moonlight

[moon-lahyt]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR moonlight ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the light of the moon.

adjective

pertaining to moonlight.

illuminated by moonlight.

occurring by moonlight, or at night.

verb (used without object), moon·light·ed, moon·light·ing.

to work at an additional job after one's regular, full-time employment, as at night.

Origin of moonlight

1325–75; 1950–55 for def 5; Middle English monelight

Related formsmoon·light·er, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for moonlighting

cheating, untrue, illicit, extracurricular, purloin, filch, swipe, pursue, manage, drive, try, toil, strive, recreation, diversion, subsidiary, hobby, distraction, moonlighting, cop

Examples from the Web for moonlighting

Contemporary Examples of moonlighting

The theater manager called security, and three moonlighting off-duty police deputies arrived.
How the U.S. Justice System Screws Prisoners with Disabilities
Elizabeth Picciuto
December 16, 2014
When Joan Leonard puts the set on, Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd are yelling at each other on Moonlighting.
Elmore Leonard’s Rocky Road to Fame and Fortune
Mike Lupica
September 13, 2014

Historical Examples of moonlighting

If the Limerick moonlighters must have been tried in Cork there would have been no moonlighting.
Ireland as It Is
Robert John Buckley (AKA R.J.B.)
But did you ever hear of a youngster who'd sit behind the door and suck his thumbs while there was moonlighting in the air?
The Pioneers
Katharine Susannah Prichard
My journey to Galway was undertaken for the purpose of hanging four men who were condemned to death for moonlighting.
My Experiences as an Executioner
James Berry

British Dictionary definitions for moonlighting

moonlighting

noun

working at a secondary job

(in 19th-century Ireland) the carrying out of cattle-maiming, murders, etc, during the night in protest against the land-tenure system

moonlight

noun

Also called: moonshine light from the sun received on earth after reflection by the moon

(modifier) illuminated by the moona moonlight walk

short for moonlight flit

verb -lights, -lighting or -lighted

(intr) informal to work at a secondary job, esp at night, and often illegitimately

Derived Formsmoonlighter, noun

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

Word Origin and History for moonlighting

moonlight

"hold a second job, especially at night," 1957 (implied in moonlighting), from moonlighter (1954), from the notion of working by the light of the moon; see moonlight (n.). Related: Moonlighting. Earlier the word had been used to mean "commit crimes at night" (1882).

moonlight

"light of the moon," mid-14c., from moon (n.) + light (n.).