lunar
Part of speech: adj
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: alchemy
anatomy
astronomy
chemistry
medicine
natural-sciences
nautical
physical-sciences
pseudoscience
sciences
transport
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).
Inflected forms:
form: lunars
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: Of, pertaining to, or resembling the Moon (that is, Luna, the Earth's moon).
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: lunar observations  a lunar eclipse
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′.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
gloss: Shaped like a crescent moon; lunate.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: 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.
The images therefore which Laban worſhipped were probably lunar amulets, or types of the ark in the form of a creſcent.
gloss: Extremely high.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: Julian wolfed down the rest of his dinner and when he accompanied Michelle back to her apartment his spirits were positively lunar.
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.
House prices were in freefall, if you owned one. They remained laughably lunar to the rent-bound.
gloss: (Believed to be) influenced by the Moon, as in character, growth, or properties.
pos: adj
tags: historical
not-comparable
examples: 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; [...]
gloss: Of or pertaining to silver (which was symbolically associated with the Moon by alchemists).
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
obsolete
examples: 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.
The association of the heavenly bodies with known metals and also with human organs and destinies goes back to ancient Chaldea, the land of astrologers. In Chaucer’s words: ‘The seven bodies eek, lo hear anon. Sol gold is, and Luna silver we declare; Mars yron, Mercurie is quyksilver; Saturnian leed; and Jubitur is tyn, and Venus coper, by my fathers kyn.’ […] Corresponding names were bestowed upon salts of these metals by the alchemists, and some of them have persisted down to the present day. Some examples are lunar caustic (silver nitrate); vitriol of Venus (copper sulphate); sugar of Saturn (lead acetate); and vitriol of Mars, or Martial vitriol (ferrous sulphate).
gloss: Of or pertaining to travel through space between the Earth and the Moon, or exploration and scientific investigation of the Moon.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: 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.
gloss: The middle bone of the proximal series of the carpus in the wrist, which is shaped like a half-moon.
pos: noun
examples: The carpal bones are usually described as being capable of being luxated from the lower end of the radius forwards or backwards, inwards or outwards. The case backwards, which has been stated to be the most frequent, is facilitated by the direction of the convex articular surfaces of the scaphoid, lunar, and cuneiform bones, which slope more backwards than forwards.
There are two larger bones of the wrist called the scaphoid and lunar; these form a large ball, and this is received into the lower end of the radius.
The scaphoid and lunar (wrist bones) are separate, whereas in Carnivores they are united perhaps to give greater strength to the wrist.
gloss: An observation of a lunar distance (“the angle between the Moon and another celestial body”), especially for establishing the longitude of a ship at sea.
pos: noun
examples: [Y]oung beginners cannot be too often cautioned that a single lunar is of little or no value until the observer knows the usual difference between his lunars taken on opposite sides of the moon; and these should be taken with the same instrument, using the same screens and telescope, for he must remember that they may be expected to differ. My star lunars differ from three to four minutes, or say fifty miles of longitude; my sun lunars from one to two minutes, or say twenty minutes of longitude.
With cheap quartz watches (several, for reliability) we can do all the modern celestial navigation we could want. But learning and practicing lunars gives us deeper insight into celestial navigation; an appreciation for their historical importance and difficulty; and perhaps most significant of all, after conquering lunars we can appreciate the great convenience of St. Hilaire sights and modern quartz watches. Moreover, in the rare event of losing UT, with lunars and only a poor watch we can still be confident of finding our longitude at sea (well, OK, to within 30′).
Antonyms: solar
Related words: apolune
loon
lunacy
lunambulism
lunanaut
Lunarian
lunatic
lunation
lune
lunette
lunisolar
perilune
sublunary
superlunary
Derived words: antilunar
circalunar
circumlunar
cislunar
cis-lunar
Coordinated Lunar Time
interlunar
lunar calendar
lunar cataclysm
lunar caustic
lunar colony
lunarcore
lunarcrete
lunar cycle
lunar deity
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
lunar rotation
lunar rover
lunarscape
lunar theory
lunar year
lunate
nonlunar
protolunar
semilunar
solilunar
sol-lunar
solunar
sublunar
superlunar
supralunar
trans-lunar injection
translunar
trans-lunar
unlunar
scapholunar
Translations: