lunar

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: lu=nar

CIDE DICTIONARY

lunar, a. [L. lunaris, fr. luna the moon. See Luna, and cf. Lunary.].

•  Of or pertaining to the moon; as, lunar observations.  [1913 Webster]
•  Resembling the moon; orbed.  Dryden.  [1913 Webster]
•  Measured by the revolutions of the moon; as, a lunar month.  [1913 Webster]
•  Influenced by the moon, as in growth, character, or properties; as, lunar herbs.  Bacon.  [1913 Webster]

Lunar caustic (Med. Chem.), silver nitrate prepared to be used as a cautery; -- so named because silver was called luna by the ancient alchemists. -- Lunar cycle. Same as Metonic cycle. See under Cycle. -- Lunar distance, the angular distance of the moon from the sun, a star, or a planet, employed for determining longitude by the lunar method. -- Lunar method, the method of finding a ship's longitude by comparing the local time of taking (by means of a sextant or circle) a given lunar distance, with the Greenwich time corresponding to the same distance as ascertained from a nautical almanac, the difference of these times being the longitude. -- Lunar month. See Month. -- Lunar observation, an observation of a lunar distance by means of a sextant or circle, with the altitudes of the bodies, and the time, for the purpose of computing the longitude. -- Lunar tables. (a) (Astron.) Tables of the moon's motions, arranged for computing the moon's true place at any time past or future. (b) (Navigation) Tables for correcting an observed lunar distance on account of refraction and parallax. -- Lunar year, the period of twelve lunar months, or 354 days, 8 hours, 48 minutes, and 34.38 seconds.

lunar, n. 

•  A lunar distance.  [1913 Webster]
•  The middle bone of the proximal series of the carpus; -- called also semilunar, and intermedium.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

lunar, adj.
1 of, relating to, or determined by the moon.
2 concerned with travel to the moon and related research.
3 (of light, glory, etc.) pale, feeble.
4 crescent-shaped, lunate.
5 of or containing silver (from alchemists' use of luna (= moon) for 'silver').

Idiom

lunar caustic silver nitrate, esp. in stick form. lunar cycle = METONIC CYCLE. lunar distance the angular distance of the moon from the sun, a planet, or a star, used in finding longitude at sea. lunar module a small craft used for travelling between the moon's surface and a spacecraft in orbit around the moon. lunar month
1 the period of the moon's revolution, esp. the interval between new moons of about 291/2 days.
2 (in general use) a period of four weeks. lunar nodes the points at which the moon's orbit cuts the ecliptic. lunar observation the finding of longitude by lunar distance.
lunar orbit
1 the orbit of the moon round the earth.
2 an orbit round the moon. lunar year a period of 12 lunar months.

Etymology

L lunaris f. luna moon

THESAURUS

lunar

Cynthian, S-shaped, anagalactic, asteroidal, astral, astrologic, astrologistic, astrologous, astronomic, astrophysical, bicorn, celestial, circumplanetary, cislunar, corniform, crescent, crescent-shaped, crescentic, crescentiform, crescentlike, empyreal, empyrean, equinoctial, extragalactic, falcate, falciform, galactic, heavenly, heliacal, horn-shaped, horned, intercosmic, interplanetary, intersidereal, interstellar, lunary, lunate, luniform, lunular, lunulate, menisciform, meniscoid, meteoric, meteoritic, moon-shaped, moonlike, nebular, nebulose, nebulous, planetal, planetarian, planetary, planetesimal, semicircular, semilunar, sickle-like, sickle-shaped, sidereal, sigmoid, solar, sphery, star-spangled, star-studded, starry, stellar, stellary, terrestrial, two-horned, uranic, zodiacal

ROGET THESAURUS

lunar

World

N world, creation, nature, universe, earth, globe, wide world, cosmos, kosmos, terraqueous globe, sphere, macrocosm, megacosm, music of the spheres, heavens, sky, welkin, empyrean, starry cope, starry heaven, starry host, firmament, Midgard, supersensible regions, varuna, vault of heaven, canopy of heaven, celestial spaces, heavenly bodies, stars, asteroids, nebulae, galaxy, milky way, galactic circle, via lactea, ame no kawa, sun, orb of day, Apollo, Phoebus, photosphere, chromosphere, solar system, planet, planetoid, comet, satellite, moon, orb of night, Diana, silver-footed queen, aerolite, meteor, planetary ring, falling star, shooting star, meteorite, uranolite, constellation, zodiac, signs of the zodiac, Charles's wain, Big Dipper, Little Dipper, Great Bear, Southern Cross, Orion's belt, Cassiopea's chair, Pleiades, colures, equator, ecliptic, orbit, astronomy, uranography, uranology, cosmology, cosmography, cosmogony, eidouranion, orrery, geodesy, star gazing, star gazer, astronomer, observatory, planetarium, cosmic, cosmical, mundane, terrestrial, terrestrious, terraqueous, terrene, terreous, telluric, earthly, geotic, under the sun, sublunary, subastral, solar, heliacal, lunar, celestial, heavenly, sphery, starry, stellar, sidereal, sideral, astral, nebular, uranic, in all creation, on the face of the globe, here below, under the sun, die Weltgeschichte ist das Weltergesicht, earth is but the frozen echo of the silent voice o, green calm below, blue quietness above, hanging in a golden chain this pendant World, nothing in nature is unbeautiful, silently as a dream the fabric rose, some touch of nature's genial glow, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, through knowledge we behold the World's creation.