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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

Examples from the Web for mooncalf

Historical Examples

  • 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