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November 4, 2009 by Grant Barrett

Mooncalf

In a tradition of uncovering unkind words for people, today’s word of the day is mooncalf, meaning a fool or a freak. It formerly was a name for an unformed embryo, said to have been created by the influence of the moon. You can find it in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, an English reader for schoolchildren, and Robert Nares’ 1822 dictionary. They’re also mentioned in H.G. Wells’ The First Men in the Moon as actual cattle-like creatures.

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