lunaradj.n.
/ˈluːnə/, /ˈljuːnə/, U.S. /ˈlunər/ A. adj.
1.
a. Of or belonging to the moon; situated in the moon; formerly often, influenced by or dependent upon the moon, or supposed to be so. lunar race: a legendary race of Indian kings (Candrávança) supposed to have been descended from the moon.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > planet > primary planet > moon > [adjective]
monthlyOE
lunary1561
moonya1586
lunar1626
Cynthian1632
selenian1669
selenica1832
selenitic1863
the world > the universe > planet > primary planet > moon > [adjective] > influenced by
lunaticc1430
lunar1626
sublunar1959
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > dynasty > [noun] > specific Indian > legendary
lunar race1841
1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §493 They haue denominated some Herbs Solar and some Lunar.
1661 R. Lovell Πανζωορυκτολογια, sive Panzoologicomineralogia Isagoge sig. C2v The Lunar [animals] are the Cat, beaver, dog, goat, hart, otter.
1762 J. Hoole tr. T. Tasso Jerus. Delivered viii. 232 There full the lunar beam resplendent play'd.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth I. 255 There are solar tides, and lunar tides.
1800 tr. E. J. B. Bouillon-Lagrange Man. Course Chem. I. 352 The alchemists gave the name of Solar Metals to those which are coloured; and that of Lunar to those which are white.
1841 M. Elphinstone Hist. India I. iii. iii. 259 The lunar race has but forty-eight names in the same period, in which the solar has ninety-five.
1854 W. K. Kelly tr. D. F. J. Arago Astron. (ed. 5) 73 The existence of lunar volcanoes is in no wise demonstrated.
1878 W. de W. Abney Treat. Photogr. (1881) 303 Lunar photography.
1958 Observer 17 Aug. 1/6 It was new moon on Friday, and the ‘lunar probe’ must be launched in the next two or three days or postponed for a month.
1971 Sci. Amer. Oct. 49/3 Type D material consisted of miscellaneous fines smaller than a centimeter in diameter, material sometimes called lunar soil.
1972 Science 2 June 1014/3 It is appropriate to define the base of the ‘lunar crust’ at the discontinuity at 65 km.
b. Employed in or relating to travel to or from the moon or on its surface; lunar (excursion) module, a module designed to take an astronaut from an orbiting spacecraft to the moon's surface and back (abbreviated LM, LEM (L n. 6)).
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society > travel > air or space travel > space flight > [adjective] > travel to, on, or from the moon
lunar1962
1962 Daily Tel. 17 July 17/6 If anything should go wrong with the lunar space-craft and the astronauts found themselves unable to take off, from the moon, unmanned supply vehicles would be sent.
1962 New Scientist 19 July 123 At a hundred miles or so from the lunar surface retro-rockets will slow the craft into a lunar orbit. It will then be split in two, to form a mother craft and a lunar excursion module.
1965 Punch 20 Jan. 84/1 The great Apollo ‘lunar project’ by which the Americans, bless them, still hope to land a man, alive, on the Moon in 1970.
1966 Electronics 3 Oct. 134 The Lunar Excursion Module of the Apollo program has to descend safely as well as take off and rendezvous with the command module for the long trip home.
1967 Technol. Week 20 Feb. 16 (caption) Full-size mockup of Apollo Telescope Mount..is based on Apollo Lunar Module and is being used for placement of instruments.
1969 Daily Mail 14 Jan. 5/2 We were to test the lunar module, the vehicle which will land on the Moon, in a high Earth orbit.
1970 N. Armstrong et al. First on Moon i. 20 By 1962..the future programs were well designed and the lunar mission was going to become a reality.
1971 New Scientist 3 June 574/1 Special wire mesh wheels have been built for America's Lunar Roving Vehicle which..is to drive around the lunar surface during the Apollo 15 mission in July.
1972 Daily Tel. 24 Apr. 1/4 They climbed into the lunar rover to drive 3·3 miles to North Ray Crater.
1975 S. Johnson Urbane Guerilla v. 181 Neil Armstrong at last stepped down from the lunar module Eagle on to lunar soil.
2. Transferred and figurative uses.
a. Monthly, menstrual. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > period > a month or calendar month > [adjective] > monthly or occurring once a month
monthly1587
menstrual1594
mensurnal1603
mensual1611
lunar1683
lunary1822
mensal1844
1683 T. Tryon Way to Health 630 In the time of Pregnancy, or her Lunar visits.
1822 J. M. Good Study Med. IV. 64 The cessation of her lunar discharge.
b. Having the character of the moon as opposed to that of the sun; not warmly bright; pale, pallid.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > state or mode of having colour > absence of colour > [adjective] > pale
blackeOE
blokec1200
blakec1275
fadec1290
bleykea1300
palisha1398
wanned1494
ashy?1541
wearish-coloured1548
wanny1555
wheyish1560
bleak1566
paly1568
ghastly1574
blankish1580
sick1599
palled1601
ashied1613
lurid1656
lunar1742
wax-like1748
ashen1808
unbrightened1827
waxy1835
peely-wally1895
waxen-hued1916
1742 E. Young Complaint: Night the Third 8 A Theme so like thee; a quite Lunar Theme, Soft, modest, melancholy, female, fair!
1864 Spectator 425 Which we might call lunar poetry,—poetry without brilliancy, passion, or warmth, but yet containing glimpses of a pale but true beauty.
1902 Swinburne in Q. Rev. July 26 Even the lustre of Partridge [in Tom Jones] is pallid and lunar beside the noontide glory of Micawber.
c. lunar politics n. used allusively for ‘matters of no practical concern’.
ΚΠ
1868 T. H. Huxley Lay Serm. (1870) vii. 159 Hume's strong and subtle intellect takes up a great many problems about which we are naturally curious, and shows us that they are essentially questions of lunar politics, in their essence incapable of being answered.
3. Crescent-shaped, lunate n. lunar bone (= medical Latin os lunare): = B. 3. Also, marked with crescent-shaped spots, as lunar underwing.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > curvature > types of curvature > [adjective] > crescent-shaped
hornedc1400
semilunar1598
crescent1603
moony1605
mooned1607
half-mooned1611
lunary1623
lunar1635
semilunary1638
lunated1673
lunulated1705
moon-shaped1709
semi-lunated1726
lunular1728
lunulate1760
sickle-shaped1764
crescent-shaped1776
lunate1777
moonified1795
crescented1818
crescentic1835
semilunate1841
crescentric1851
demilune1885
crescentoid1887
the world > life > the body > structural parts > bone or bones > bones of arm or leg > bones of arm > [noun] > bones of forearm > bones of wrist
navicular?a1425
navicular bone?a1425
wrist-bone1552
carpus1686
scaphoid bone1741
pisiform bone1753
pisiform1808
trapezoid1828
trapezium1840
unciform1840
scaphoid1846
carpal1854
lunar1854
centrale1870
radiale1870
intermedium1878
lunar bone1887
capitate1889
triquetral bone1913
1635 J. Hayward tr. G. F. Biondi Donzella Desterrada 179 The Dwellings spreading..from one point of the Heaven to the other in a lunar forme.
1693 J. Dryden tr. Ovid Iphis & Ianthe in Poet. Wks. (Aldine ed.) IV. 186 The lunar horns, that bind The brows of Isis.
1712 A. Pope tr. Statius First Bk. Thebais in Misc. Poems 56 Who grasps the strugling Heifer's Lunar Horns.
1757 W. Wilkie Epigoniad ii. 29 Each with a faulcion arm'd and lunar shield.
1843 H. N. Humphreys & J. O. Westwood Brit. Moths I. 133 Orthosia lunosa (the lunar under wing).
1845 H. N. Humphreys & J. O. Westwood Brit. Moths II. 10 Geometra lunaria (the lunar thorn).
1863 Reeve Land & Freshwater Mollusks 50 Aperture broadly obliquely lunar.
1887 E. D. Cope Origin Fittest vii. 264 The separation of the scaphoid and lunar bones.
4. Of or containing silver (see luna n. 2a). lunar caustic n. nitrate of silver fused.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > precious metal > [adjective] > silver
silver?1605
lunar1801
argental1816
1801 Asiatic Ann. Reg. 1800 Misc. Tracts 331/2 The little success attending the use of the lunar caustic in these experiments.
1822 J. M. Good Study Med. I. 313 The lunar pill of Boerhaave, formed from a preparation of silver, which may be regarded as a mild lunar caustic.
1826 W. C. Ottley Dict. Chem. & Min. Silver, Nitrate of; formerly called Lunar Nitre, Lunar Crystals, or Crystals of Silver, and when fused Lunar Caustic.
1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VI. 789 The cornea of both eyes was touched with a point of lunar caustic.
5. In Arabic grammar: The epithet of the class of consonants before which the l of the article is not assimilated; so called because including q, the initial of qamar moon. Opposed to solar.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > consonant > [adjective] > others
harda1722
lunar1776
solar1776
cerebral1816
emphatic1855
mobile1861
vocular1884
movable1933
pre-final1934
prenasalized1937
mellow1956
1776 J. Richardson Gram. Arabick Lang. iii. 8 The dentals and linguals are called solar letters, the rest lunar.
B. n.† 1. A moon-like body, satellite. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > planet > primary planet > secondary planet, satellite > [noun]
under-orb1605
satellite1645
lunar1655
satelles1660
secondary planet1664
moon1665
lunula1676
secondary1734
exomoon2008
1655 R. Child in S. Hartlib Legacy (ed. 3) 161 Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, have their Lunars or small Stars moving about them.
2.
a. A lunar distance; a lunar observation.
ΚΠ
1830 J. F. W. Herschel Prelim. Disc. Study Nat. Philos. 28 We steered towards Rio de Janeiro for some days after taking the lunars above described.
1875 F. G. D. Bedford Sailor's Pocket Bk. (ed. 2) v. 194 In taking Lunars, stars lying at about equal distances, east and west of the moon, should be chosen.
b. colloquial. A look.
ΚΠ
1906 J. Galsworthy Man of Prop. i. 21 Now and then he would level his umbrella and take a ‘lunar’, as he expressed it, of the varying heights.
1938 N. Marsh Artists in Crime v. 65 Let us take what used to be called a ‘lunar’ at the case.
1950 ‘J. Guthrie’ Is this what I Wanted? iii. 71 Charles took a lunar.
3. A bone of the wrist, shaped like a half-moon. Also in Latin form lunare /l(j)uːˈnɛəriː/.
/l(j)uːˈnɛəriː/.ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > structural parts > bone or bones > bones of arm or leg > bones of arm > [noun] > bones of forearm > bones of wrist
navicular?a1425
navicular bone?a1425
wrist-bone1552
carpus1686
scaphoid bone1741
pisiform bone1753
pisiform1808
trapezoid1828
trapezium1840
unciform1840
scaphoid1846
carpal1854
lunar1854
centrale1870
radiale1870
intermedium1878
lunar bone1887
capitate1889
triquetral bone1913
1854 R. Owen in Circle of Sci. (c1865) II. 88/1 The carpal bones, answering to the scaphoid and lunar in the human wrist, are..confluent.
1873 St. G. Mivart Lessons Elem. Anat. iv. 169 The scaphoid coalesces with the lunare in the Carnivora.
Compounds
C1. Special collocations.
lunar cycle n. = Metonic cycle n. at Metonic adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > period > cycle of time > [noun] > lunar cycle of nineteen years
prime?1574
Metonic period1669
Metonic year1669
lunar cycle1704
Metonic cycle1881
1704 J. Harris Lexicon Technicum I. at Cycle of the Moon Enneadecaterides is, with some, the Name of this Lunar Cycle.
lunar day n. the interval of time between two successive crossings of the meridian by the moon.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > period > a day or twenty-four hours > [noun]
dayOE
journeyc1305
joura1500
dog day1669
nycthemeron1682
lunar day1686
political day1706
twenty-four1735
nycthemer1837
mail-day1844
Tag1914
1686 J. Goad Astro-meteorologica i. xii. 58 As there is a Lunar Month consisting of 28 or 29 Days, so there is a Lunar Day.
1862 A. D. Bache Discuss. Magn. & Meteorol. Observ. iii. 8 The curves..show two east and two west deflections in a lunar day.
lunar dial n. (see quot.).
ΚΠ
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Dial Moon-Dial, or Lunar Dial, is that which shews the Hour of the Night, by means of the Light, or Shadow of the Moon projected thereon from an Index.
lunar distance n. in Nautical Astronomy, the distance of the moon from the sun, a planet, or a fixed star, which is used in calculating longitude at sea.
ΚΠ
1830 J. F. W. Herschel Prelim. Disc. Study Nat. Philos. 27 A page of ‘lunar distances’ from the Nautical Almanack.
lunar equation n. the intercalation of a lunar month after three lunar years; also, the correction of the epact in the Gregorian calendar necessitated by the error of the lunar cycle.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > cosmology > science of observation > astronomical calculation > [noun]
prosthaphaeresis1599
annual equation1700
lunar equation1712
metemptosis1728
1712 J. T. Desaguliers tr. Ozanam Geogr. 66 The Addition of 30 Days to the third Lunar Year, is call'd the Lunar Equation.
lunar horoscope n. (see quot.).
ΚΠ
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Horoscope Lunar Horoscope, is the Point which the Moon issues out of, when the Sun is in the ascending Point of the East. This is also call'd the Part of Fortune.
lunar hour n. the 24th part of a lunar day.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > period > hour > [noun]
tidea900
hourc1250
timea1325
hourglass1588
planetary hour1593
clock hour1600
ghurry1638
stricken hour1820
lunar hour1862
1862 A. D. Bache Discuss. Magn. & Meteorol. Observ. iii. 1 Each observation was marked with its corresponding lunar hour.
lunar mansion n. (see mansion n.).
lunar method n. in Nautical Astronomy, the method of determining longitude at sea by means of lunar distances.
ΚΠ
1860 J. E. Worcester Dict. Eng. Lang. Lunar method.
lunar month n. the interval from one new moon to the next, about 29½ days; in popular language often used for a period of 28 days (four weeks).
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > period > a month or calendar month > [noun] > lunar month
monthOE
lunation1398
moon1487
month of consecution in Astr1561
lunar month1594
lunary month1602
periodical month1603
month of progression1615
synodic month1669
the world > the universe > planet > primary planet > moon > lunar month > [noun] > anomalistic
lunar month1594
anomalistic month1768
the world > time > period > a month or calendar month > [noun] > as twenty-eight days
month?a1425
lunar month1766
1594 T. Blundeville Exercises iii. i. xlv. f. 170v The Lunar moneth is that space of time which the Moone spendeth whilest she departing from the Sun, returneth to him againe.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Lunar Lunar Periodical Months consist of 27 Days and a few Hours; and a few minutes. Lunar Synodical Months of 29 Days, 12 hours, and three quarters of an Hour.
1766 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. II. 141 A month in law is a lunar month, or twenty eight days, unless otherwise expressed.
1883 P. Schaff Hist. Christian Church I. ii. xvi. 133 The month Nisan was the first of the twelve lunar months of the Jewish year.
lunar nodes n. the point at which the orbit of the moon cuts the ecliptic.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > planet > primary planet > moon > lunar orbit > [noun] > node
lunar nodes1715
1715 tr. D. Gregory Elements Astron. I. i. §18. 37 If the abovemention'd meeting of the Sun, and Lunar Node, happen on the very Day of the New Moon.
lunar observation n. in Nautical Astronomy, an observation of lunar distances in finding the longitude at sea.
ΚΠ
1840 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast xxxi. 112 The Captain got a lunar observation as well as his meridian altitude.
lunar orbit n. (a) the orbit of the moon around the earth; (b) an orbit around the moon.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > planet > primary planet > moon > lunar orbit > [noun]
lunar orbit1728
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Moon The Sun's Action on the Moon must be somewhat greater when the transverse Diameter of the Lunar Orbit passes through the Sun.
1834 M. Somerville On Connexion Physical Sci. ii. 10 The reaction of that matter on the moon is the cause of a corresponding nutation in the lunar orbit.
1968 Guardian 28 Dec. 9/1 The Lunar Landing Module..will shuttle two astronauts from lunar orbit, down to the moon's surface.
1969 Daily Mail 14 Jan. 1/2 For us, lunar orbit was the busiest time of the flight.
1969 New Scientist 17 July 114/2 They are inserted into an elliptical lunar orbit varying between 60 and 170 nautical miles above the Moon's surface.
lunar rainbow n. one formed by the moon's rays.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > planet > primary planet > moon > light of moon > [noun] > rainbow
lunar rainbow1712
moon rainbow1850
moonbow1871
1712 R. Thoresby in Philos. Trans. 1710–12 (Royal Soc.) 27 320 An Account of a Lunar Rain-bow seen in Darbyshire.
lunar star n. a star whose geocentric distance from the moon is given in the Nautical Almanac for certain hours, so that the longitude may be found from them.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > star > kind of star > stars that show the way > [noun] > navigation aid
sea-starc1050
longitude star1814
Greenwich star1821
lunar star1840
moon-culminator1846
nautical star1867
1840 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast xxiii. 74 He knew every lunar star in both hemispheres.
lunar tables n. (1) tables of the moon's motion from which its true place at any time may be found; (2) logarithmic tables for correcting the apparent distance of the moon from a star, on account of refraction and parallax.
ΚΠ
1864 Webster's Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang. Lunar Tables.
lunar theory n. the deduction of the moon's motion from the law of gravitation.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > cosmology > science of observation > theory > [noun] > system of astronomy > lunar theory
lunar theory1834
1834 M. Somerville On Connexion Physical Sci. vi. 34 In the lunar theory the sun is the great disturbing cause.
1883 Encycl. Brit. XVI. 800/1 The modern lunar theory commenced with Newton.
lunar window n. a launch window for a mission to the moon.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > air or space travel > space flight > [noun] > a space shot or flight > launching of spacecraft > period suitable for > for flight to moon
lunar window1969
1969 Guardian 15 Jan. 18/2 A lunar window exists for Russia at the moment.
1970 N. Armstrong et al. First on Moon ii. 33 The time of launch..had been chosen with great care. The date and the hour had been fixed to take full advantage of the so-called ‘lunar window’.
lunar year n. a period consisting of twelve lunar months (about 354⅓ days).
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > period > year > [noun] > reckoned in a specific way > astronomical or lunar year
astronomical year1583
lunar year1594
lunary year1602
lunisolar year1680
1594 T. Blundeville Exercises iii. i. xliv. f. 170 Of Lunar yeares there be two kindes, wherof the one is ordinary..and the other extraordinarie or excessiue...The ordinary or common yeare, is the space of twelue Moones or changes.
1594 T. Blundeville Exercises iii. i. xliv. f. 170v The extraordinarie Lunar yeare..is the space of thirteene Moones or changes contayning 384 dayes.
1835 C. Thirlwall Hist. Greece I. 221 The Greeks had begun to compensate for the defect of the lunar year, by the occasional addition of an intercalary month.
C2.
lunar-diurnal adj. pertaining to the lunar day.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > period > a day or twenty-four hours > [adjective]
lunar-diurnal1856
1856 Sabine in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 146 499 The Lunar~diurnal Variations of the Inclination..at that Station.
lunar-magnetic adj. pertaining to magnetism as affected by the moon's position.
ΚΠ
1862 A. D. Bache Discuss. Magn. & Meteorol. Observ. iii. 11 The lunar-magnetic interval for the Philadelphia station.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1903; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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