The Sun, Moon and Stars Trivia Quiz

Answer: A sunbonnet

A sunbonnet is a type of woman's bonnet (a close-fitting head covering that ties under the chin) with a wide brim framing and shading the face and a ruffle at the back to protect the neck. The sunbonnet can be found in literature. For example:

"I am not belittling the brave pioneer men but the sunbonnet as well as the sombrero has helped to settle this glorious land of ours." - from Chapter Twenty-three of "Cimarron" by Edna Ferber, 1930.

Answer: Mooncalf

"Mooncalf" originally was applied to a malformed calf or other baby farm animal, whose deformity was thought to be caused by the moon's malign influence. Over time, the word came to have its current metaphorical meaning.

Answer: Starboard

Starboard is the right, whereas port is the left. The bow or prow is the very front of the vessel, that cuts through the water.

Forward means at or towards the bow. The forecastle (pronounced foaxol and contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le) goes back to the days of sail. The term strictly applies to the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast.

More generally, it refers to the forward part of a ship, where the sailors' living quarters were situated. Forward is a less desirable location than aft (or astern) on shipboard under sail, since the wind blows smells, debris, and so forth towards the bow. Hence the division of a ship's company, with sailors forward and officers aft. Hence, too, the expression 'before the mast', as in the title of American author Richard Henry Dana's 1840 memoir "Two Years Before the Mast", which denotes matters concerning a ship's crew as opposed to her officers.

Answer: Stargazer

Someone who gazes at and studies heavenly bodies (stars), such as an astrologer or an astronomer, can logically be termed a stargazer. By extension, someone who follows the doings of celebrities (stars) may also be termed a stargazer, though this meaning is colloquial and much more recent.

Neil Diamond wrote "Stargazer" and released it in 1976 as a single, with "Jungletime" on the B-side. The song also appeared on his album "Beautiful Noise". Sinatra's recording was issued the same year as a single with "The Best I Ever Had" on the B-side. Curiously, the UK release of the single reversed the A and B sides.

Answer: Both

The earliest and fundamental meaning of moonstruck is mad. This is not surprising. The association of mental instability with the moon is embedded in the language with such synonyms for insane as lunatic and loony. It is with this meaning that moonstruck first entered print in Book Eleven of John Milton's epic poem "Paradise Lost", published in 1674, where it appears in a long list of humanity's afflictions caused by original sin: "moon-struck madness."

The gentler definitions developed by association. The equation of poets and lovers with madmen as coming under the influence of the moon was proverbial by Shakespeare's time. Lines 5 through 18 of "A Midsummer Night's Dream": Act 5, Scene 1 states the case:

"Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,
Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend
More than cool reason ever comprehends.
The lunatic, the lover and the poet
Are of imagination all compact:
One sees more devils than vast hell can hold,
That is, the madman: the lover, all as frantic,
Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt:
The poet's eye, in fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;
And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen
Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name."

Answer: Moonshine

Bootleg (illegally manufactured and/or sold liquor) is commonly referred to as moonshine. The frequently cited, if perhaps romantic, explanation for this appellation is that the manufacturer, needing to work in secret, did so by the light of the moon.

Answer: Sundry

Sundry is one of those words that can serve as multiple parts of speech. Specifically, it can be an adjective or a pronoun. As an adjective it means "including many things of different kinds, miscellaneous, various". As a pronoun, it signifies an indeterminate number, rather like some. In this sense it is most often used in the phrase all and sundry to mean 'everyone'.

Answer: Star-throated antwren

A small, plump and very active bird, the star-throated antwren is a member of the family Thamnophilidae. It is a native of the Atlantic Forest region of southeast Brazil, living in the understory of humid subtropical or tropical forests in both lowland and mountain terrain. It is short-tailed with a cinnamon head and back, and a gray face and belly. Males have black throats stippled with white and black wings, while females have larger white spots on the throat and brown wing.

Star anise is a spice whose constituent units are perfect five-pointed stars. Having a sweet, peppery flavor similar to that of anise, it is produced from the fruit of Illicium verum (commonly also called star anise), a medium-sized evergreen tree native to northeast Vietnam and southwest China. The spice, which can be used whole or ground, is used in savory recipes, particularly with meats. It may be added whole to soups, stews and braising broths. The highly fragrant oil is used in cooking, perfumery, soaps, toothpastes, mouthwashes, and skin creams.

The European starling, now a familiar sight all over the world, is a bird with lustrous dark plumage which, in winter, is dusted with white markings like stars.

Answer: Sundae

Considerable rivalry exists over the right to claim the title of "Birthplace of the Ice Cream Sundae". It is beyond doubt, however, that the treat originated in the USA. Though subject to wide variation, the basic sundae is made with ice cream, hot fudge sauce, whipped cream and a maraschino cherry.

The moon pie is also a uniquely American treat. Essentially a sandwich cookie, it consists of two graham crackers with marshmallow filling, coated with chocolate. The web site moonpie.com describes the treat's origins this way:

"It all began in 1917 when a KY coal miner asked our traveling salesman for a snack "as big as the moon." Earl Mitchell reported back and the bakery obliged with a tasty treat aptly named MoonPie. It was filling, fit in the lunch pail and the coal miners loved it. The rest, as they say, is history."

Answer: No

Sun catcher is the term for a window ornament made partly or completely of colored glass. It is thought that the native peoples of what is now the southwestern U.S. first made such ornaments. Mass-produced nowadays, sun catchers most often depict animals, birds or fish (I have one of a field mouse).