blue moon
7
6.1
- noun
- /blu mun/
- Informal
:
luna azul
- Yeah, I know that you're really busy with your hair appointments and your Watsu massages and your attempts to stay young so your husband won't leave you, but here's an idea... why don't you try eating dinner with your child every once in a blue moon?
- once in a blue moon
Once in a blue moon you can get one of these.
- Once in a blue moon you can get one of these.
- These might be semi annual, this might be annual, this might be once in a blue moon.
- Once in a blue moon, I'd have a student come in and cry breakdown.
- Liners like this come across in a like once in a blue moon.
- And once in a blue moon, it sends an e-mail with a music with a music attached to it.
Examples
-
The night's rare occurrence of a blue moon seemed of little importance to me.
Blog text (19) -
So, yeah, blunders happen, but it tends to be once in a blue moon, and not multiple times each week.
Blog text (27) -
Once in a blue moon you can get one of these.
-
Not once in a blue moon does someone win every single game they play.
-
I will buy them once in a blue moon.
Blog text (18) -
I rarely gamble or buy lottery tickets (only once in a blue moon, just for fun).
Blog text (17) -
If what you do is rare or openings come up once in a blue moon, you may be at this awhile.
Blog text (6) -
Once in a blue moon... ...an exceptional young lady comes along... ...who truly exemplifies what it means to be a D.E.B.
-
Once in a blue moon, Lily telephoned her from East Portage.
Fiction book (1994) -
A blue moon is a rare occasion when the moon appears twice in one month.
Synonyms
31
6.2
Something that is not common and happens only sometimes
A very rare event that almost never happens
How Rare
8
5.6
- Informal
7
6.1
582
4.1
13
4.5
285
2.8
797
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
blue + moon
The meaning 'a very rare event' is not directly derivable from 'blue' (a color) + 'moon' (the satellite); a learner who knows those words would most likely interpret it literally as a colored moon rather than as rarity. The rarity sense is idiomatic (as in 'once in a blue moon') and lexicalized, so without prior exposure B1 learners would not predict this meaning from the constituents.
Etymology
The noun blue moon comes from a name for an extra full moon in a month, a second full moon in one month, which does not happen very often. So when we say something happens 'once in a blue moon', we mean it happens 'very rarely'.