▪ I. lune1 Hawking.
(l(j)uːn)
Also 5 lewne; and see loyn.
[var. of loyn.]
A leash for a hawk.
| 1470–85 Malory Arthur vi. xvi, Thenne was he ware of a Faucon..and longe lunys aboute her feete. 1486 Bk. St. Albans B v b, The lewnes shulde be fastened to theym, with a payre of tyrettis. 1580 H. Gifford Gilloflowers (1875) 90 In fancie's lune I fast was cought. 1593 Greene Mamillia i. E 3, The closer shee couered the sparke, the more it kindled: yea, in seeking to vnlose the Lunes, the more she was intangled. 1611 Cotgr., Longe,..a hawkes lune or leash. 1895 Quiller-Couch Wandering Heath 230 A gerfalcon lying with long lunes tangled about his feet. |
▪ II. lune2 arch.
(l(j)uːn)
[ad. med.L. lūna lit. ‘moon’, hence ‘fit of lunacy’ (cf. lunatic), whence F. lune, MHG. lûne (G. laune whim, humour).]
pl. Fits of frenzy or lunacy; mad freaks or tantrums. (Cf. line n.2 29.)
| 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. ii. ii. 30 These dangerous, vnsafe Lunes i' th' King,—beshrew them. 1778 Johnson Let. to Mrs. Thrale 14 Nov., My master is in his old lunes and so am I. 1799 Lamb John Woodvil iii, Let him alone. I have seen him in these lunes before. 1867 J. H. Stirling in Fortn. Rev. Oct. 381 This is the central weak point, the special lunes of the De Quincey nature. 1883 Symonds Renaiss. It., Ital. Lit. II. ii. x. 97 Their tales for the most part are the lunes of wanton love. |
▪ III. lune3
(l(j)uːn)
[a. F. lune:—L. lūna moon.]
1. Geom. The figure formed on a sphere or on a plane by two arcs of circles that enclose a space.
| 1704 Harris Lex. Techn., Lunes or Lunulæ. 1839 in Penny Cycl. XIV. 199. 1854 Moseley Astron. xxxiv. (ed. 4) 119 Her [the moon's] crescent..now presents the appearance of a lune. 1891 Cayley in Coll. Papers (1897) XIII. 205 The two lunes ACB and ABD of figure 6. |
2. Anything in the shape of a crescent or half-moon.
| 1706–9 Watts Lyric Poems ii. Vict. Poles over Osman 149 Faithful Janizaries..Fall'n in just Ranks or Wedges, Lunes or Squares. 1805 W. Herschel in Phil. Trans. XCV. 36 This made them [the globules] gradually assume the shape of half moons..The dark part of these little lunes..did not appear sensibly less than the enlightened part. |
▪ IV. lune
anglicized f. luna.