Gibbous meaning
The definition of gibbous refers to a moon in between a half-moon but less than a full moon, or something that protrudes or creates an obvious bulge.
When the moon is more than half full, this is an example of a gibbous moon.
When you have a humpback, this is an example of a gibbous back.
adjective
Having a hump; humpbacked.
adjective
Protuberant; rounded and bulging.
adjective
Designating the moon, a planet, etc. in that phase in which more than half, but not all, of the face reflects sunlight to the earth.
adjective
Humpbacked; kyphotic.
adjective
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More than half but less than fully illuminated. Used to describe the Moon or a planet.
Origin of gibbous
- Middle English bulging from Late Latin gibbōsus hunch-backed from Latin gibbus hump
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
- From Middle English, from Latin gibbus (“humped, hunched”), probably cognate with cubō (“bend oneself, lie down”), Italian gobba (“humpback”), Greek κύφος (kýfos, “humpback, bent”), κύβος (kývos, “cube, vertebra”).
From Wiktionary