This week’s theme
Words originating in the moon

This week’s words
superlunary
meniscus
moonstruck
blue moon
lunule

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(MOON-struhk)

MEANING:

adjective:
1. In a dreamy state.
2. Romantically dazed.
3. Mentally deranged.

ETYMOLOGY:

From the belief that a person behaving erratically was under the influence of the moon. From moon + struck, past participle of strike, from Old English strican. Earliest documented use: 1674.

NOTES:

The moon never made anyone loony, but it’s a popular excuse for erratic behavior. No one is turning into a werewolf, whether it’s a full-moon or new moon. See this article Lunacy and the Full Moon from the Scientific American.

USAGE:

“Fantasio is a moonstruck student who adopts the persona of a sad clown to woo the Princess Elsbeth, soon to be married against her will to the Prince of Mantua.”
Tim Ashley; Opera: Fantasio; The Guardian (London, UK); Dec 17, 2013.

“Recall that Jerry Brown has been the [California] governor twice. He started pushing for clean energy during his first term back in the 1970s, when most people thought his starry-eyed talk about solar and wind power was crazy. Those and other exploits earned him the sobriquet ‘Governor Moonbeam’. Now we know he was not a moonstruck hippie; he was a visionary.”
Justin Gillis; How Jerry Brown Can Seal His Legacy as a Climate Champion; The New York Times; Sep 7, 2018.

See more usage examples of moonstruck in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: