Hebrews yareah, from its paleness (Ezra 6:15), and lebanah, the "white" (Cant. 6:10; Isaiah 24:23), was appointed by the Creator to be with the sun "for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years" (Genesis 1:14-16). A lunation was among the Jews the period of a month, and several of their festivals were held on the day of the new moon. It is frequently referred to along with the sun (Joshua 10:12; Psalm 72:5, 7, 17; 89:36, 37; Ecclesiastes 12:2; Isaiah 24:23, etc.), and also by itself (Psalm 8:3; 121:6).

The great brilliance of the moon in Eastern countries led to its being early an object of idolatrous worship (Deuteronomy 4:19; 17:3; Job 31:26), a form of idolatry against which the Jews were warned (Deuteronomy 4:19; 17:3). They, however, fell into this idolatry, and offered incense (2 Kings 23:5; Jeremiah 8:2), and also cakes of honey, to the moon (Jeremiah 7:18; 44:17-19, 25).

Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language

1. (n.) The celestial orb which revolves round the earth; the satellite of the earth; a secondary planet, whose light, borrowed from the sun, is reflected to the earth, and serves to dispel the darkness of night. The diameter of the moon is 2,160 miles, its mean distance from the earth is 240,000 miles, and its mass is one eightieth that of the earth. See Month.

2. (n.) A secondary planet, or satellite, revolving about any member of the solar system; as, the moons of Jupiter or Saturn.

3. (n.) The time occupied by the moon in making one revolution in her orbit; a month.

4. (n.) A crescent like outwork. See Half-moon.

5. (v. t.) To expose to the rays of the moon.

6. (v. i.) To act if moonstruck; to wander or gaze about in an abstracted manner.