar with a nearly circular blade perforated in the middle and used in tending a brickkiln fire
d. : a highly translucent spot in old porcelain
e. : lunule a
f. : moon knife
5. : something impossible or inaccessible
reach for the moon
6. slang : moonshine I 3
five or six good stiff drinks of moon — Sherwood Anderson
7. : platy
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
transitive verb
1. archaic : to expose to moonlight
the huge man … not sunning, but mooning himself — Thomas De Quincey
2. : to spend an idle reverie : dream — used with away
moon the afternoon away
3. : to locate by sighting against the moon
moon a possum
darted along … till I could moon the house with the old stack — Joseph Furphy
4. : to scrape (a skin or hide) with a moon knife
intransitive verb
: to behave in an abstracted way : move or gaze dreamily or absentmindedly : dawdle , gape
mooned around the house all day in a dream — Patrick Campbell
got to mooning over her dead father — Grace Metalious
mooning up into his eyes — Jack Slater
moons over tape-recorded music — Gilbert Millstein
mooning over a silken phrase and relaxing the flow of melody to a point where the tempo becomes obscured — Roland Gelatt
III. noun
slang : the naked buttocks ; also : an act of exposing the naked buttocks
• moon transitive verb , slang
•
- over the moon