# moonlight

Pronunciation: say "MOON-lyt" /ˈmunˌlaɪt/

## Noun

1. The light of the Moon, which is sunlight reflected from its surface.
   - Simple: The light that comes from the moon at night.
   - _Moonlight fell across the floor through the open curtains._
   - _The resort offers moonlight kayak tours on calm summer nights._

## Verb

2. To work at a second job on top of one's regular one, often in the evening or at night.
   - Simple: To work at a second job, often in the evening or at night.
   - _To pay off his loans, the engineer moonlighted as a bartender three nights a week._
   - _Some officers moonlight as security guards at concerts and games._
3. To take part in an activity other than the one a person is known for.
   - Simple: To do something different from the thing you are famous for.
   - _The celebrated chef moonlights as a mystery novelist under a pen name._
   - _Several of the league's star players moonlight as rappers._
4. Of a thing such as a protein, to perform a second function quite different from its supposed main one.
   - Simple: Of a thing, to do a second job very different from its main one.
   - _Some enzymes moonlight as structural proteins, doing a job unrelated to the reactions they speed up._
   - _With its seats folded flat, the minivan moonlights as a delivery truck._

## Verb

5. To do paid work that is not declared to the authorities. *(dated, British)*
   - Simple: To do paid work that you keep hidden from the government.
   - _Plenty of tradesmen moonlight for cash in hand and never tell the taxman._
   - _The inspector found that the claimant had been moonlighting as a plasterer while on the dole._

## Origin

From Middle English monelight, from Old English mōnan lēoht (“moonlight”, literally “moon's light, light of the moon”), equivalent to moon + light. It is cognate with Scots munelicht, West Frisian moanneljocht, Dutch maanlicht and German Mondlicht.

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