1786. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1881. Lex. Bal., s.v.
Mooner, subs. (common).—An
idler; a gape-seed (q.v.).
Moon-eyed, adj. (old).—See quots.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Moon-eyed hen. A squinting wench.
1792. A. Young, Travels in France (1787-9), p. 75. The English mare that carries me . . . is going rapidly blind. She is moon-eyed.
1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Moon-eyed hen. A squinting prostitute.
Moonflaw. Moonflaw in the
brain, verb. phr. (old).—An
idiosyncrasy; a craze. See Bee
in the Bonnet.
1659. Brome, Queen and Concubine. I fear she has a moonflaw in her brains; She chides and fights that none can look upon her.
Moonlight (or Moonshine), subs.
(old).—1. Smuggled spirits. [From
the night-work of smugglers].
Verb. (Irish).—See quot.
1888. Daily Telegraph, 21 Nov. Colletty, the rent-warner, was a witness of a very unsatisfactory sort, and after he had deposed to his experience of being moonlighted in the thigh—Moon-*lighters, it appears, generally giving a grain or two, as another witness put it, in the legs of their victims.
Moonlight on the lake, subs. phr. (American).—Sarsaparilla. See Drinks.
A rush for moonlight, subs. phr. (American University).—An attempt at the prize for elocution.
Moonlighter, subs. (common).—1.
A prostitute. For synonyms see
Barrack-hack and Tart.
2. in pl. (Irish).—Men (c. 1880) enforcing the decrees of secret societies by violence. Their action was chiefly confined to the western counties, and their raids were nocturnal, whence the name. Their notices were signed 'Captain Moonlight.'
1882. Saturday Review, 30 Sep., p. 422. Taking moonlighters under his direct protection.
3. The same as Moonshiner (q.v.).
Moonlight-flitting, subs. (common).
See shooting the moon
(q.v.). Also London-flitting.
1802. Campbell, Journey, ii. 1. He made what is termed a moon-light flitting.
1892. Cassell's Sat. Jl., 28 Sep., p. 26, col. 3. He had done what is known in Lancashire as a moonleet flit, or, in other words, removed quietly in the dead of night, that nobody knew where he had gone.
Moonlighting, subs. (Irish).—Playing
the moonlighter (q.v.).
1888. Daily Chronicle, 17 Jan. The prisoners, with two other men, were arrested on a charge of moonlighting in county Clare.
Moon-man, subs. (old).—See quots.
1603-8. Dekker, Lanthorne and Candlelight, viii. A mooneman signifies in English a madman. . . . By a by-*name they are called gypsies, they call themselves Egiptians, others in mockery call them moonemen.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Moon-men. Gypsies.
1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.
3. (old).—A nocturnal robber. Also minions of the moon.
1597. Shakspeare, 1 Henry IV, i. 2. The fortune of us that are moon's men doth ebb and flow like the sea.
