Meaning of Moonlight | Babel Free

Definitions

1. The light reflected from the Moon, which seems to emanate from it.
   also, attributive, uncountable, usually
2. The silvery colour of the light reflected by the Moon.
   archaic, uncountable, usually
3. Synonym of moonshine (“illegally produced or smuggled spirits”).
   UK, archaic, dialectal, uncountable, usually
4. Chiefly in to do a moonlight: short for moonlight flit (“an act of secretly leaving premises without paying the rent, supposedly at night by the light of the Moon; hence, any act of escaping at night”).
   countable, informal, usually
5. A picture of a scene illuminated by light reflected by the Moon.
   countable, obsolete, uncountable, usually
6. A journey made at night when the Moon is shining.
   US, countable, obsolete, rare, uncountable, usually
7. An oratorical competition; also, a participant in such a competition.
   US, countable, obsolete, uncountable, usually

Equivalents

Examples

“Meronym: moonbeam”

“Than Ripheus him ſelf adioynd, & myghty moſt with launce / Came Iphitus onto my ſide, by monelight met by chaunce.”

“If you vvill patiently daunce in our Round, / And ſee our Moonelight Reuelles, goe vvith vs: / If not, ſhunne me, and I vvill ſpare your haunts.”

“Hovv ſvveete the Moone-light ſleeps vpon this banke, / Heere vvill vve ſit, and let the ſounds of muſicke / Creepe in our eares ſoft ſtillneſſe, and the night / Become the tutches of ſvveete harmony: […]”

“The night comes on, vve, eager to purſue / The Combat ſtil, and they aſham'd to leave: / Till the laſt ſtreaks of dying day vvithdrevv, / And doubtful Moon-light did our rage deceive.”

“This choleric gentleman, vvho vvas a country ſquire, no ſooner ſavv his rival, than he began to brandiſh his cudgel in a menacing poſture, […] This attitude, and the ſight of the blade vvhich glittened by moonlight in his face, checked in ſome ſort, the ardour of his aſſailant, […]”

“'Tis eight o’clock,—a clear March night, / The moon is up,—the sky is blue, / The owlet, in the moonlight air, / Shouts from nobody knows where; […]”

“He found him in a little moonlight room, / Pale, lattic'd, chill, and silent as a tomb.”

“It was the pensive oysterman that saw a lovely maid, / Upon a moonlight evening, a-sitting in the shade;”

“[S]he passed away noiselessly, and the moonlight kissed the wall which her shadow had dimmed.”

“What say you, gentlemen, shall we have a moonlight hunt?”

“The windows were curtainless, and the yellow moonlight, flooding in through the diamond panes, enabled one to see even colours, whilst it softened the wealth of dust which lay over all and disguised in some measure the ravages of time and the moth.”

“They were still under the white-plum tree and their faces were touching except for a pale, thin ray of moonlight between.”

“It [the Arkenstone] was as if a globe had been filled with moonlight and hung before them in a net woven of the glint of frosty stars.”

“Let's go on a moonlight swim / Far away from the crowd / All alone upon the beach / Our lips and our arms / Close within each other's reach / We'll be on a moonlight swim”

“The night was very quiet. It was always quiet except on moonlight nights. Darkness held a vague terror for these people, even the bravest among them. […] On a moonlight night it would be different. The happy voices of children playing in open fields would then be heard. And perhaps those not so young would be playing in pairs in less open places, and old men and women would remember their youth.”

“Barter'd for game from chace or warren won, / Yon cask holds moonlight, run when moon was none; / And late-snatch'd spoils lie stow'd in hutch apart, / To wait the associate higgler's evening cart.”

“A fast-sailing lugger will soon bring you there though, snug stowed under hatches, like a cask of moonlight.”

CEFR level