A Dictionary of the English Language
                        A Digital Edition of the 1755 Classic by Samuel Johnson
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Moon-calf

View Scan · View Transcription · from page 1321

View Scan · View Transcription · from page 1321

Moon-calf. n.s. [moon and calf.]

  1. A monster; a false conception: supposed perhaps anciently to be produced by the influence of the moon.

    How cam'st thou to be the siege of this moon-calf. Shak.

  2. A dolt; a stupid fellow.

    The potion works not on the part design'd,
    But turns his brain, and stupifies his mind;
    The sotted moon-calf gapes.     Dryden's Juvenal.

Sources: Dryden, John (788) · Shakespeare's Tempest (50)

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Cite this page: Johnson, Samuel. "Moon-calf." A Dictionary of the English Language: A Digital Edition of the 1755 Classic by Samuel Johnson. Edited by Brandi Besalke. Last modified: November 9, 2012. https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/moon-calf/.

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