moon

[ moon ]

/ mun /

noun

the earth's natural satellite, orbiting the earth at a mean distance of 238,857 miles (384,393 km) and having a diameter of 2160 miles (3476 km).

this body during a particular lunar month, or during a certain period of time, or at a certain point of time, regarded as a distinct object or entity. Compare full moon, half-moon, new moon, waning moon, waxing moon.

a lunar month, or, in general, a month.

any planetary satellite: the moons of Jupiter.

something shaped like an orb or a crescent.

moonlight.

a platyfish.

Slang. the buttocks, especially when bared.

verb (used without object)

to act or wander abstractedly or listlessly: You've been mooning about all day.

to sentimentalize or remember nostalgically: He spent the day mooning about his lost love.

to gaze dreamily or sentimentally at something or someone: They sat there mooning into each other's eyes.

Slang. to expose one's buttocks suddenly and publicly as a prank or gesture of disrespect.

verb (used with object)

to spend (time) idly: to moon the afternoon away.

to illuminate by or align against the moon.

Slang. to expose one's buttocks to as a prank or gesture of disrespect.

Idioms for moon

blue moon, a very long period of time: Such a chance comes once in a blue moon.

Origin of moon

before 900; Middle English mone, Old English mōna; cognate with Old High German māno, Old Norse māni, Gothic mena; akin to German Mond moon, Latin mēnsis month, Greek mḗnē moon, Sanskrit māsa moon, month

OTHER WORDS FROM moon

moon·er, noun moon·less, adjective

Words nearby moon

mooli, mooloo, moolvee, moolvie, moomba, moon, moon and sixpence, the, moon bag, moon blindness, moon child, moon dog

Definition for moon (2 of 2)

Moon

[ moon ]

/ mun /

noun

Sun Myung

[suhn myuhng] /sʌn myʌŋ/,1920–2012, Korean religious leader: founder of the Unification Church.

Example sentences from the Web for moon

There is an expanded place-name index with more than 150,000 entries, and separate undersea, Moon, and Mars features.

The Best Coffee Table Books of 2014 |Robert Birnbaum |December 13, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
What would it take to carry people to the Moon, or Mars, or an asteroid?

To Infinity and Beyond! NASA’s Orion Mission Blasts Off |Matthew R. Francis |December 4, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
In June only the three days were available, because of tide and moon: the fifth, the sixth, and the seventh.

Blood in the Sand: When James Jones Wrote a Grunt’s View of D-Day |James Jones |November 15, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
In Wicca, the female goddess is represented by the Moon, a symbol of Mother Earth and fertility.

‘Gods of Suburbia’: Dina Goldstein’s Arresting Photo Series on Religion vs. Consumerism |Dina Goldstein |November 8, 2014 |DAILY BEAST

LADEE completed its mission in the spring with a crash landing on the Moon.

Luxembourg and China Team Up on Private Mission to the Moon |Matthew R. Francis |October 26, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
The moon is still figured as a bull, but it is the idea of strength that is extracted from the picture and dwelt upon.

The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria |Morris Jastrow
For the moon having gone down it is now very dark, which always means danger on the river.

Gwen Wynn |Mayne Reid
I suppose she has as much right to call herself the daughter of the moon as to use that aristocratic name.

The Little Lady of Lagunitas |Richard Henry Savage
"It's no use crying for the moon," she decided, blinking hard lest she should betray symptoms of weakness before her juniors.

For the Sake of the School |Angela Brazil
Suppose they were magnified until they were as large as the moon and the earth.

Letters of a Radio-Engineer to His Son |John Mills

British Dictionary definitions for moon (1 of 3)

moon

/ (muːn) /

noun

(sometimes capital) the natural satellite of the earth. Diameter: 3476 km; mass: 7.35 × 10 22 kg; mean distance from earth: 384 400 km; periods of rotation and revolution: 27.32 days Related adjective: lunar

the face of the moon as it is seen during its revolution around the earth, esp at one of its phases new moon; full moon

any natural satellite of a planet

moonlight; moonshine

something resembling a moon

a month, esp a lunar one

once in a blue moon very seldom

over the moon informal extremely happy; ecstatic

reach for the moon to desire or attempt something unattainable or difficult to obtain

verb

(when tr, often foll by away; when intr, often foll by around) to be idle in a listless way, as if in love, or to idle (time) away

(intr) slang to expose one's buttocks to passers-by

Derived forms of moon

moonless, adjective

Word Origin for moon

Old English mōna; compare Old Frisian mōna, Old High German māno

British Dictionary definitions for moon (2 of 3)

Moon ¹

/ (muːn) /

noun

a system of embossed alphabetical signs for blind readers, the fourteen basic characters of which can, by rotation, mimic most of the letters of the Roman alphabet, thereby making learning easier for those who learned to read before going blind Compare Braille 1

British Dictionary definitions for moon (3 of 3)

Moon ²

/ (muːn) /

noun

William. 1818–94, British inventor of the Moon writing system in 1847, who, himself blind, taught blind children in Brighton and printed mainly religious works from stereotyped plates of his own designing

Scientific definitions for moon

moon

[ mōōn ]

Often Moon. The natural satellite of Earth, visible by reflection of sunlight and traveling around Earth in a slightly elliptical orbit at an average distance of about 381,600 km (237,000 mi). The Moon's average diameter is 3,480 km (2,160 mi), and its mass is about 180 that of Earth. Its average period of revolution around Earth is 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes. See more at giant impact theory.

A natural satellite revolving around a planet.

A Closer Look

The Earth's Moon is a desolate and quiet place. The only natural satellite of Earth, it consists almost entirely of rock, shows no signs of ongoing geologic activity, has no water, and has a very thin atmosphere consisting primarily of sodium. But our Moon does not present a typical case for planetary satellites. Over the last 50 years, over a hundred more moons have been discovered in the solar system, so that they now total 165, nearly all of them orbiting the larger planets Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus (Mercury and Venus have no moon), with an additional four moons orbiting dwarf planets. Because they are so far from the Sun, these moons are for the most part extremely cold. Io, one of Jupiter's 63 known moons, is an exception. It is the most geologically active body in the solar system, with almost constant volcanic activity and a surface covered by cooling lava. Some scientists think that another moon of Jupiter, Europa, may have liquid water capable of supporting life underneath a thick layer of surface ice. Titan, one of Saturn's moons, may also be capable of supporting primitive life in the ocean of liquid methane on its frigid surface.

Cultural definitions for moon

moon

A natural satellite of a planet; an object that revolves around a planet. The planets vary in the number of their moons; for example, Mercury and Venus have none, the Earth has one, and Jupiter has seventeen or more. The planets' moons, like the planets themselves, shine by reflected light.

notes for moon

The Earth's moon is about 240,000 miles away and is about 2,000 miles in diameter. The volume of the Earth is fifty times that of the moon; the mass of the Earth is about eighty times that of the moon. The moon has no atmosphere, and its gravity is about one-sixth that of the Earth.

Idioms and Phrases with moon

moon

see ask for the moon; once in a blue moon.

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

moon