Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) anal intercourse.

1974		P. Gent North Dallas Forty 254: ‘All I need now is moon pie,’ he said, grinning.
1978		R. Price Ladies’ Man (1985) 214: I knew there was no way I wasn’t going to go upstairs for a slice of moon pie.

(UK Und.) a link-boy.

c.1850

Duncombe New and Improved Flash Dict.

the bared buttocks, deliberately exhibited in public.

2002

Indy Windsurfing Photo Gallery 🌐 Here’s a photo of OJ (the windsurfer, not the murderer or the breakfast drink), doing a full moon during a sesh on Hatteras.

(US) secured to a punishment frame, known as a ‘horse’, with the head down and buttocks raised.

a.1989

Women in Command 16 in Murray & Murrell Lang. Sadomasochism (1989) 100: Another slave spent her day on the moon as it was called. She was strapped over a device that stood her ass in the air and was treated to a long dildo into her ass.

to bare one’s buttocks in public.

1965		Sex and the College Student 65: The exposure of buttocks or genitals to innocent bystanders as a kind of ribald prank or vulgar insult has provided many a lusty joke in the annals of literature [...] College students today identify this activity as ‘shooting the moon.’.
1978		R. Price Ladies’ Man (1985) 98: I bent down, whirled around and shot everybody a fast 360-degree moon.
1987		(con. c.1967) J. Ferrandino Firefight 23: They’d say Johnny got it while shooting a moon at them Congs.
1989		H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 39: Related expressions include [...] shooting beaver (female exhibitionism, similar to mooning or shooting moon which is — or was, in the 1960s — the public display of naked buttocks, also known as, when placed firmly against car windows, pressed ham).

1. to have sexual intercourse; thus of a man, to ejaculate.

1957

(con. 1943) A. Myrer Big War 150: I have never shot the moon with Lorraine. Never.

2. see shoot a moon

3. see also SE phrs. below.

a general excl. of disdain, dismissal, arrogant contempt.

1928

C. McKay Home to Harlem 48: ‘But it ain’t decent to scab,’ said Jake. ‘Decent mah black moon!’ shouted Zeddy.

(US) derog. term for one considered eccentric and possibly anti-establishment (both right/left).

2003		Rough Guide to Internet 333: So if you want to know the difference between a ‘blawg’ and a ‘barking moonbat’, stop off at : Blog Glossary http://samizdata.net/blog/blossary.html.
2004		PooterGeek July 🌐 Stories that caught my eye include [...] a defence of a non-moonbat anti-war campaigner.
2010		https://www.samizdata.net 🌐 [headline] The moonbat crazy right.
2014		D. Jenkins His Ownself 144: [O]ur left-wing, moonbat university professors [...] hiding behind ‘academic freedom’ to spout Marxist garbage at impressionable students.

(US) a black person.

1992

Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 55: Moon Cricket A black person.

(UK Und.) a link-boy who either robs those for whom he provides a light, or who guides his charges towards some villainous confederates who do the job for him.

1674		Head Canting Academy (2nd edn) 77: The Moon-Curser [...] waits at some Corner of Lincolns-Inn-Fields with a Link in his hand, who under the pretence of lighting you over the Fields, being late and few stirring, shall light you into a pack of Rogues [...] and so they will all joyn in the Robbery.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Moon-curser c. a Link-boy, or one that under Colour of lighting Men, Robs, them or leads them to a gang of Rogues, that will do it for them.
1719		A. Smith Lives of Most Notorious Highway-men, etc. (1926) II.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1754		Scoundrel’s Dict. 18: Link boy – Moon-curser or Glim-jack.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Moon curser, a link boy, (cant) link boys are said to curse the moon, because it renders their assistance unnecessary: these gentry frequently under colour of lighting passengers over kennels, or through dark passages, assist in robbing them.
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785].
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue [as cit. 1785].
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.

drunk.

1659		Mercurius Democritus 20-27 July 74: A notable Tooper [...] was elevated or Alevated [...] These Moon-ey’d Culls in this out latter Age, / More than the skies their madness do Presage.
1737		B. Franklin ‘Drinkers Dictionary’ in Pennsylvania Gazette 6 Jan. in AS XII:2 91: They come to be well understood to signify plainly that A MAN IS DRUNK. [...] Moon-eye’d.
1772		Bridges Burlesque Homer (3rd edn) 70: Sink me, says he, you moon-ey’d loon.
1941		‘More Tennessee Expressions’ in AS XVI:1 Feb. 447/2: moon-eyed. Intoxicated. ‘Sid gits mooneyed every Saturday night.’.

‘a squinting wench’ (Grose).

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1808		B. Bradshaw Hist. of Billy Bradshaw 10: In Black-boy alley I’d a ken, / A dog and fighting-cock, / Beside a saucy mooney’d hen, / Well known at Bridewell-dock.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1832		in Egan Bk of Sports 146: A saucy, tip-slang, moon-eyed, hen, / Who oft’ mills doll at block.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum 56: moon-eyed hen A squinting prostitute.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 50: Moon-eyed Hen, a squinting woman.

(US) an Asian person; thus moon-faced, moon-eyed, having Japanese or Asian features.

1870		E. Greey Queen’s Sailors I 302: ‘Most illustrious sir!’ exclaimed the foremost moon-face.
1874		Edinburgh Eve. News 21 Sept. 3/6: [from S.F. Bulletin] Miss Chung Fu, a noted moon-eyed belle.
1876		Dundee Courier (Scot.) 15 Apr. 3/5: The Asiatics [...] are setting on him, one moon-face with a hatchet, the second moon-face with a knife.
1928		M. West Pleasure Man (1997) Act I: What’s the idea of sending this moon-faced kimono over to me? Is he your interpreter?
1952		W.R. Burnett Little Men, Big World 77: Moon-face has been here about three weeks. He’s a garter-snapper.

(drugs) heroin.

1984

‘Derek Raymond’ He Died with His Eyes Open 106: I bet you were into your stepfather every time you got short of moonfeed.

(W.I.) a light-brown complexion.

1958

cited in Cassidy & LePage Dict. Jam. Eng. (1980).

1. (US drugs) cough syrup laced with amphetamine.

1973

R. Roth Sand in the Wind 226: ‘What is it?’ ‘Cough syrup with speed in it.’ [...] 228: It’s the moon juice.

2. (drugs) heroin.

1984

‘Derek Raymond’ He Died with His Eyes Open 106: Darling Eric has to have his moonjuice just the same.

see separate entries.

see separate entry.

see separate entries.

(drugs) a mixture of crack cocaine and heroin.

1989		Hartford Courant (CT) 1 Sept. A10/1: [M]oon rock or speedball [is] a combination of crack and heroin.
1992		T. Williams Crackhouse 74: She is talking with Headache about a freebase and heroin mixture called ‘moon rock’ or the new ‘bazuca’.
2002		‘Touré’ Portable Promised Land (ms.) 155: Wee Words (My Favorite Things) [...] Tical. Freebase. Maryjane. Moonrock.

see separate entries.

see shoot the moon

see moonman n.

1. (Aus.) a metaph. walking stick that implies sudden departure [shoot the moon ].

1915

Truth (Brisbane) 25 July 3/3: ‘My moonstick’s got a few nicks, but your own ain't no polished, walkin’-cane. Yer know just as much about foldin’ your blanket as me’.

2. (US black) a white man’s penis [SE moon, i.e. the ‘yellow’ colour + stick n.].

2000

Ebonics Primer at www.dolemite.com 🌐 moon stick Definition: caucasian’s penis. Example: I still can’t believe Shalanda rode his moon stick, damn oreo!

see separate entriy.

(US black) night-time.

1938		Pittsburgh Courier (PA) 26 Feb. 11/1: Dot Harris, whom he introduced [...] the other moon time as his new heart turner.
1941		Pittsburgh Courier (PA) 5 July 7/3: You should have seen pretty Bennie Williams’ face light up the other moon time.

a prostitute.

1846

Bell’s Life in Sydney 4 July 3/1: Margaret Blakeney, a measley faced moontrotter, charged Miss J Johnstone, another free-hearted damsel, with an unprovoked assault.

to abscond from a house or flat, taking one’s furniture and possessions, but avoiding payment of any outstanding rent, utility bills etc.

1889–90

Barrère & Leland Dict. of Sl., Jargon and Cant.

(Ulster) to lose one’s temper.

1996

C.I. Macafee Concise Ulster Dict.

see hand-me-down-the-moon under hand v.

1. extremely cheerful, delighted, esp. as a clichéd response attributed to sportspeople, particularly professional football players, when interviewed about a successful game or competition.

1891		Cambrian (Swansea) 24 Apr. 7/6: [Gladstone’s] contributions to this important department of our language are contained in a certain ‘Glynne Glossary,’ [...] a copy of which was recently discovered at an obscure bookstall, with the favourite initials W. E. G. upon the title page. We gather therefrom that Over the Moon means in tremendously or excessively high spirits, and no doubt had its origin in the famous cow which jumped over the moon.
1936		M. Kennedy Together and Apart 180: She didn’t know she had a brother and she’s over the moon .
1944		H. Ranfurly diary 22 Oct. in To War With Whitaker (1994) 290: The missus will be over the moon.
1974		G.F. Newman You Flash Bastard 148: Well done, Terry. Congratulations [...] Needless to say, the ACC’s over the moon.
1979		H. Leonard A Life (1981) Act II: You were over the moon: yes, you were.
1986		F. Taylor Auf Wiedersehen Pet Two 311: I’m just thrilled he persuaded Barry, ’cos I’m over the moon.
1997		P. Theroux Kowloon Tong 198: She’s chuffed [...] She’s over the moon.
2007		N. ‘Razor’ Smith Raiders 172: They gave the kid a grand for his whack and he was over the fucking moon.

2. emotionally excited.

2013

P. Abbott ‘The Higher the Heels’ in ThugLit Nov.-Dec. [ebook] "I don't know why I let myself get so over the moon about this guy.

1. (also bolt the moon) to abscond from a house or flat, taking one’s furniture and possessions but avoiding payment of any outstanding rent, utility bills etc; thus moon-shooter, one who absconds with their possessions but without paying the rent.

1825		Universal Songster I 70: She wished to gammon her landlord, and likewise bolt the moon, / With his goods and chattels .
1836		Comic Almanack Sept. 63: So we by night must take our flight, / For we must shoot the moon!
1842		J. Labern ‘I Don’t Like to See’ Comic Songs 9: I don’t like to see people Shooting the Moon.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open 99: Bolt the moon, to cheat the landlord by taking the goods away in the night, without paying the rent.
1849		Bell’s Life in Sydney 29 Sept. 3/2: [headline] Bolting the Moon.
1858		A. Mayhew Paved with Gold 10: The light spring-van, which at other times is used for enabling the neighbours to indulge in that exciting lunatic sport known as ‘shooting the moon’.
1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1868		‘I Am A Downy Bird’ in My Young Wife and I Songster 43: I’ve owed five quarters rent, / And wouldn’t ‘shoot the moon’.
1873		Sl. Dict. 288: Shoot the moon to remove furniture from a house in the night without paying the landlord.
1886		C. Osborne ‘Later On’ 🎵 The Landlord informs me he’s just ‘shot the moon’.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues IV 351/1: Moon-shooter.
1893–4		H. Lawson ‘Shooting the Moon’ in Roderick (1972) 149: Did you ever notice that people always shoot the moon when there’s no moon?
1896		Dly Gaz. for Middlesborough 4 Apr. 3/3: The man had ‘shot the moon,’ owing a quarter’s rent.
1899		E.W. Rogers [perf. Vesta Tilley] The Latest Chap on Earth 🎵 So fond of newness is he that he shifts his diggings once a week / He shoots the Moon? tut tut not true, ’tis merely love of things quite new.
1901		B. Pain De Omnibus 37: ’E shot the moon feerly successful, ’e did, and nutthink ter pye.
1908		Bulletin (Sydney) 3 Sept. 39/2: ‘Great heavens! they’ve gone! Look at the windows!’ / A small urchin sidled up. / ‘They shot ther moon larst night, boss! [...] Yer done in!’ / ‘What for; we’re not the landlord’s men?’.
1910		H. Champion ‘Never Let Your Braces Dangle’ 🎵 On a foggy afternoon once, we had to shoot the moon, / On the barrow I had got, bedstead, chairs and all the lot.
1933		‘George Orwell’ Down and Out in Complete Works I (1986) 37: If the Jew shoots the moon I shall be left without a roof.
1940		J. MacLaren-Ross ‘A Bit of a Smash in Madras’ in Memoirs of the Forties (1984) 290: He’s shot the moon. Blown off to Bangalore.
1957		G. Kersh Fowlers End (2001) 211–2: Half-way there I met Copper Baldwin, who asked: ‘Shooting the moon, cocko? Doing a flit?’.
1995		(con. 1880) P. Ackroyd Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem 135: Mrs Irving was afraid that they would, in the phrase of the period, ‘shoot the moon’ and cheat her by absconding after dark.

2. (US) to take a major gamble [ext. of sense 1 above].

1936		(con. 1920s) Dos Passos Big Money in USA (1966) 759: Well, we’ve got a couple of tricks up our sleeve . . . . We’re shootin’ the moon.
1979		S. King Dead Zone (1980) 372: He wanted to shoot the moon. But as Stillson set the Wheel in motion [...] Every number was a house number.
1989		Hackworth & Sherman About Face (1991) 120: He thought he was going to ‘shoot the moon’ [and] get all excited.

3. see also sl. phrs. above.