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Glite Dictionary
last quarter

last quarter

4 4.1
Half the Moon is lit when it comes after a full moon and before a new moon
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : cuarto menguante
  • Jupiter reaches opposition, 4 P.M. PDT. Last Quarter Moon is at 4:43 A.M. PDT.
  • last quarter moon

Examples

  • The Moon passes 3 degrees south of Saturn, 2 P.M. PST. Last Quarter Moon is at 11:51 P.M. PST.

    Academic text (2007)

  • With the morning sky washed out by a last-quarter moon, I decided to accommodate Steve by hunting earlier than usual.

    Academic text (1994)

  • Mercury reaches greatest eastern elongation (18), 9 A.M. PST; Neptune is in conjunction with the Sun, 8 A.M. PST; Last Quarter Moon is at 1:51 A.M. PST.

    Academic text (2007)

  • The Moon, just one day past last quarter, will be in the sky.

  • Visible from Mexico to the Canadian border, the last quarter moon will slide in front of Saturn.

  • The moon is in the last quarter and fading fast, encouraging daytime movement.

Synonyms

half-moon
vslast quarter
1 2.6

A time when half of the Moon appears lit by the Sun

refers specifically to the later of those two half-lit points in the cycle

Surface Forms

last quarter singular
last quarters plural

Morphology

last + quarter

The meaning is a direct composition of 'last' (final) + 'quarter' (a fourth part or time segment) to mean the final fourth of the lunar cycle; this is a straightforward temporal/partitive construction. Such partitioning of cycles is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both words should be able to infer the lunar-phase sense.

Etymology

Last quarter comes from dividing the Moon's cycle into four parts. In the last quarter the Moon shows half its face and it is the final part before the new moon, so the name means the 'last' of the four parts of the Moon's cycle.