Word.ws English Dictionary

smuggler's moon

smuggler's moon noun: a moon that emits only dim light.

Noun

smuggler's moon

  1. A moon that emits only dim light.
    • On this hot, humid night, the moon, a smuggler's moon, rose like a giant orange ball from the swamp.1979, Albert Goldman, Grass Roots: Marijuana in America Today, page 184
    • The mountain was lit by a smuggler's moon by 10 p.m. and it was easier now to walk down.1982, The Himalayan Journal - Volume 38, page 67
  2. Synonym of dark moon.
    • It was that one time of the month when the moon turned coward and its back was all one could see. A smuggler's moon.1994, Jill Barnett, Dreaming, page 12
    • Above him, a thin cloud moved across the bright sliver of the moon. A smuggler's moon.1994, Sibylle Garrett, Knight's Corner, page 162
    Synonyms:
    dark moon

Examples of smuggler's moon in a sentence

  • A smuggler's moon, so they called it here on the Romney Marsh, where the southern shore of England teased the coast of France.1991, Christina Skye, The Black Rose, page 15:
  • On Wednesday evening (26th) the five bars and pubs on St Mary's were almost empty as regulars made the most of a smuggler's moon to return to the wreck in darkness to see what they could find.1996, Gard news, page 28:
  • "I can only see a few stars." "A smuggler's moon."2001, Cassie Miles, Undercover Protector, page 233:

Synonyms of smuggler's moon

Origin of smuggler's moon

So named because a smuggler at nighttime can pass by undetected or unnoticed due to the dim light.

Questions about smuggler's moon

What does smuggler's moon mean?
Smuggler's moon means a moon that emits only dim light.
How do you use smuggler's moon in a sentence?
A smuggler's moon, so they called it here on the Romney Marsh, where the southern shore of England teased the coast of France.
What part of speech is smuggler's moon?
Smuggler's moon is a noun.

Words near smuggler's moon in the dictionary

  1. smuggled
  2. smuggled past
  3. smuggler
  4. smuggler's bible
  5. smuggler's Bibles
  6. smuggler's moon
  7. smugglers
  8. smugglers' bibles
  9. smugglery
  10. smuggles
  11. smuggles past

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: smuggler's moon (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “smuggler's moon.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/smuggler%27s_moon. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.