MOOR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Moor mean? 

• MOOR (noun)
  The noun MOOR has 2 senses:

1. 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

2. open land usually with peaty soil covered with heather and bracken and moss

  Familiarity information: MOOR used as a noun is rare.

• MOOR (verb)
  The verb MOOR has 3 senses:

1. secure in or as if in a berth or dock

2. come into or dock at a wharf

3. secure with cables or ropes

  Familiarity information: MOOR used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MOOR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("Moor" is a kind of...):

Moslem; Muslim (a believer in or follower of Islam)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Open land usually with peaty soil covered with heather and bracken and moss

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

moor; moorland

Hypernyms ("moor" is a kind of...):

champaign; field; plain (extensive tract of level open land)

Instance hyponyms:

Marston Moor (a former moor in northern England)

• MOOR (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they moor    ... he / she / it moors   
Past simple: moored   
Past participle: moored   
-ing form: mooring   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Secure in or as if in a berth or dock

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

berth; moor; tie up

Context example:

tie up the boat

Hypernyms (to "moor" is one way to...):

fasten; fix; secure (cause to be firmly attached)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "moor"):

wharf (moor at a wharf)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

mooring (a place where a craft can be made fast)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Come into or dock at a wharf

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

berth; moor; wharf

Context example:

the big ship wharfed in the evening

Hypernyms (to "moor" is one way to...):

dock (come into dock)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 3

Meaning:

Secure with cables or ropes

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

moor the boat

Hypernyms (to "moor" is one way to...):

fasten; fix; secure (cause to be firmly attached)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

moorage (the act of securing an arriving vessel with ropes)

mooring ((nautical) a line that holds an object (especially a boat) in place)

 Context examples 

There is a watercourse across the moor.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He turned back with the Inspector, while Holmes and I walked slowly across the moor.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Clear up at Whitcross Brow, almost four miles off, and moor and moss all the way.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

That night we moored our canoes with heavy stones for anchors in the center of the stream, and made every preparation for a possible attack.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The river ran deep and swift up to the steep bank; but there were few boats upon it, and the ships were moored far out in the centre of the stream.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In the meantime the last of the carriages had come up, and the horses had all been picketed upon the moor.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It may be that it was frightened and made its way on to the moors, where it is still hiding in terror.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

It was a country of rolling moors, lonely and dun-coloured, with an occasional church tower to mark the site of some old-world village.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Grant: these potatoes have as much the flavour of a Moor Park apricot as the fruit from that tree.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Data from the instruments deployed on the mooring showed that solar heated surface water flows into the cavity under the ice shelf near Ross Island, causing melt rates to nearly triple during the summer months.

(Rapid melting of the world’s largest ice shelf linked to solar heat in the ocean, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)