ˈmoon-man
[Cf. moon n.1 1 g.]
† 1. One whose occupation is pursued by moonlight; a ‘night-walker’; one who robs by night. Obs.
Cf. ‘the moones men’, Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, i. ii. 35.
| 1632 Sherwood, Moone-men, brigands. |
† 2. A gipsy. Obs.
| 1608 Dekker Lanth. & Candle Lt. G 2 b, A Moone-man signifies in English a mad-man..By a by name they are called Gipsies, they call themselues Egiptians, others in mockery call them Moone-men. 1621 B. Jonson Gipsies Metam. Wks. (1641) 65 They are Gipsies o' this yeare, o' this Moone... Cl. Oh they are called the Moone men I remember now! a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Moon-men, Gipsies. |
3. A dweller in the moon. Also fig.
| a 1625 Fletcher, etc. Fair Maid Inn iv. ii, Tay. Shall I be a moon-man? Foro. I am of opinion, the people of that world..do vary the fashion of their cloathes oftner then any Quick-silver'd nation in Europe. 1847 Emerson Poems (1857) 104 Beauty of a richer vein..Unto men these moon⁓men lend, And our shrinking sky extend. 1958 Spectator 5 Sept. 305 An electronic sideshow starred Gygan, the Man from the Moon, a seven-foot creature of steel with a sixty-inch chest to keep all the transistors in. He walked spastic fashion with that curious whirring noise which all Moonmen seem to affect. 1962 A. Wesker Chips with Everything i. iii. 19 All right you creepy crawly nig-nogs, moon men that's what you are, moon men. |
4. An astronaut who travels to the moon.
| 1965 N.Y. Jrnl.-American 21 Feb. 11/1 The spot where America's Moonmen are most likely to land. 1968 Daily Tel. 30 Dec. 1/3 (headline) Moonmen greeted by wives. 1970 Observer 19 Apr. 8/4 They were virile men, these astronauts. They were patriots, but they were moonmen. |