Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Shaped like a crescent.
  • noun Archaeology A small stone artifact, probably an arrowhead, with a blunt straight edge and a sharpened, crescent-shaped back, especially characteristic of the Mesolithic Period.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Crescent-shaped, or like the moon in its first quarter; having a figure formed by a part of a circle cut off by the segment of a larger circle.
  • In zoology, same as lunated, 2.

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

  • adjective Crescent-shaped; resembling the crescent moon

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

  • adjective Shaped like a crescent.
  • noun archaeology A small stone artifact, probably an arrowhead, with a blunt straight edge and a sharpened, crescent-shaped back, especially characteristic of the Mesolithic Period.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective resembling the new moon in shape

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin lūnātus, past participle of lūnāre, to bend like a crescent, from lūna, moon; see leuk- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin lunatus ("crescent-shaped"), from luna ("moon").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word lunate.

Examples

  • If the terms lunate, tunulate or crefcent-JJjaped be objected to, we may ufe the periphrafis, JJjaped like a crcfccni, for any form of a leaf, &c. refembling the moon in any period of her firfi: quarter; fince tills term does not occur very frequently.

    The language of botany : being a dictionary of the terms made use of in that science, principally by Linneus ... 1793

  • Frenum: that which holds things together: a lunate or triangular portion at the inner and hinder base of the wing in Odonata and Trichoptera; see tendo.

    Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology John. B. Smith

  • Fruiting in summer: Plant fleshy, sterile part mostly with lunate segments.

    The Fern Lover's Companion A Guide for the Northeastern States and Canada George Henry Tilton

  • VESPERUGO TICKELLI. HABITAT.--Chybassa, Jashpur, and Sirguja. DESCRIPTION.--Head broad and flat; labial glands developed; ears moderate, rounded above; outer edge straight, emarginate opposite base of tragus, terminating in a small lobe; tragus lunate; tail long; last vertebra free. The face is more clad with fur than in other species of this genus; fur of the body pale, straw brown above, pale buff beneath.

    Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon Robert Armitage Sterndale 1870

  • The lunate may be displaced forward by forcible dorsiflexion of the hand, and forms a projection beneath the flexor tendons; there is usually loss of sensibility in the distribution of the ulnar nerve in the hand.

    Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities—Head—Neck. Sixth Edition. Alexander Miles 1893

  • The navicular (scaphoid) and lunate (semilunar) are those most commonly fractured, usually by indirect violence, by forced dorsiflexion from a fall on the extended hand.

    Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities—Head—Neck. Sixth Edition. Alexander Miles 1893

  • In one section, Ms. Falk declares: "Dart had mistakenly identified the lambdoid suture of the skull that had been imprinted on Taung's endocast as the lunate sulcus!"

    Bones That Tell a Tale Brian Switek 2011

  • I think fish with lunate tail fins (meaning crescent or sickle-shaped) such as tuna, various jacks, and marlin can exert more proportionately more force than those with broad tails such as bass or trout.

    What Fish Pulls the Hardest? 2009

  • I think fish with lunate tail fins (meaning crescent or sickle-shaped) such as tuna, various jacks, and marlin can exert more proportionately more force than those with broad tails such as bass or trout.

    Uncategorized Blog Posts 2009

  • In her estimation, experts misinterpreted some of the intricate crevices and lumps on this brain cast, leading to the mistaken assumption that a feature called the lunate sulcus was in a position similar to ours, when the lunate sulcus was actually in a position more similar to nonhuman apes.

    Bones That Tell a Tale Brian Switek 2011

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Your name is not Luna, is it?

    July 23, 2011