moon

moon¹ W3 [mu:n] n

[: Old English; Origin: mona]

1.) the moon/the Moon

the round object that you can see shining in the sky at night, and that moves around the Earth every 28 days

▪ The Americans landed on the moon in 1969.

▪ the craters on the surface of the moon

2.) [C usually singular]

the appearance or shape of the moon at a particular time

▪ a clear night with a bright moon

▪ a thin crescent moon

▪ It was raining and there was no moon (=the moon could not be seen) .

→↑full moon, ↑half moon, ↑new moon

3.)

a round object that moves around a ↑planet other than Earth

▪ the moons of Saturn

4.) ask for the moon also cry for the moon BrE informal to ask for something that is difficult or impossible to obtain

▪ There's no point in crying for the moon.

5.) over the moon

BrE informal very happy

▪ She's over the moon about her new job.

6.) many moons ago

literary a long time ago

▪ It all happened many moons ago.

→once in a blue moon at ↑once¹ (15), promise sb the moon at ↑promise¹ (3)

moon ²

moon² v [I and T]

informal to bend over and show your ↑buttocks as a joke or a way of insulting someone

moon about/around phr v

BrE informal to spend your time lazily, moving around with no real purpose

▪ I wish you'd stop mooning about and do something useful!

moon over / [moon over sb/sth] phr v

old-fashioned to spend your time thinking about someone that you are in love with

▪ She sits mooning over his photograph for hours.