[a. F. lune:—L. lūna moon.]

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  1.  Geom. The figure formed on a sphere or on a plane by two arcs of circles that enclose a space.

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1704.  J. Harris, Lex. Techn., Lunes or Lunulæ.

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1839.  in Penny Cycl., XIV. 199.

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1854.  Moseley, Astron., xxxiv. (ed. 4), 119. Her [the moon’s] crescent … now presents the appearance of a lune.

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1891.  Cayley, in Coll. Papers (1897), XIII. 205. The two lunes ACB and ABD of figure 6.

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  2.  Anything in the shape of a crescent or half-moon.

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1706–9.  Watts, Lyric Poems, II. Vict. Poles over Osman, 149. Faithful Janizaries … Fall’n in just Ranks or Wedges, Lunes or Squares.

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1805.  W. Herschel, in Phil. Trans., XCV. 36. This made them [the globules] gradually assume the shape of half moons … The dark part of these little lunes … did not appear sensibly less than the enlightened part.

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