Word of the Day

: May 3, 2012

lunette

noun loo-NET

What It Means

1 a : something that has the shape of a crescent or half-moon: as

b : an opening in a vault especially for a window

c : the surface at the upper part of a wall that is partly surrounded by a vault which the wall intersects and that is often filled by windows or by mural painting

d : a low crescentic mound (as of sand) formed by the wind

2 : the figure or shape of a crescent moon

lunette in Context

"All the windows and doors were topped with lunettes of small-paned glass." - From Theodore Dreiser's 1912 novel The Financier

"Past the main doorway, visitors enter the rotunda by walking beneath a striking lunette mural, measuring 84 by 264 inches, painted and signed by Cdr. Dwight C. Shepler." - From an article by Wendi Winters in The Capital (Annapolis, MD), January 14, 2012

Did You Know?

"Lunette," a word borrowed from French, looks like it should mean "little moon" - "luna" being Latin for "moon" and "-ette" being a diminutive suffix. There is indeed some 17th-century evidence of the word being used for a small celestial moon, but that meaning is now obsolete. Earlier, in the 16th century, "lunette" referred to a horseshoe having only the front semicircular part - a meaning that still exists but is quite rare. "Lunette" has other meanings too rare for our Collegiate Dictionary but included in our Unabridged. Among these are "a blinder especially for a vicious horse" and, in the plural form, "spectacles." ("Lunettes" is the usual term for eyeglasses in modern French.) The oldest meaning of "lunette" still in common use is "something shaped like a crescent or half-moon," which our evidence dates to circa 1639.