moonwake

English

Etymology

moon +‎ wake

Noun

moonwake (plural not attested)

1. The reflection of moonlight on a body of water.
   • 1901, Daniel A. Goodsell, Nature and Character at Granite Bay:

     I was long puzzled to know why this moonwake always followed as I walked […]

   • 1922, William Morris, The Story of Sigurd the Volsung:

     And they grew and brightened and gathered; and whiles together they ran. Like the moonwake over the waters […]

   • 2006, The Atlantic: Word Fugitives:

     Mariners sometimes call the moving path of light leading to the moon the moonwake, because it looks like the white wash of a ship's wake.

Synonyms

• moonglade