subs. (old).—See quots.

1

  1609.  DEKKER, Lanthorne and Candlelight, viii. A MOONMAN signifies in English a mad-man … By a by-name they are called Gipsies, they call themselves Egiptians, others in mockery call them MOON-MEN.

2

  c. 1696.  B. E., A New Dictionary of the Canting Crew, s.v.

3

  1785.  GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. MOON-MEN. Gypsies.

4

  1811.  GROSE and CLARKE, Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

5

  3.  (old).—A nocturnal robber. Also MINIONS OF THE MOON.

6

  1597.  SHAKESPEARE, 1 Henry IV., i. 2. The fortune of us that are MOON’S MEN doth ebb and flow like the sea.

7