luna

plural lunas

1. biologyA 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!”

   1944, Elizabeth Enright, Then There Were Five, Farrar & Rinehart, page 80

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   On the previous evening we had discovered with delight a luna with the fabulous moons, one on each pale green wing.

   1969, Sterling North, “An Introduction to Butterflies and Moths”, in Boys’ Life, May 1969 issue, Boy Scouts of America, page 64

   Spray BT on your young oak to protect against gypsy moths, and you wipe out future lunas, cecropias, and everything else on the leaves, along with the pests.

   2010, Sally Roth (contributor), in Judy Pray (compiler), Garden Wisdom & Know-How: Everything You Need to Know to Plant, Grow, and Harvest, Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, Inc., page 348

2. chiefly Catholicism and AnglicanismChristianityA lunette: a crescent-shaped receptacle, often glass, for holding the (consecrated) host (the bread of communion) upright when exposed in the monstrance.First known use 19th c.

   The luna, which is a piece of glass in the shape of a moon, contains the Blessed Sacrament, previously consecrated. The luna is then placed in the middle of the sunburst of the monstrance.

   2007, John Trigilio, Kenneth Brighenti, The Catholicism Answer Book: The 300 Most Frequently Asked Questions, Sourcebooks, Inc., →ISBN, page 156

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   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 […]

   1907 May, “Dominicanus”, “The Rosary and the Blessed Sacrament”, in the Dominican Friars, The Rosary Magazine, Volume 30, Number 5, page 494

   This receptacle is called a “luna” or “lunula” (a moon, or a little moon), and has glass on either side, so that the Host may be seen when enclosed therein. […] ¶ […] ¶ The ciborium, the pyx and luna of the ostensorium are blessed with a simpler formula than that used for the chalice, and […] ¶ […] ¶ The chalice, the paten, the luna and the pyx are sacred things, true sacramentals, and are worthy of deepest reverence; for […]

   1917, John F. Sullivan, The Externals of the Catholic Church, BiblioLife, LLC, published 2009, →ISBN, pages 115–116

   Synonyms: lunette, lunula

plural lunas

1. HawaiiA foreman on a plantation.

   Capital punishment was outlawed by the government but some plantation managers and luna still delivered lashings and other forms of abuse.

   2012, Julia Flynn Siler, Lost Kingdom, Grove Press, page 35

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   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.

   1922 June, U. G. Murphy, “The Japanese Problem in Hawaii: How the Task of Christianizing and Americanizing the Oriental is Progressing”, in The Friend, volume 91, number 6, page 130

   […] haoles could not visualize Chinese or Japanese in positions of authority. And from sad experience, the great plantation owners had discovered that the Americans they could get to serve as lunas were positively no good. Capable Americans expected office jobs and incapable ones were unable to control the Oriental […]

   1959, James Michener, Hawaii, Fawcett Crest, published 1986, →ISBN, page 737

   After the day was over I went to the luna to count my day but he would not. Then I went to him the second time and he said he would not put it down.

   2000, Sally Engle Merry, Colonizing Hawai'i: the cultural power of law, page 321

1. Romanhuman sciencesThe sister of Aurora and Sol; the goddess of the moon; equivalent to the Greek Selene.
2. poeticliteratureThe Earth's Moon.

   Luna that ne'er shines by day.

   1868, George Villiers Duke of Buckingham, Edward Arber, The Rehearsal: With Illustrations from Previous Plays, Etc, page 129

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   He has but little prudence, no apprehension of consequences, and none of that melancholy which in tempraments of Luna and Venus is generally felt, and from which he is saved by the combination of Mars and Mercury.

   1896, The Era Almanack, Dramatic & Musical, page 22

   The different visible shapes of Luna are called her phases.

   1909, Govind H. Keskar, Combined Introductory Astrology, page 14

   Lagrange point L1 is the perfect location for humanity's next major space station, the natural gateway to the moon. This one-of-a-kind point in space is located on the direct line between Earth and Luna about 200,000 miles from Earth, or conversely, a mere 39,000 miles above the geometric center of Luna's nearside.

   2011, Charles Lee Lesher, Aldrin Station - Rise of Luna

3. A female given name from Latin.

   A few seconds later, Luna Lovegood emerged, trailing behind the rest of the class, a smudge of earth on her nose, and her hair tied in a knot on the top of her head.

   2003, J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 236

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   - - - 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.

   1837, James Hogg, “The Mysterious Bride”, in Talks and Sketches: The Shepherd's Calendar, Blackie & Son, page 343

1. rareuncountablegovernmentArgent (silver), in the postmedieval practice of blazoning the tinctures of certain sovereigns' (especially British monarchs') coats as planets.

   The third, the Ensign of Ireland, which is, Jupiter, an Harp Sol, stringed Luna.

   1737, Benjamin Martin, Bibliotheca Technologica: Or, a Philological Library, page 631

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   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.

   1693, Richard Blome, The Art of Heraldry, in two parts ... second edition ..., pages 76-77

   George [...] Ist. Mars, three Lions passant guardant in Pale Sol, for the Arms of England, Impal'd with Scotland, i.e. Sol, a Lion rampant within a double Tressure counterflory Mars. 2d. Jupiter, three Fleurs de Lis Sol, for the Arms of France. 3d. Jupiter, an Irish Harp Sol, stringed Luna, for Ireland. 4th. Seme party per Pale, and per Chevron enarche, in the Ist Mars, two Lions passant guardant Sol, for Brunswick. In the 2d Partition Sol, semy of Hearts Mars, and a Lion rampant Jupiter, armed and langued of the First, for Luneburg. The base is Mars, a Horse currant Luna, over these last on an Inescocheon, Constantine's Crown.

   1718, Samuel Kent, The Grammar of Heraldry … Second Edition

   8. Tierce in Mantle, first Mars, two Lions passant-guardant in pale, Sol, for Brunswick; 2d Sol, Semi of Hearts proper, a Lion rampant Jupiter, for Lunenburgh; 3d, ente en Point, Mars, an Horse currant Luna, for Saxony.

   1735, Francis Nichols, The Irish Compendium … vol. III of the British Compendium, second edition, page 80

2. obsoleteuncountablealchemySilver.

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   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).

   2013, John Read, From Alchemy to Chemistry