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moor

/ˈmʊər/
/mɔ/
IPA guide

Other forms: moored; moors; mooring

To moor is to tie up a ship, as in to moor the ocean liner to the docks. Or, if you're reading Victorian literature, a moor could be a mossy meet-up spot.

This word of many hats can also be a noun — a moor is mossy land covered in bushes and grass. The spooky dogs in Sherlock Holmes's The Hound of the Baskervilles lurk in the moor. With a capital "M," a Moor refers to a person descended from Muslims of northwestern Africa. It's usually used as a verb, though, meaning "to fasten a boat" — probably related to the Old English word mærels, "mooring rope." Say the word in a deep voice and it almost sounds like the foghorn on a ship that's about to moor in the harbor on a foggy night.

Definitions of moor
  1. verb
    come into or dock at a wharf
    synonyms: berth, wharf
    see moresee less
    type of:
    dock
    come into dock
  2. verb
    secure in or as if in a berth or dock
    synonyms: berth, tie up
    see moresee less
    types:
    wharf
    moor at a wharf
    type of:
    fasten, fix, secure
    cause to be firmly attached
  3. verb
    secure with cables or ropes
    moor the boat”
    see moresee less
    type of:
    fasten, fix, secure
    cause to be firmly attached
  4. noun
    open land usually with peaty soil covered with heather and bracken and moss
    synonyms: moorland
    see moresee less
    examples:
    Marston Moor
    a former moor in northern England
    type of:
    champaign, field, plain
    extensive tract of level open land
Pronunciation
US
/ˈmʊər/
UK
/mɔ/
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