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mooncalf

[moon-kaf, -kahf]
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noun, plural moon·calves.
  1. a congenitally grossly deformed and mentally defective person.
  2. a foolish person.
  3. a person who spends time idly daydreaming.
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Origin of mooncalf

First recorded in 1555–65; moon + calf1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for mooncalf

ass, blockhead, bonehead, boob, bore, buffoon, clod, clown, cretin, dimwit, dolt, dope, dunce, idiot, ignoramus, illiterate, imbecile, innocent, jackass, jerk

Examples from the Web for mooncalf

Historical Examples of mooncalf

  • I turned and saw a knight, who asked me why I gaped like a mooncalf at the torn bird.

    King Arthur's Knights

    Henry Gilbert

  • And tie 'em in any string, or do you take me for a mooncalf?

    Wilderness of Spring

    Edgar Pangborn

  • Only a mooncalf, with a porridge-bowl instead of a head, could have mistaken these remarks.

  • Once when I heard the word ‘mooncalf’ and asked what it meant, some one at home told me that mooncalves were deformed children.

  • In 1661, one of Dame Ursula's particular orders to Mooncalf was to froth the cans well.

British Dictionary definitions for mooncalf

mooncalf

noun plural -calves (-ˌkɑːvz)
  1. a born fool; dolt
  2. a person who idles time away
  3. obsolete a freak or monster
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012