mooncalf

plural mooncalves · alternative moon-calf

1. archaicAn abnormal mass within the uterus; a false conception.First known use 16th c.

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

   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]

2. A poorly conceived idea or plan.First known use 17th c.
3. A dreamer, someone absent-minded or distracted; a fool, simpleton.First known use 17th c.

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

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

   2 more examples

   “[…] 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.

   1902, John Kendrick Bangs, chapter 10, in Olympian Nights, New York: Harper & Bros., page 185

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

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