honeymoon
/ˈhʌnɪmuːn
/noun
1A holiday spent together by a newly married couple: they flew to the West Indies on honeymoon...
- A couple on their honeymoon are driving through a remote part of America in a mini-bus.
- The reception was held at the Castlecourt Hotel, Westport and afterwards the happy couple left on their honeymoon.
- He and his 28-year-old wife were on their honeymoon, having got married just three days earlier.
1.1 [often as modifier] An initial period of enthusiasm or goodwill, typically at the start of a new job: the new President’s honeymoon period...
- After all, a new president enjoys a honeymoon period of three months at most.
- But those first few days turned out to be the honeymoon period.
- Even when he was enjoying a honeymoon period in the job in the early months of the season, O'Leary was sensitive about his image and that of his players.
verb [no object, with adverbial of place]
Spend a honeymoon: they are honeymooning in the south of France...
- The newlyweds will spend two weeks honeymooning in California.
- More than 300 guests attended the reception in Knockranny House Hotel and the new Mr. and Mrs. Holmes are currently honeymooning at an undisclosed location.
- After honeymooning in Aruba, they will live in Decatur.
Derivatives
honeymooner
/ noun ...- Long known as a paradise for surfers, beach-goers and honeymooners, Bali is fast becoming a haven for couples wishing to take that great leap forward into shared commitment.
- It is ideal for adventure travelers, honeymooners, and weary business travelers in search of a different type of holiday.
- The long guest list includes honeymooners Richard and Pat Nixon.
Origin
Mid 16th century (originally denoting the period of time following a wedding): from honey + moon. The original reference was to affection waning like the moon, but later the sense became 'the first month after marriage'.
In the 16th century the first month of a couple's marriage was their honeymoon whether or not they went away on holiday—very few then did. The original reference was not to a ‘moon’ or month at all, but to ‘sweet’ affection changing like the moon.
- morphophonetic
- morphophonic
- morphophonics
- morphophonological
- morphophonologically
- morphophonology
- morphopoesis
- morphopoiesis
- morphopoietic
- morphoscopic
- morphoscopical
- morphoscopy
- morphosis
- morphospecies
- morphosyntactic
- morphosyntactically
- morphosyntax
- morphotactic
- morphotactics
- morphotectonic
- morphotectonics
- morphotic
- morphotonemic
- morphotropic
- morphotropism