mooncalf

See also: moon-calf

English

Alternative forms

• moon-calf

Etymology

From moon +‎ calf, after a superstition that the moon caused abnormal fetal development.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmuːnkɑːf/

Noun

mooncalf (plural mooncalves)

1. (now rare) An abnormal mass within the uterus; a false conception. [from 16th c.]
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

     Thou art very Trinculo indeed! How camest thou to be the siege of this moon-calf? Can he vent Trinculos?

2. A poorly-conceived idea or plan. [from 17th c.]
3. A dreamer, someone absent-minded or distracted; a fool, simpleton. [from 17th c.]
   • 1902, John Kendrick Bangs, chapter 10, in Olympian Nights‎^[1], New York: Harper & Bros., page 185:

     “ […] you’re a jobbernowl and a doodle, a maundering mooncalf and a blockheaded numps, a gaby and a loon; you’re a Hatter!” I shrieked the last epithet.

   • 1957, Ogden Nash, “Come On In, The Senility Is Fine”, in You Can’t Get There From Here‎^[2], Boston: Little, Brown & Co., page 66:

     But I can think of no one but a mooncalf or a gaby
     Who would trust their own child to raise a baby.

   • 1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 463:

     He slipped it softly onto her unresisting finger and, like the unwise moncalf he was, kissed it.

Related terms

• moon
• moonstruck
• moonbat