blood moon
2
5.4
- noun
- /blʌd muːn/
:
luna de sangre
- I've heard that when the blood moon rises, it brings out the worst in everyone.
Examples
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Last night, we watched the blood moon rise and change to a deep red color.
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The blood moon comes tonight.
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Last night, there was a blood moon, just as you described.
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Soon there will be a blood moon.
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And tonight, it's the blood moon.
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There is a blood moon coming.
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But the blood moon is two nights away.
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Does the blood moon always rise this slowly?
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That's the blood moon.
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During a blood moon, the Earth's shadow creates a stunning reddish hue on the moon's surface.
Synonyms
5
3.6
The moon moves into Earth's shadow so it looks dark or red
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound 'blood moon' transparently signals a moon that looks blood-red: a learner who knows 'blood' (red, reddish fluid) and 'moon' will plausibly infer a reddish or red-appearing moon. The technical explanation (a total lunar eclipse and atmospheric scattering) is extra detail, but the everyday meaning is compositionally predictable and attested cross-linguistically.
Etymology
Blood moon comes from a strong picture: sometimes the moon goes into Earth’s shadow and looks deep red, like blood, so people called it a 'blood moon'. That's why today the phrase means the rare event when the moon appears red.