Chapter Monumental Figures to Moots of M by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

teeth” (“Il veut prendre la lune avec les dents”), alluding to the old proverb about “the moon,” and a “green cheese.”
   To cast beyond the moon. To make extravagant conjectures; to cast your thoughts or guesses beyond all reason.
   To level at the moon. To be very ambitious; to aim in shooting at the moon.
   You have found an elephant in the moon - found a mare's nest. Sir Paul Neal, a conceited virtuoso of the seventeenth century, gave out that he had discovered “an elephant in the moon.” It turned out that a mouse had crept into his telescope, which had been mistaken for an elephant in the moon. Samuel Butler has a satirical poem on the subject called The Elephant in the Moon.
   You would have me believe, I suppose, that the moon is a green cheese- i.e. the most absurd thing possible. A green cheese is a cream cheese which is eaten green or fresh, and is not kept to mature like other cheeses.
   Man in the moon. (See Man.)
   Hares sacred to the moon, not because Diana was a great huntress, but because the Hindus affirm that the outline of a hare is distinctly visible on the moon.
   Once in a blue moon. (See Blue.)

Moon-calf is an inanimate, shapeless mass (Pliny; Natural History, x. 64). This abortion was supposed to be produced by the influence of the moon. The primary meaning of calf is not the young of a cow, but the issue arising “from throwing out,” as a push, a protuberance; hence the calves of the legs.

“A false conception, called mola, i.e. moon-calf . . . a lump of flesh without shape or life.”- Holland: Pliny, vii. 16.

Moon-drop In Latin, virus lunare, a vaporous drop supposed to be shed by the moon on certain herbs and other objects, when influenced by incantations.

“Upon the corner of the moon,
There hangs a vaporous drop profound;
I'll catch it ere it come to ground.”
Shakespeare: Macbeth, iii. 5.

Moon-maker [Sagendë Nah], a surname given to the Veiled Prophet (q.v.), who caused a moon to issue from a deep well, so brilliant that the real moon was eclipsed by it.

Moon-rakers The people of Wiltshire are so called. In the “good old times” they were noted smugglers, and one day, seeing the coastguard on the watch, they sunk in the sea some smuggled whisky. When they supposed the coast was clear they employed rakes to get their goods in hand again, when lo! the coastguard reappeared and demanded of them what they were doing. Pointing to the reflection of the moon in the water, they replied, “We are trying to rake out that cream-cheese yonder.”

Moon's Men Thieves and highway-men who ply their trade by night.

“The fortune of us that are but Moon's-men doth ebb and flow like the sea.”- Shakespeare: 1 Henry IV., i. 2.

Moonlight Flitting (A). A clandestine removal of one's furniture during the night, to avoid paying one's rent or having the furniture seized in payment thereof.

Moonstone A mineral so called on account of the play of light which it exhibits. Wilkie Collins has a novel called The Moonstone.

“The moonstone contains bluish-white spots, which, when held to the light, present a . . . . silvery play of colour not unlike that of the moon.”- Ure: Chemical Dictionary.

Moor-slayer or Mata-moros. A name given to St. James, the patron-saint of Spain, because in almost all encounters with the Moors he came on his white horse to the aid of the Christians. So, at least, it is said.

Moors In the Middle Ages, the Europeans called all Mahometans Moors, in the same manner as the Eastern nations called all inhabitants of Europe Franks. Camoens, in the Lusiad, terms the Indians “Moors.” (Bk. viii.)

Moore (Thomas), called “Anacreon Moore,” because the character of his poetry resembles that of Anacreon, the Greek poet of love and wine. He also translated Anacreon's Odes. (1779-1852.)

Moot Point (A). A doubtful or unsettled question. The Anglo-Saxon motian is “to debate,” and a moot point is one sub judice, or under debate.