Dictionary entry overview: What does posthumously mean? â¢ POSTHUMOUSLY (adverb) The adverb POSTHUMOUSLY has 1 sense: 1. after death Familiarity information: POSTHUMOUSLY used as an adverb is very rare.
crescent-any shape resembling the curved shape of the moon in its first or last quarters. curve, curved shape-the trace of a point whose direction of motion changes.. a shape resembling a segment of a ring tapering to points at the ends. 2. something, as a cookie, having this shape. 3. the figure of the moon in its first or last quarter, resembling such a shape. 4. shaped like a crescent.
The crescent symbolizes Missouri at the time of the state seal's creation, a state of small population and wealth which would increase like the new or crescent moon; it also symbolizes the second son, meaning Missouri was the second state formed out of the Louisiana Territory.