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• moon
  moon

  noun

  none the moon or the Moon the earth's natural satellite, orbiting the earth at a mean distance of 238,857 miles (384,393 km) and having a diameter of 2,160 miles (3,476 km).
• Moon
  Moon

  noun

  Sun Myung 1920–2012, Korean religious leader: founder of the Unification Church.

moon

¹ American  

[moon] / mun /

noun

• moons
  plural

1. none the moon or the Moon the earth's natural satellite, orbiting the earth at a mean distance of 238,857 miles (384,393 km) and having a diameter of 2,160 miles (3,476 km).

2. this body during a particular lunar month, or during a certain period of time, or at a certain point of time, regarded as a distinct object or entity.

3. a lunar month, or, in general, a month.

4. any planetary satellite.

   the moons of Jupiter.

5. something shaped like an orb or a crescent.

6. moonlight.

7. a platyfish.

8. Slang. the buttocks, especially when bared.

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verb (used without object)

• moons,
  present (3rd person singular)
• mooned,
  past participle,  past
• mooning
  present participle

1. to act or wander abstractedly or listlessly.

   You've been mooning about all day.

2. to sentimentalize or remember nostalgically.

   He spent the day mooning about his lost love.

3. to gaze dreamily or sentimentally at something or someone.

   They sat there mooning into each other's eyes.

4. Slang. to expose one's buttocks suddenly and publicly as a prank or gesture of disrespect.

verb (used with object)

• moons,
  present (3rd person singular)
• mooned,
  past participle,  past
• mooning
  present participle

1. to spend (time) idly.

   She mooned the afternoon away, unable to think what to do next.

2. to illuminate by or align against the moon.

3. Slang. to expose one's buttocks to as a prank or gesture of disrespect.

idioms

1. over the moon. see over the moon.

2. blue moon. see blue moon.

Moon ² American  

[moon] / mun /

noun

1. Sun Myung 1920–2012, Korean religious leader: founder of the Unification Church.

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Moon ¹ British  

/ muːn /

noun

1. a system of embossed alphabetical signs for blind readers, the fourteen basic characters of which can, by rotation, mimic most of the letters of the Roman alphabet, thereby making learning easier for those who learned to read before going blind Compare Braille 1

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moon ² British  

/ muːn /

noun

1. (sometimes capital) the natural satellite of the earth. Diameter: 3476 km; mass: 7.35 × 10 ²² kg; mean distance from earth: 384 400 km; periods of rotation and revolution: 27.32 days

2. the face of the moon as it is seen during its revolution around the earth, esp at one of its phases

   new moon

   full moon

3. any natural satellite of a planet

4. moonlight; moonshine

5. something resembling a moon

6. a month, esp a lunar one

7. very seldom

8. informal extremely happy; ecstatic

9. to desire or attempt something unattainable or difficult to obtain

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verb

1. to be idle in a listless way, as if in love, or to idle (time) away

2. slang (intr) to expose one's buttocks to passers-by

Moon ³ British  

/ muːn /

noun

1. William. 1818–94, British inventor of the Moon writing system in 1847, who, himself blind, taught blind children in Brighton and printed mainly religious works from stereotyped plates of his own designing

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moon Scientific  

/ mo̅o̅n /

1. Often Moon. The natural satellite of Earth, visible by reflection of sunlight and traveling around Earth in a slightly elliptical orbit at an average distance of about 381,600 km (237,000 mi). The Moon's average diameter is 3,480 km (2,160 mi), and its mass is about 1/80 that of Earth. Its average period of revolution around Earth is 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes.

2. See more at giant impact theory

3. A natural satellite revolving around a planet.

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moon Cultural  

1. A natural satellite of a planet; an object that revolves around a planet. The planets vary in the number of their moons; for example, Mercury and Venus have none, the Earth has one, and Jupiter has seventeen or more. The planets' moons, like the planets themselves, shine by reflected light.

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moon More Idioms  

1. see ask for the moon; once in a blue moon.

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Closer Look

The Earth's Moon is a desolate and quiet place. The only natural satellite of Earth, it consists almost entirely of rock, shows no signs of ongoing geologic activity, has no water, and has a very thin atmosphere consisting primarily of sodium. But our Moon does not present a typical case for planetary satellites. Over the last 50 years, over a hundred more moons have been discovered in the solar system, so that they now total 165, nearly all of them orbiting the larger planets Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus (Mercury and Venus have no moon), with an additional four moons orbiting dwarf planets. Because they are so far from the Sun, these moons are for the most part extremely cold. Io, one of Jupiter's 63 known moons, is an exception. It is the most geologically active body in the solar system, with almost constant volcanic activity and a surface covered by cooling lava. Some scientists think that another moon of Jupiter, Europa, may have liquid water capable of supporting life underneath a thick layer of surface ice. Titan, one of Saturn's moons, may also be capable of supporting primitive life in the ocean of liquid methane on its frigid surface.

Discover More

The Earth's moon is about 240,000 miles away and is about 2,000 miles in diameter. The volume of the Earth is fifty times that of the moon; the mass of the Earth is about eighty times that of the moon. The moon has no atmosphere, and its gravity is about one-sixth that of the Earth.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• mooner
  noun
• moonless
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• moons
  plural

Participles

• mooning
  present
• mooned
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• moon
  simple
• moons
  simple
• have mooned
  perfect
• has mooned
  perfect
• am mooning
  progressive
• are mooning
  progressive
• is mooning
  progressive
• have been mooning
  perfect progressive
• has been mooning
  perfect progressive

Past

• mooned
  simple
• had mooned
  perfect
• was mooning
  progressive
• were mooning
  progressive
• had been mooning
  perfect progressive

Future

• will moon
  simple
• will have mooned
  perfect
• will be mooning
  progressive
• will have been mooning
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of moon

First recorded before 900; Middle English mone, Old English mōna; cognate with Old High German māno, Old Norse māni, Gothic mena; akin to German Mond “moon,” Latin mēnsis “month,” Greek mḗnē “moon,” Sanskrit māsa “moon, month”

Explanation

Werewolves love to howl at a full moon. The moon is our planet’s satellite, and it rotates around the earth and reflects light from the sun. Also, “to moon” means to show your rear. The moon is out! Giggle giggle. The earth has just one moon, but the word moon can mean any natural satellite of any planet. Astronomers have discovered many moons — there are more than 160 in our solar system alone. Poets have been fascinated by the moon for a long time, and "to moon" also means "to act in a dreamy or aimless way." Our months are marked by changes in the moon's phase, and the Proto-Indo-European root means both "moon" and "month."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

moon Moon moons mooned mooning

Saturday's full moon is projected to worsen coastal inundations.

From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026

“Some of that is tongue-in-cheek, but if you shoot for the moon you land in the stars.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026

His paintings at smoke the moon echo European Impressionism while their frames are ornamented with cast-aluminum sculptures of objects that speak to the artist’s indigenous heritage.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026

Evidence is building that Uranus' moon Ariel may once have contained a vast ocean beneath its frozen exterior.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 24, 2026

The sky was dark, except for the light of the full moon and brilliant stars.

From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova

If you catch the Moon as it rises it may appear yellow, orange or even reddish.

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026

Known as the Harvest Moon, it will reach its fullest point at 17:49 BST on Saturday 26 September.

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026

September's full Moon is traditionally associated with the harvest, because historically, the additional moonlight after sunset was useful to farmers gathering crops.

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026

He told CityNews that he was "over the Moon" when researchers confirmed that the feature really was an impact crater.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026

The most curious is that he had time to complete one of the first science-fiction stories, Dream of the Moon.

From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin

Goth Shakira: It’s the full moon in Aquarius today, and full moons represent a culmination.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026

An international team led by the University of Bern has found evidence that a single asteroid collision may have dramatically reshaped Deimos, the smaller of Mars' two moons.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 26, 2026

Deimos is the smaller and more distant of Mars' two moons.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 26, 2026

The spacecraft will also observe Demios, the other of Mars' moons -- but without landing -- before a return capsule heads back to Earth to land in Australia in around 2031.

From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026

It’s a clear sky, the stars out, the moons starting to crescent in the sky above us.

From "The Knife of Never Letting Go" by Patrick Ness

She and Tom Arnold had mooned the crowd at a World Series game to show off their matching tattoos.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 10, 2018

That idea was encapsulated by the verbal exchange as Peggy mooned over those roses.

From Slate ● Apr. 21, 2014

Buffy The Vampire Slayer and its spin-off, Angel, were cult classics, the just-home-from-school fantasy shows that made vampires sexy long before R-Patz and Kristen mooned at each other in Twilight.

From The Guardian ● Jun. 2, 2013

So far, she seems mild-mannered compared with McQueen, who once mooned the crowd, in lieu of a bow, at the end of his runway show.

From Seattle Times ● May 9, 2011

Finn talked to squirrels and mooned out the window.

From "Bone Gap" by Laura Ruby

Bogotá’s unorthodox mayor, Antanas Mockus—who rose to fame after mooning student protesters and deployed mimes to control traffic—viewed the activity as a gambit “to achieve self-regulation in the behavior among citizens.”

From Slate ● Dec. 22, 2024

Would there be a ShyBelligerent if he still were mooning around Compton?

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2024

Now it’s possible to find statues of gnomes mooning, sitting on the toilet and vomiting rainbows.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 16, 2023

Footage captured the moment a terminally ill man was arrested by police officers after "mooning" at speed camera van.

From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2021

Neither he nor Kaspo- rio nor any of the other sellswords knew the fate of the denizens of Yezzan’s grotesquerie... but if Pretty Penny needed lies to stop her mooning, lie to her he would.

From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin