moonhood

English

Etymology

moon + -hood

Noun

moonhood (uncountable)

  1. The state or quality of being a moon.
    • 2000, "Pluto plus tard", The Economist, 28 September 2000:
      Calling Charon a moon, rather than a junior partner in a coalition, is thus stretching the definition of moonhood.
    • 2001, Mercury, Volume 30, page 82:
      Although they deserve moonhood every bit as much as their larger cousins, irregular satellites continue to puzzle planetary scientists.
    • 2005, Robert Young & Paul Wallace, "Keep an eye towards the sky: Cedartown stargazers' journal", The Cedartown Standard, 6 October 2005, page 4B:
      In fact, some of the smaller of the moons of Jupiter's 63 known moons may have taken this path to moonhood.
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