moon-beam

See also: moon beam and moonbeam

English

Noun

moon-beam (plural moon-beams)

1. Archaic form of moonbeam.
   • 1807, [Germaine] de Staël Holstein, translated by D[ennis] Lawler, “[Book II. Corinna at the Capitol.] Chap[ter] IV.”, in Corinna; or, Italy. […], volume I, London: […] Corri, […]; and sold by Colburn, […], and Mackenzie, […], →OCLC, page 100:

     The silence of the place; the pale waves of the Tiber, the moon-beams, which shed their mild radiance upon the statues placed on the bridge, and gave to those statues the appearance of white spectres, steadfastly regarding the current of the waters, and that of time, which no longer concerned them; […]

   • 1822, [Walter Scott], chapter X, in The Pirate. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 248:

     Were there no stockings of Zetland wool soft enough for these pretty feet and ancles, that glance so white in the moon-beam?

   • 1868, Albert Barnes, Notes, Critical, Explanatory, and Practical, on the Book of Psalms, volume III, London: […] Edward Knight, […]; sold by Hamilton, Adams, & Co., […], page 257:

     Andersen (Orient. Reise-Beschreib. i. 8) refers to an effect, which he says is common, and which he had often seen, of sleeping in the moon-beams, of making the neck stiff, so that it could not be turned from side to side as before.