moon

n. [ OE. mone, AS. mōna; akin to D. maan, OS. & OHG. māno, G. mond, Icel. māni, Dan. maane, Sw. måne, Goth. mēna, Lith. menů, L. mensis month, Gr. mh`nh moon, mh`n month, Skr. mās moon, month; prob. from a root meaning to measure (cf. Skr. mā to measure), from its serving to measure the time. √271. Cf. Mete to measure, Menses, Monday, Month. ] 1. The celestial orb which revolves round the earth; the satellite of the earth; a secondary planet, whose light, borrowed from the sun, is reflected to the earth, and serves to dispel the darkness of night. The diameter of the moon is 2, 160 miles, its mean distance from the earth is 240, 000 miles, and its mass is one eightieth that of the earth. See Lunar month, under Month. [ 1913 Webster ]

The crescent moon, the diadem of night. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A secondary planet, or satellite, revolving about any member of the solar system; as, the moons of Jupiter or Saturn. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The time occupied by the moon in making one revolution in her orbit; a month; as, it's been many moons since I last visited Washington. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Fort.) A crescentlike outwork. See Half-moon. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. The deliberately exposed naked buttocks. [ slang ] [ PJC ]

Moon blindness. (a) (Far.) A kind of ophthalmia liable to recur at intervals of three or four weeks. (b) (Med.) Hemeralopia. --
Moon dial, a dial used to indicate time by moonlight. --
Moon face, a round face like a full moon. --
Moon madness, lunacy. [ Poetic ] --
Moon month, a lunar month. --
Moon trefoil (Bot.), a shrubby species of medic (Medicago arborea). See Medic. --
Moon year, a lunar year, consisting of lunar months, being sometimes twelve and sometimes thirteen. --
blue moon, see blue moon in the vocabulary. --
many moons, a long time. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To act if moonstruck; to wander or gaze about in an abstracted manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

Elsley was mooning down the river by himself. C. Kingsley. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A ray of light from the moon. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Dim-sighted; purblind. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A temporary blindness, or impairment of sight, said to be caused by sleeping in the moonlight; -- sometimes called nyctalopia. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A monster; a false conception; a mass of fleshy matter, generated in the uterus. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A dolt; a stupid fellow. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Culminating, or coming to the meredian, at or about the same time with the moon; -- said of a star or stars, esp. of certain stars selected beforehand, and named in an ephemeris (as the Nautical Almanac), as suitable to be observed in connection with the moon at culmination, for determining terrestrial longitude. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or resembling the moon; symbolized by the moon. “Sharpening in mooned horns.” “Mooned Ashtaroth.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]