subs. (nautical).—1. An imaginary sail above the SKY-SCRAPER (q.v.); a MOON-SAIL (q.v.).
2. (common).—A Wiltshire man. [See quots.] Hence, a smuggler.
1767. RAY, Proverbs [BOHN (1893), 223], s.v.
1787. GROSE, A Provincial Glossary, etc. (1811), p. 93. Wiltshire MOON-RAKERS. Some Wiltshire rustics, as the story goes, seeing the figure of the moon in a pond, attempted to rake it out.
1811. GROSE and CLARKE, Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.
1865. OUIDA, Strathmore, ch. xiv. ‘It was fine moonlight, last night, my dear fellow, and Hampshire MOONRAKERS do go fishing after contraband goods, au clair de la lune, but I didn’t know you belonged to the fraternity!’
1887. PAYN, Glow-worm Tales, i. 182. In Wiltshire we are not fond of strangers; we are a simple race—some people even call us MOON-RAKERS.
1889. HUNTER, Encyclopædic Dictionary, s.v. MOON RAKER. Another version is, that some countrymen, raking for kegs of smuggled spirits which had been sunk in a pond, on being questioned by a revenue-officer, told him they were trying to rake that great cheese (the reflection of the moon) out of the water.
3. (common).—A blockhead. For synonyms, see BUFFLE and CABBAGE-HEAD.
