GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English
Found 2 definitions
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Month , n. [OE. month, moneth, AS. mōnð, mōnað; akin to mōna moon, and to D. maand month, G. monat, OHG. mānōd, Icel. mānuðr, mānaðr, Goth. mēnōþs. √272. See Moon.] One of the twelve portions into which the year is divided; the twelfth part of a year, corresponding nearly to the length of a synodic revolution of the moon, -- whence the name. In popular use, a period of four weeks is often called a month.1913 Webster
☞ In the common law, a month is a lunar month, or twenty-eight days, unless otherwise expressed. Blackstone. In the United States the rule of the common law is generally changed, and a month is declared to mean a calendar month. Cooley's Blackstone.
1913 WebsterA month mind. (a) A strong or abnormal desire. [Obs.] Shak. (b) A celebration made in remembrance of a deceased person a month after death. Strype. -- Calendar months, the months as adjusted in the common or Gregorian calendar; April, June, September, and November, containing 30 days, and the rest 31, except February, which, in common years, has 28, and in leap years 29. -- Lunar month, the period of one revolution of the moon, particularly a synodical revolution; but several kinds are distinguished, as the synodical month, or period from one new moon to the next, in mean length 29 d. 12 h. 44 m. 2.87 s.; the nodical month, or time of revolution from one node to the same again, in length 27 d. 5 h. 5 m. 36 s.; the sidereal, or time of revolution from a star to the same again, equal to 27 d. 7 h. 43 m. 11.5 s.; the anomalistic, or time of revolution from perigee to perigee again, in length 27 d. 13 h. 18 m. 37.4 s.; and the tropical, or time of passing from any point of the ecliptic to the same again, equal to 27 d. 7 h. 43 m. 4.7 s. -- Solar month, the time in which the sun passes through one sign of the zodiac, in mean length 30 d. 10 h. 29 m. 4.1 s.
1913 Webster -
Sidereal , a. [L. sidereus, from sidus, sideris, a constellation, a star. Cf. Sideral, Consider, Desire.]
- Relating to the stars; starry; astral; as, sidereal astronomy.1913 Webster
- (Astron.) Measuring by the apparent motion of the stars; designated, marked out, or accompanied, by a return to the same position in respect to the stars; as, the sidereal revolution of a planet; a sidereal day.1913 Webster
Sidereal clock, day, month, year. See under Clock, Day, etc. -- Sideral time, time as reckoned by sideral days, or, taking the sidereal day as the unit, the time elapsed since a transit of the vernal equinox, reckoned in parts of a sidereal day. This is, strictly, apparent sidereal time, mean sidereal time being reckoned from the transit, not of the true, but of the mean, equinoctial point.
1913 Webster
- Relating to the stars; starry; astral; as, sidereal astronomy.