1593. G. HARVEY, Pierce’s Supererogation [GROSART (1884), ii. 62]. You may discourse … I wott not what maruelous egges in MOONESHINE.
d. 1667. JER. TAYLOR [in Wks. (1835), iii. 126]. Labouring for nothings, and preaching all day for shadows and MOONSHINE.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. MOONSHINE. A matter or mouthful of MOONSHINE, a trifle, nothing.
2. (common).—See quots.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. MOONSHINE. The white brandy smuggled on the coasts of Kent and Sussex, and the gin in the north of Yorkshire, are also called MOONSHINE.
1819. SCOTT, The Bride of Lammermoor [Saunders MOONSHINE, a smuggler].
1884. Notes and Queries, 24 May, p. 401. MOONSHINE signifies smuggled spirits, which were placed in holes or pits and removed at night. Ibid. At Piddinghoe they dig for MOONSHINE.
3. (old).—A month.
1605. SHAKESPEARE, King Lear, i. 2. 5.
| For that I am some twelve or fourteen MOONSHINES | |
| Lag of a brother? |
4. (old).—A dish of poached eggs served with a sauce.
1605. SHAKESPEARE, King Lear, ii. 2. 35. Draw, you rogue! for, though it be night, yet the moon shines; I’ll make a sop o’ th’ MOONSHINE of you.
Adj. (colloquial).—1. Nocturnal; (2) empty; and (3) trivial.
1596. SHAKESPEARE, Merry Wives of Windsor, v. 5. 42. You MOONSHINE revellers.
GILDED MOONSHINE, subs. phr. (old).—See quot.
1823. BADCOCK (‘Jon Bee’), Dictionary of the Turf, etc., s.v. GILDED MOONSHINE—sham bills of exchange; ‘no effects.’
