Refine this word faster
Moor
Definitions
- 1 A surname.; A surname from Irish.
- 2 A surname.; An English surname transferred from the given name.
- 1 An extensive waste covered with patches of heath, and having a poor, light (and usually acidic) soil, but sometimes marshy, and abounding in peat; a heath. (Compare bog, peatland, marsh, swamp, fen.)
"A cold, biting wind blew across the moor, and the travellers hastened their step."
- 2 A member of an ancient Amazigh people from Mauretania. historical
- 3 open land usually with peaty soil covered with heather and bracken and moss wordnet
- 4 A game preserve consisting of moorland.
- 5 A member of an Islamic people of Arab or Amazigh origin ruling Spain and parts of North Africa from the 8th to the 15th centuries. historical
"[King of] Moro[cco]. Ye Moores and valiant men of Barbary, How can ye ſuffer theſe indignities?"
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 one of the Muslim people of north Africa; of mixed Arab and Berber descent; converted to Islam in the 8th century; conqueror of Spain in the 8th century wordnet
- 7 A Muslim or a person from the Middle East or Africa. archaic
- 8 A person of mixed Arab and Amazigh ancestry inhabiting the Mediterranean coastline of northwest Africa. dated
- 9 A person of an ethnic group speaking the Hassaniya Arabic language, mainly inhabiting Western Sahara, Mauritania, and parts of neighbouring countries (Morocco, Mali, Senegal etc.).
- 1 To cast anchor or become fastened. intransitive
"The vessel moored in the stream."
- 2 secure with cables or ropes wordnet
- 3 To fix or secure (e.g. a vessel) in a particular place by casting anchor, or by fastening with ropes, cables or chains or the like. transitive
"They moored the boat to the wharf."
- 4 come into or dock at a wharf wordnet
- 5 To secure or fix firmly. transitive
Show 1 more definition
- 6 secure in or as if in a berth or dock wordnet
Etymology
From Middle English mor, from Old English mōr, from Proto-West Germanic *mōr, from Proto-Germanic *mōraz, from Proto-Indo-European *móri. Cognates include Welsh môr, Old Irish muir (from Proto-Celtic *mori); Scots muir, Dutch moer, Old Saxon mōr, Old Saxon mūr, German Moor and perhaps also Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐍂𐌴𐌹 (marei). See mere.
From Middle English moren, from unattested Old English *mārian, from Proto-West Germanic *mairōn (“to moor, fasten to”), related to *maida- (“post”), from Proto-Indo-European *mēyt-, *meyt-, from *mēy-, *mey- (“stake, pole”). Cognate with Dutch meren (“to moor”), marren (“to bind”).
From Middle English More, Moore, from Old French More (modern French Maure), from Latin Maurus (“a Moor, meaning a Mauretanian, an inhabitant of Mauretania”), from Ancient Greek Μαυρούσιος (Mauroúsios, “Mauretanian”). Doublet of Moro.
See also for "moor"
Next best steps
Mini challenge
Unscramble this word: moor