lunar

adjective

1. 1

   Of, pertaining to, or resembling the Moon (that is, Luna, the Earth's moon).

   lunar observations a lunar eclipse

   By two lunar obſervations the long[itude] was 9° 57′ 30″ E. agreeing within 37′ by the watch, though the day before the long. by moon and watch differed 2° 35′.

   You know nothing about fixing the lunar rays into a ſolid ſubſtance, but you muſt not therefore ſay that this is impoſſible. It can be done, and I can do it. Theſe rays, reduced to a ſubtle powder, and blown on the ſurface of the infant brain, ſtimulate it in future life, by their quality of pricking.

   The transformation of primitive lunar deities into solar or heavenly gods are often associated with the transfer of magical and priestly functions to the men and the development of male priesthoods. [...] Or again, in Peru, the official cult of the lunar deity at Cuzco was served by colleges of priestesses, while the service of the Sun-god was performed by male priests.

2. 2

   Shaped like a crescent moon; lunate.

   Her tears purſu'd her words, and while ſhe ſpoke / The Goddeſs nodded, and her altar ſhook: / The temple doors, as with a blaſt of wind, / Were heard to clap; the lunar horns that bind / The brows of Iſis caſt a blaze around; / The trembling timbrel made a murm'ring ſound.

   The images therefore which Laban worſhipped were probably lunar amulets, or types of the ark in the form of a creſcent.

3. 3

   Extremely high.

   Julian wolfed down the rest of his dinner and when he accompanied Michelle back to her apartment his spirits were positively lunar.

   Although Little Chandler hungers to “express the melancholy of his soul in verse,” to ascend out of the depths of his solitary confinement to the lunar heights of the poet, he can do no more than expand into a garrulous bully or shrink into an infant, always remaining his own inadequate self, like an inflatable ball that changes in size but never in substance.

   House prices were in freefall, if you owned one. They remained laughably lunar to the rent-bound.

4. 4

   historical(Believed to be) influenced by the Moon, as in character, growth, or properties.

   Some of the Ancients, and likewiſe diuers of the Moderne VVriters, that haue laboured in Naturall Magick, have noted a Sympathy, between the Sunne, Moone, and ſome Principall Starres; And certaine Herbes, and Plants. And they haue denominated ſome Herbes Solar, and ſome Lunar; [...]

5. 5

   obsoleteOf or pertaining to silver (which was symbolically associated with the Moon by alchemists).

6. 6

   Of or pertaining to travel through space between the Earth and the Moon, or exploration and scientific investigation of the Moon.

noun

1. 1

   The middle bone of the proximal series of the carpus in the wrist, which is shaped like a half-moon.

   The carpal bones are usually described as being capable of being luxated from the lower end of the radius forwards or backwards, inwards or outwards. The case backwards, which has been stated to be the most frequent, is facilitated by the direction of the convex articular surfaces of the scaphoid, lunar, and cuneiform bones, which slope more backwards than forwards.

   There are two larger bones of the wrist called the scaphoid and lunar; these form a large ball, and this is received into the lower end of the radius.

   The scaphoid and lunar (wrist bones) are separate, whereas in Carnivores they are united perhaps to give greater strength to the wrist.

2. 2

   An observation of a lunar distance (“the angle between the Moon and another celestial body”), especially for establishing the longitude of a ship at sea.

Forms

plural

lunars