Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A crescent.
  • noun In fortification, an outwork consisting of two faces and two little flanks, constructed to cover the curtain and shoulders of the bastion.
  • Crescent-shaped.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Fort.) A work constructed beyond the main ditch of a fortress, and in front of the curtain between two bastions, intended to defend the curtain; a ravelin. See ravelin.
  • noun (Physiol.) A crescentic mass of granular protoplasm present in the salivary glands.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective of furniture In the shape of a half-moon, i.e. semicircular.
  • noun A fortification constructed beyond the main ditch of a fortress, and in front of the curtain between two bastions, intended to defend the curtain; a ravelin.
  • noun biology A crescentic mass of granular protoplasm present in the salivary glands.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

French

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Examples

  • He described it as a demilune—meaning half moon—gaming table.

    Picky on Provenance Ralph Gardner Jr. 2011

  • A refined demilune table wrapped in rope, a lampshade crafted from metal mesh, and a petrified log used as an accent table are all creative ways to incorporate texture into an interior.

    Thom Filicia Style Thom Filicia 2008

  • And he laid his hand, as Drayton might have said, on that stout bastion, hornwork, ravelin, or demilune, which formed the outworks to the citadel of his purple isle of man.

    Westward Ho! 2007

  • He walked over to the demilune table and set down the Filofax, pulling a snow-white handkerchief out of the pocket of his shorts.

    The Merlot Murders Ellen Crosby 2006

  • We passed the demilune, we passed the culverin, bayoneting the artillerymen at their guns; we advanced across the two tremendous demilunes which flank the counterscarp, and prepared for the final spring upon the citadel.

    Novels by Eminent Hands 2006

  • He walked over to the demilune table and set down the Filofax, pulling a snow-white handkerchief out of the pocket of his shorts.

    The Merlot Murders Ellen Crosby 2006

  • We passed the demilune, we passed the culverin, bayoneting the artillerymen at their guns; we advanced across the two tremendous demilunes which flank the counterscarp, and prepared for the final spring upon the citadel.

    Burlesques 2006

  • He walked over to the demilune table and set down the Filofax, pulling a snow-white handkerchief out of the pocket of his shorts.

    The Merlot Murders Ellen Crosby 2006

  • He walked over to the demilune table and set down the Filofax, pulling a snow-white handkerchief out of the pocket of his shorts.

    The Merlot Murders Ellen Crosby 2006

  • Clinging there, my impressions were indelible: a glass with a small demilune of drink, a woman's satin robe over a chairback.

    The Vatican Rip Gash, Jonathan 1981

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