honeymoon
Meanings
Plural: honeymoons
Noun
- a holiday taken by a newly married couple
- the early (usually calm and harmonious) period of a relationship; business or political
- The period of time immediately following a marriage.
- A trip taken by a newly married couple during this period.
- A period of goodwill at the beginning of a new term or relationship (e.g. towards a newly elected politician or in respect of a new business arrangement).
Verb
- spend a holiday after one's marriage
- "they plan to honeymoon in Hawai'i"
- To have a honeymoon (a trip taken by a couple after wedding).
Origin / Etymology
From earlier hony moone, originally denoting the period of time following a wedding, equivalent to honey + moon. The original reference was to affection waning like the moon, but later the sense became "the first month, or moon after marriage", which tends to be the sweetest.
Compare Middle Low German suckermânt (“honeymoon”, literally “sugar-month”), German Low German Hönnigweken (“honeymoon”, literally “honey-weeks”). The German Honigmond (literally “honey-moon”) is a calque of French lune de miel, itself a calque of the English term.
Synonyms
wedding journey
Scrabble Score: 17
honeymoon is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL wordhoneymoon is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
honeymoon is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary