▪ I. moonlight, n.
(ˈmuːnlaɪt)
[f. moon n.1 + light n.1 Cf. Du. maanlicht, Ger. mondlicht.]
1. a. The light of the moon.
| ? a 1366 Chaucer Rom. Rose 1010 Ne she was derk ne broun, but bright, And cleer as [is] the mone-light. c 1440 Jacob's Well 166 In þe nyȝt folwyng, be þe monelyȝt, a knyȝt..cam rydyng homwarde. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. v. i. 54 How sweet the moone-light sleepes vpon this banke. 1666 Dryden Ann. Mirab. lxviii, Till the last streaks of dying day withdrew And doubtful moonlight did our rage deceive. 1765 Maty in Phil. Trans. LV. 311, I saw the comet, but could form no judgment as to its appearances, because of the moon-light. 1883 Stevenson Silverado Sq. 4 A tall ship lying anchored in the moonlight. |
b. transf. and fig.
| a 1450 Tourn. Tottenham 153 The cheefe was a plowmell, And the shadow of a bell, Quartered with the Moone-light. 1868 Farrar Silence & V. ii. (1875) 30 This pale moonlight of a utilitarian or rational morality. 1873 Black Pr. Thule iii, If you asked him what Sheila was like, he would have answered by saying that there was moonlight in her face. |
c. The colour of the light of the moon, as a shade in fabrics.
| 1922 Daily Mail 18 Dec. 1 (Advt.), In the following colours: Turquoise, Mastic, Moonlight, Silver, [etc.]. 1927 Daily Tel. 26 Apr. 13 (Advt.), Following shades: Sapphire, Moonlight, Bois de Rose, [etc.]. |
d. moonlight and roses: used allusively of a situation, atmosphere, etc., characterized by sentimentality or romance.
| 1925 Black & Moret (song-title) Moonlight and roses. 1942 Amer. Speech XVII. 58 The moonlight-and-roses kind of Civil War play. 1959 Encounter Apr. 79/1 In Look Homeward Angel we have the romanticised figure of Laura James, the moonlight-and-roses woven about her. |
† 2. A moonlight scene or landscape. Obs.
| 1753 Scots Mag. May 263/2 A moon-light, from Van Bosman. 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) III. 243 A small moon-light. 1778 Sir J. Reynolds Disc. viii. (1876) 457 A picture which I have of Rubens: it is a representation of a moonlight. |
3. = moonshine n. 4. ? Obs.
| 1809 Scott Poacher 81 Yon cask holds moonlight, run when moon was none. 1824 ― Redgauntlet ch. xviii, A cask of moonlight. 1829 [see moonshine n. 4]. |
4. U.S. An excursion made by moonlight. Ellipt. for moonlight flit. colloq.
| 1886 Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 13 Aug. 3/7 To-night the fourth in the series of moonlights will be made. 1958 G. Bellairs Corpse at Carnival ix. 131 His bags has gone... He's packed up... Done a moonlight as likely as not. 1971 R. Parkes Line of Fire xvi. 149 It's no good him trying to find 'em... Done a moonlight, they did. |
5. Amer. Univ. slang. (See quots.)
| 1851 B. H. Hall College Words 210 Moonlight. At Williams College, the prize rhetorical exercise is called by this name; the reason is not given. The students speak of ‘making a rush for moonlight’, i.e. of attempting to gain the prize for elocution. 1860 C. Durfee Hist. Williams College 104 Those who receive the appointment to speak for the prize have always..been called ‘Moonlights’. |
6. attrib. as adj. a. Accompanied by, bathed in moonlight; lit up by the moon, moonlit; performed by the light of the moon.
| 1584 R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. x. ix. (1886) 150 Riding in a moone light night. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. ii. i. 141 If you will..see our Moone-light reuels, goe with vs. 1797 Mrs. Radcliffe Italian xii, The gate opened at once upon the moonlight mountains. 1819 Keats Eve St. Agnes xiii, A little moonlight room, Pale, latticed, chill. 1829 Coleridge Monody Chatterton (later vers.) 135 Dancing to the moonlight roundelay. |
b. moonlight flit, moonlight flitting: the removal of household goods by night to avoid paying rent. Also, the action of leaving rented accommodation without paying the rent; a stealthy, usu. nocturnal, departure. So moonlight wanderer. (colloq. or slang.)
| 1721 [see flitting vbl. n.]. 1821 J. Galt Ann. Parish xxxi. 263 He was fain to make a moonlight flitting, leaving his wife for a time to manage his affairs. 1823 ‘J. Bee’ Dict. Turf 120 Moonlight wanderers, or ‘fly-by-night’ persons, who cheat their landlords and run away by night. 1824 Craven Gloss. 93 Moon-light flit. 1855 [see flit n. a]. 1866 Athenæum 13 Oct. 474 Probably Walkden wished to have his rent before it was due, that he might be safe against ‘a moonlight flit’. 1892 Stevenson & Osbourne Wrecker v. 79 In the excellent Scots' phrase, I made a moonlight flitting, a thing never dignified. 1924 M. Argo in Sc. Nat. Dict. (1965) VI. 364/1 Takkin' a meenlichty flittin', are ye? 1969 Listener 27 Mar. 424/3 Very often we were living somewhere and couldn't pay the rent, so we had to indulge in what was known as a moonlight flit with what furniture and goods were available. |
c. moonlight lustre, a lustre glaze with a marbled effect used on porcelain in the early 19th century, spec. by the Wedgwood factory.
| 1924 H. Barnard Chats on Wedgwood Ware ix. 236 Lustre ware was not made until the beginning of the nineteenth century, when some very beautiful effects were produced, including the one which has since been called ‘Moonlight’. 1966 G. A. Godden Illustr. Encycl. Brit. Pott. & Porc. p. xxiv, Messrs Wedgwood introduced a decorative type of marbled pink or purple ‘gold’ lustre called ‘Moonlight Lustre’. 1970 Times 7 Oct. 10/6 This type of service was first made around 1820 and only the early examples, like that sold yesterday, are splashed in a pink glaze known as moonlight lustre. |
7. Comb.
| 1762 Warton On Birth Pr. Wales 48 The cloister's moon⁓light-chequer'd floor. 1820 Shelley Sensitive Plant i. 34 The wand-like lily..lifted up..its moonlight-coloured cup. |
▪ II. moonlight, v.
(ˈmuːnlaɪt)
[Back-formation f. moonlighter.]
1. a. pass. To be attacked by moonlighters. b. intr. To engage in moonlighting.
| 1887 Spectator 15 Oct. 1376 An Irish tenant pays this rather than be moonlighted. 1887 Times 26 Feb. 8/3 Eight men were..charged with moonlighting... The accused were not moonlighting. |
2. To do a ‘moonlight flit’. dial. and colloq.
| 1903 in Eng. Dial. Dict. 1971 A. Nixon Attack on Vienna vii. 71 He moonlit out of his luxury flat..and moved into a boarding-house. |
3. To do paid work, usu. at night, in addition to one's regular employment. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
| 1957 [implied in moonlighting vbl. n. 3]. 1960 Economist 12 Nov. 657/1 The firemen and police have long been supplementing their pay..by ‘moonlighting’, that is, by taking outside paid work. 1965 Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 7 May 19/1 Some manage to ‘moonlight’ with two or three jobs—though jobs are harder to find. 1970 P. Carlon Death by Demonstration xvi. 175 You think I moonlight? Believe me, one job's enough. 1974 Times Lit. Suppl. 15 Feb. 157/4 He..—naturally for one who moonlights as the Financial Times's gardening correspondent when not otherwise engaged as a Fellow of Magdalen—never misses a turn on botanical or horticultural matters. |