honeymoon

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   spend a holiday after one's marriage

   they plan to honeymoon in Hawai'i

2. 2
   noun

   The period of time immediately following a marriage.

   The new minister and his wife were a young, pleasant-faced couple, still on their honeymoon, and full of all good and beautiful enthusiasms for their chosen lifework.

3. 3
   noun

   A trip taken by a newly married couple during this period.

   We went to Greece for our honeymoon.

4. 4
   noun

   A period of goodwill at the beginning of a new term or relationship (e.g. towards a newly elected politician or in respect of a new business arrangement).

   Now that the honeymoon is over, it’s time for us to get down to the business at hand.

5. 5
   verb

   To have a honeymoon (a trip taken by a couple after wedding).

   My parents honeymooned at Niagara falls.

6. 6
   noun

   a holiday taken by a newly married couple

7. 7
   noun

   the early (usually calm and harmonious) period of a relationship

Etymology

From earlier hony moone, originally denoting the period of time following a wedding, equivalent to honey + moon. The original reference was to affection waning like the moon, but later the sense became "the first month, or moon after marriage", which tends to be the sweetest. Compare Middle Low German suckermânt (“honeymoon”, literally “sugar-month”), German Low German Hönnigweken (“honeymoon”, literally “honey-weeks”). The German Honigmond (literally “honey-moon”) is a calque of French lune de miel, itself a calque of the English term.