it's all moonshine
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
Bunkum; nonsense. The light of the moon was formerly held to have very deleterious effects on mental stability. See LUNATIC.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “it's all moonshine” mean?
Bunkum; nonsense. The light of the moon was formerly held to have very deleterious effects on mental stability. See LUNATIC.
Is “it's all moonshine” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.