lunar
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈl(j)uːnə/
enpr: lo͞o'nər
ipa: /ˈlunɚ/
rhymes: -uːnə(ɹ)
Etymology: From Middle English lunar (“shaped like the crescent moon”), from Latin lūnāris (“of or pertaining to the moon, lunar”) (possibly through Middle French lunaire (modern French lunaire (“lunar”)), from lūna (“the Moon; crescent shape”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“bright; to shine”)) + -is (suffix forming adjectives).
Senses: examples: text: lunar observations  a lunar eclipse
text: By two lunar obſervations the long[itude] was 9° 57′ 30″ E. agreeing within 37′ by the watch, though the day before the long. by moon and watch differed 2° 35′.
ref: 1774 September, “A Voyage towards the North Pole, Undertaken by His Majesty’s Command in 1773. By Constantine John Phipps. 4to. Nourse.”, in Sylvanus Urban [pseudonym; Edward Cave], editor, The Gentleman’s Magazine, and Historical Chronicle, volume XLIV, London: Printed […], for D[avid] Henry, and sold by F[rancis] Newbery, […], →OCLC, paragraph 25, page 421, column 2:
text: Lunar eclipſes are not quite ſo complicated in theory, nor near ſo tedious and difficult in calculation, as ſolar ones. The latter are only apparent, the former really ſuch; that is, the Moon is really deprived of its light, and therefore muſt appear obſcured to all the inhabitants of the earth equally, by whom ſhe can be ſeen; whereas the Sun, not being deficient in light, will ever appear reſplendent to thoſe who do not happen to live on that part of the earth where the lunar ſhadows pass.
ref: 1782, Blith Hancock, “Section I. Of the Doctrine of Eclipses.”, in The Doctrine of Eclipses, both Solar and Lunar; Containing Short and Easy Precepts for Computing Solar and Lunar Eclipses. […], Norwich, Norfolk: Printed by J. Crouse, for the author, and sold by M. Booth, […], →OCLC, page 8:
text: You know nothing about fixing the lunar rays into a ſolid ſubſtance, but you muſt not therefore ſay that this is impoſſible. It can be done, and I can do it. Theſe rays, reduced to a ſubtle powder, and blown on the ſurface of the infant brain, ſtimulate it in future life, by their quality of pricking.
ref: 1783, “the Man of the People” [pseudonym; William Thomson], “I Leave the Service of the Apothecary, and Enter into that of the Lunar Sovereign”, in The Man in the Moon; or, Travels into the Lunar Regions, volume I, London: Printed for J[ohn] Murray, […], →OCLC, page 104:
text: The transformation of primitive lunar deities into solar or heavenly gods are often associated with the transfer of magical and priestly functions to the men and the development of male priesthoods. [...] Or again, in Peru, the official cult of the lunar deity at Cuzco was served by colleges of priestesses, while the service of the Sun-god was performed by male priests.
ref: 1927, Robert Briffault, “The Magical Origin of Queens”, in The Mothers: A Study of the Origins of Sentiments and Institutions, volume III, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, page 1:
text: Ahead the flanks of the Pennines gleamed faintly in the moonlight, looking as though they themselves were part of some dry and deserted lunar landscape.
ref: 1960 January, G. Freeman Allen, “"Condor"—British Railways' fastest freight train”, in Trains Illustrated, page 48:
text: Beyond Earth, the Moon is the only body in space that has been systematically sampled. [...] These samples were collected by the six U.S. Apollo and three U.S.S.R. Luna missions from known locations on the lunar surface. [...] Each Apollo landing increased in exploration complexity and returned even greater amounts of lunar samples.
ref: 1991, David Vaniman, John Dietrich, G. Jeffrey Taylor, Grant Heiken, “Exploration, Samples, and Recent Concepts of the Moon”, in Grant Heiken, David Vaniman, Bevan M. French, editors, Lunar Sourcebook: A User’s Guide to the Moon, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, section 2.1 (Lunar Exploration), page 5:
text: The clue’s in the name of this vast area in northern Argentina: lunar landscapes of wind blasted rock, where the night skies are illuminated by billions of stars and the moon glows.
ref: 2025 April 22, Joe Minihane, “24 of the world’s most unusual landscapes”, in CNN:
related: word: Lunar
synonyms: word: lunarlike
word: lunary
word: moonish
word: moonlike
word: moonly
word: moony
word: selenian
word: selenic
glosses: Of, pertaining to, or resembling the Moon (that is, Luna, the Earth's moon).
examples: text: Her tears purſu'd her words, and while ſhe ſpoke / The Goddeſs nodded, and her altar ſhook: / The temple doors, as with a blaſt of wind, / Were heard to clap; the lunar horns that bind / The brows of Iſis caſt a blaze around; / The trembling timbrel made a murm'ring ſound.
ref: 1693, John Dryden, “The Fable of Iphis and Ianthe. From the Ninth Book of Ovid’s Metamorphoses.”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume III, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC, page 407:
text: The images therefore which Laban worſhipped were probably lunar amulets, or types of the ark in the form of a creſcent.
ref: 1774 August, “38. [Jacob] Bryant’s Ancient Mythology, [Vol. II, [...].]”, in Sylvanus Urban [pseudonym; Edward Cave], editor, The Gentleman’s Magazine, and Historical Chronicle, volume XLIV, London: Printed […], for D[avid] Henry, and sold by F[rancis] Newbery, […], →OCLC, page 367, column 2:
glosses: Shaped like a crescent moon; lunate.
examples: text: Julian wolfed down the rest of his dinner and when he accompanied Michelle back to her apartment his spirits were positively lunar.
ref: 1901, Chris Shepherdson, Another New York Murder:
text: Although Little Chandler hungers to “express the melancholy of his soul in verse,” to ascend out of the depths of his solitary confinement to the lunar heights of the poet, he can do no more than expand into a garrulous bully or shrink into an infant, always remaining his own inadequate self, like an inflatable ball that changes in size but never in substance.
ref: 1956, Research Studies of the State College of Washington, page 270:
text: House prices were in freefall, if you owned one. They remained laughably lunar to the rent-bound.
ref: 2010, Mick Herron, Slow Horses, page 63:
glosses: Extremely high.
examples: text: Some of the Ancients, and likewiſe diuers of the Moderne VVriters, that haue laboured in Naturall Magick, have noted a Sympathy, between the Sunne, Moone, and ſome Principall Starres; And certaine Herbes, and Plants. And they haue denominated ſome Herbes Solar, and ſome Lunar; [...]
ref: 1631, Francis [Bacon], “V. Century. [Experiments in Consort Touching the Sympathy and Antipathy of Plants.]”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC, paragraph 493, page 122:
glosses: (Believed to be) influenced by the Moon, as in character, growth, or properties.
examples: text: On the Poison of Serpents. By W. Boag, Esq. [...] Supposing the fatal effect [of a snakebite] to be produced by the sudden subtraction of oxygen from the blood, this gentleman recommends, by way of antidote, the employment of those substances which contain oxygen in its greatest abundance, and part with it with the greatest facility; and, as lunar caustic [silver nitrate] possesses these properties in a singular degree, he concludes that no medicine is better calculated to resist the effects of the poison of serpents.
ref: 1805 April, “Art. V. Asiatic Researches, Vols. VI. and VII. …”, in The Monthly Review; or, Literary Journal, Enlarged, volume XLVI, London: Printed by Strahan and Preston, […]; and sold by T[homas] Becket, […], published 1794, →OCLC, page 379:
topics: alchemy
chemistry
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
pseudoscience
glosses: Of or pertaining to silver (which was symbolically associated with the Moon by alchemists).
examples: text: Several initial experimental firings of the various stages of Saturn V into earth orbit will precede the planned lunar flight. The astronauts will practice rendezvous techniques in the earth's orbit. [...] Before they reach the moon the astronauts will have another difficult maneuver to perform—turning their command module around so that its nose is attached to the top of the lunar excursion module. Two of the crew members will transfer from the command module to the lunar excursion module.
ref: 1963, L. L. Waite, “How We will Get to the Moon: Excerpt from a Speech by L. L. Waite, Senior Vice President, North American Aviation, Inc., before the Electronic Analysts of Boston”, in Skyline, volume 21, number 2, Pittsburgh, Pa.: North American Aviation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 20:
topics: astronomy
natural-sciences
glosses: Of or pertaining to travel through space between the Earth and the Moon, or exploration and scientific investigation of the Moon.
Derived terms: antilunar
circalunar
circumlunar
cislunar
cis-lunar
Coordinated Lunar Time
interlunar
lunar calendar
lunar cataclysm
lunar caustic
lunar colony
lunarcore
lunarcrete
lunar cycle
lunar distance
lunar eclipse
lunar hay fever
lunarite
lunar lander
lunar letter
lunar lifeboat
lunarlike
lunar mansion
lunar module
lunar month
lunarnaut
Lunar New Year
lunar node
lunar observation
lunar occultation
lunar orbit
lunar phase
lunar rainbow
lunarscape
lunar theory
lunar year
lunate
nonlunar
protolunar
semilunar
solilunar
sol-lunar
solunar
sublunar
superlunar
supralunar
trans-lunar injection
translunar
trans-lunar
unlunar
Related terms: apolune
loon
lunacy
lunambulism
lunanaut
Lunarian
lunatic
lunation
lune
lunette
lunisolar
perilune
sublunary
superlunary