1. protuberant; rounded and bulging
2. designating the moon, a planet, etc. in that phase in which more than half, but not all, of the face reflects sunlight to the earth
3. humpbacked; kyphotic
From Vocabulary.com
1. (used of the moon) more than half full
2. characteristic of or suffering from kyphosis, an abnormality of the vertebral column
From Merriam-Webster:
The adjective gibbous has its origins in the Latin noun gibbus, meaning "hump," and in the Late Latin adjective gibbosus, meaning "humpbacked," which Middle English adopted in the 14th century as gibbous. Gibbous has been used to describe the rounded body parts of humans and animals (such as the back of a camel) or to describe the shape of certain flowers (such as snapdragons). The term is most often identified, however, with the study of astronomy. A gibbous moon is one that is more than a half-moon but less than full.
ed. note: pronounce with a 'hard G'
No comments:
Post a Comment