Mooncalf
WiktionaryText
Etymology
The earliest recorded example of mooncalf was in a thesaurus of 1565, in which the term was explicitly applied to a woman. The reference here was to a false pregnancy, to a growth in the womb that was not a foetus. -- Michael Quinion
By 1614 it had evolved to mean someone under the influence of the moon.
Quotations
- But I can think of no one but a mooncalf or a gaby
- Who would trust their own child to raise a baby. — Ogden Nash, "Come On In, The Senility Is Fine"