Month (mŭnth), n. [OE. month,
moneth, AS. mōnð, mōnað; akin to mōna moon, and to D. maand month, G. monat, OHG. mānōd, Icel. mānuðr, mānaðr, Goth. mēnōþs. √272. See Moon.]
One of the twelve portions into which the year is divided; the twelfth part of a year, corresponding nearly to the length
of a synodic revolution of the moon, --
whence the name. In popular use, a period of four weeks is often called a month.
&fist; In the common
law, a month is a
lunar month, or twenty-eight days, unless otherwise expressed. Blackstone. In the United
States the rule of the common
law is generally changed, and a month is declared to mean a calendar month. Cooley's Blackstone.
A month mind. (a) A strong or abnormal desire. [Obs.]
Shak. (b) A celebration made in remembrance of a deceased person a month after death. Strype. -- Calendar months, the
months as adjusted in the common or
Gregorian calendar; April, June, September, and November, containing 30 days, and the rest
31, except February, which, in common years, has 28, and in leap
years 29. -- Lunar month, the period of one
revolution of the moon, particularly a synodical revolution; but several kinds are distinguished, as the synodical month, or period from one new
moon to the
next, in mean length 29 d. 12 h. 44 m. 2.87
s.; the nodical month, or time of revolution from one node to the same again, in length 27 d. 5 h. 5 m. 36 s.; the sidereal, or time of revolution from a star to the same again, equal to 27 d. 7 h. 43 m. 11.5 s.; the
anomalistic, or time of revolution from perigee to perigee again, in length 27 d.
13 h. 18 m. 37.4 s.; and the tropical, or time of passing from any point of
the ecliptic to the same again, equal to 27 d. 7 h. 43 m. 4.7 s. -- Solar month, the time in which the sun
passes through one sign of the zodiac, in mean length 30 d. 10 h. 29 m. 4.1 s.
Hear it pronounced