Waxing Moon: The moon at any time after a new moon and before a full moon.
Waning Moon: The moon at any time after full moon and before a new moon.
Gibbous Moon: The moon seen with more than half but not all of the moon illuminated.
Crescent Moon: A moon that is part way between a halfmoon and a new moon, or between a newmoon and a half moon.
The Lunar Cycle is approximately 29.5 days.
When a moon is waxing, it appears to become more and more illuminated as the phase continues and becomes more illuminated.
When a moon is waning, the illimuntation on the moon appears to diminish as the phase will soon start over again.