每日一词学英语(106): gibbous

每年八月，英仙座流星雨都会如期而至。昨晚，作为2009国际天文年的活动之一，英国的业余天文学家把观测活动搬到网上，并从当红明星Miley Cyrus那里抢得Twitter网头把交椅。(From Times Online, August 12, 2009: Perseid 'tweeteors' knock Disney star Miley Cyrus off top slot)

因为有月亮争辉，英国昨晚的观测效果并不是很好，不过，英格兰南部的观测者在后半夜还是一饱眼福了。Conditions over the UK last night were far from perfect — and a "gibbous" moon is providing competition — but skywatchers in southern England enjoyed quite a show if they stayed up late enough.

Adj. (technical) (of the moon) with the bright part bigger than a semicircle and smaller than a circle 形容大于半圆但不足满月的月亮（凸月）。