Luna

//ˈluːnə// name, noun

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    The sister of Aurora and Sol; the goddess of the moon; equivalent to the Greek Selene. Roman
  2. 2
    The name of Earth's moon; Moon. poetic

    "Luna that ne'er shines by day."

  3. 3
    A female given name from Latin.

    "- - - and it so happened, that in one of old Bryan's daughters named Luna, or more familiarly Loony, he perceived, or thought he perceived, some imaginary similarity in form and air to the lovely apparition."

Noun
  1. 1
    A luna moth: a member of species Actias luna.

    "“Gee,” whispered Oliver. He sat there staring. “A luna! I never thought I’d see a real luna!”"

  2. 2
    A foreman on a plantation. Hawaii

    "There are several reasons why the Hawaiian-born Japanese boys and girls do not take kindly to plantation labor, but one of the chief reasons is the objection to the kind of lunas who oversee the work of the laborers."

  3. 3
    Argent (silver), in the postmedieval practice of blazoning the tinctures of certain sovereigns' (especially British monarchs') coats as planets. rare, uncountable

    "4. Luna, a Mantle of Estate, Mars doubled Ermine, ouched Sol, garnished with Strings fastned thereunto fretways dependent, and tasselled of the same. [...] These Arms do belong to the Town of Beckbock in Wales."

  4. 4
    A lunette: a crescent-shaped receptacle, often glass, for holding the (consecrated) host (the bread of communion) upright when exposed in the monstrance.

    "The Bread of Angels is first taken from the tabernacle, where it rests in the luna, and placed upon the altar, covered with a corporal. After genuflecting, the priest puts the luna containing the Blessed Sacrament on its throne—the monstrance—and elevates it […]"

  5. 5
    Silver. obsolete, uncountable

    "The association of the heavenly bodies with known metals and also with human organs and destinies goes back to ancient Chaldea, the land of astrologers. In Chaucer’s words: ‘The seven bodies eek, lo hear anon. Sol gold is, and Luna silver we declare; Mars yron, Mercurie is quyksilver; Saturnian leed; and Jubitur is tyn, and Venus coper, by my fathers kyn.’ […] Corresponding names were bestowed upon salts of these metals by the alchemists, and some of them have persisted down to the present day. Some examples are lunar caustic (silver nitrate); vitriol of Venus (copper sulphate); sugar of Saturn (lead acetate); and vitriol of Mars, or Martial vitriol (ferrous sulphate)."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin lūna (“moon; month; crescent”).

Etymology 2

From Hawaiian luna (“leader; supervisor”).

Etymology 3

From Middle English lune, luna (“the moon”), from Latin lūna/Lūna, from Proto-Indo-European *lówksneh₂. Doublet of Roxane.

Etymology 4

From Middle English lune, luna (“the moon”), from Latin lūna/Lūna, from Proto-Indo-European *lówksneh₂. Doublet of Roxane.

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