the man in the moon
Preserved but no longer current.
Some say it is a man leaning on a fork, on which he is carrying a bundle of sticks picked up on a Sunday. The origin of this fable is from Numb, xv, 32-36. Some add a dog also; thus the prologue in Midsummer Night's Dream says, "This man •with lantern, dog, and bush of thorns, presented* moonshine"; Chaucer says "be stole tfee bush" (Test, of Cresseide).
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 “the man in the moon” mean?
Some say it is a man leaning on a fork, on which he is carrying a bundle of sticks picked up on a Sunday. The origin of this fable is from Numb, xv, 32-36. Some add a dog also; thus the prologue in Midsummer Night's Dream says, "This man •with lantern, dog, and bush of thorns, presented* moonshine"; Chaucer says "be stole tfee bush" (Test, of Cresseide).
Is “the man in the moon” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.