# moon

Pronunciation: say "MOON" US /mun/, UK /muːn/

## Noun

1. Earth's natural satellite, visible at night by reflected sunlight, or the appearance it presents at a particular time.
   - Simple: The big object that circles Earth and shines at night with the sun's light, or its shape on a certain night.
   - _Twelve astronauts have walked on the moon._
   - _A full moon rose over the hills and lit up the whole valley._
2. A natural satellite that orbits a planet, a dwarf planet, or a smaller body such as an asteroid.
   - Simple: A natural object in space that circles a planet, a dwarf planet, or an asteroid.
   - _Saturn's many moons range from tiny rocks to bodies larger than some planets._
   - _Astronomers recently confirmed another moon orbiting the distant gas giant._
3. A depiction of the moon, often shown as a crescent or as a circle with a face, or a crescent-shaped figure or object.
   - Simple: A picture or shape that looks like the moon, often a curved crescent.
   - _The nursery wallpaper featured a smiling moon surrounded by stars._
   - _Each card in the deck bore a golden moon stamped at its center._
7. A month, especially a lunar month. *(literary)*
   - Simple: A month, especially one measured by the moon's cycle.
   - _Many moons passed before the wanderer saw home again._
   - _They agreed to meet again within a moon._
9. Light from the moon falling on the earth after dark.
   - Simple: The light that shines down from the moon during the night.
   - _The scouts waited for a night with little moon before crossing the open field._
   - _A pale wash of moon fell across the kitchen floor._

## Verb

4. To bare one's buttocks toward someone, usually as a joke, insult, or form of protest. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To pull down your pants and show your bare bottom to someone as a joke or insult.
   - _Protesters mooned the politician's motorcade as it drove past._
   - _He threatened to moon the crowd if they kept booing._
5. To be infatuated with someone and show it dreamily, as by gazing at them adoringly, usually with over, after, or at. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To think about or look at someone in a dreamy way because you are in love with them.
   - _She mooned over the new neighbor for weeks._
   - _Don't moon after someone who never calls you back._
6. To increase in price rapidly or sharply. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To rise in price very quickly and by a large amount.
   - _Traders kept predicting the token would moon before the year ended._
   - _The currency mooned after the celebrity endorsement._
8. To spend time idly and absent-mindedly.
   - Simple: To pass time doing nothing, in a dreamy or distracted way.
   - _She mooned about the garden, lost in thought._
   - _Since the breakup, all he wants to do is moon around his room._

## Other meanings

- (noun) The Moon card in fortune-telling decks: the eighteenth trump of the tarot's major arcana, or the thirty-second Lenormand card.
- (verb) In hearts, to succeed in taking all the point cards in a single hand.
- (noun) In the game of hearts, the feat of capturing all the point cards in a single hand.
- (verb) To decorate or adorn something with moons or crescent shapes.
- (verb) To expose something to the light of the moon.
- (noun) An outer defensive work of a fortification, built in a shape resembling a crescent.

## Origin

Proto-Indo-European *mḗh₁n̥s, meaning "moon, month", and probably built on a root *meh₁- meaning "to measure", passed through Proto-Germanic *mēnô into Old English as mōna, which became Middle English mone. Dutch maan, German Mond and Swedish måne are relatives, as are Latin mēnsis ("month") and English month.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/moon (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).