moon rockn.
/ˈmuːn rɒk/, U.S. /ˈmun ˌrɑk/ 1. Rock found or occurring on the moon; spec. one brought back to earth by the Apollo missions of 1969–72; a sample or piece of such rock.Lunar rocks are distinguished by little involvement of water in their formation, and by a high degree of reduction of transition metals. They are broadly divisible into three types: basalts, anorthosites, and breccias, all of which occur on earth.
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1934 Science 7 Dec. 10a/1 Because it is relatively little polarized or set to vibrating in one direction, as it would be if it came from dense dark rocks, it is concluded that the moon rocks are like the light, translucent rocks and materials found around volcanoes here on earth.
1969 Guardian 15 July 7/2 On July 24, if all goes well, 50 kilogrammes of moonrock will arrive on earth.
1988 High Life (Brit. Airways) Apr. 15/1 There is an excellent visitors centre where you can see moon rocks, space suits, rocket engines and spacecraft from various missions.
1992 J. Hamilton-Paterson Seven-tenths v. ii. 178 They like to feel the chill of aeons before it fades, just as they like to handle meteorites and moon rocks.
2000 Dallas Morning News (Electronic ed.) 4 Dec. Earlier studies of moon rocks had suggested that the solar system went through a rocky period at this time, some 600 million years after Earth's birth.
2. slang (originally U.S.). A mixture of (crack) cocaine and heroin.
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1989 W. Hopkins Testimony 31 Aug. in Drugs in 1990s (Hearing before U.S. Senate Judiciary Comm.) (1991) 19 In the city, they call it moon rock... What they actually do is put the heroin on the crack rock while it is being made.
1992 N. Cohn Heart of World xiii. 196 The hallways were full of moonrock, of crack pipes and used condoms.
1995 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 19 Mar. 108/5 He's on the boat trying to stitch up a multi-continent deal to flood the market with $1-a-hit moonrock, a cocaine and heroin concoction that can be smoked, thus avoiding the distressing side effects of AIDS and disappearing noses.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1934