- present participle of moonlight.
moonlighting
Britishnoun
-
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
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Meanwhile, he is considering moonlighting as a delivery driver.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026
As a teenager she was moonlighting as a referee, raising enough money to fund a trip to South Africa to watch the 2010 World Cup as a fan.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 31, 2026
Commisso eventually got a job in commercial banking at Chase Manhattan, where his boss was unaware that he was moonlighting at a nightclub.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
He wears two watches — one on each wrist, a habit he has been heard saying he picked up moonlighting as a high school lacrosse referee.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2025
Ill Patrolman Mancuso had tried a little moonlighting in his effort to apprehend someone, anyone for the sergeant.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
![]()
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.