MOORISH

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does Moorish mean? 

• MOORISH (noun)
  The noun MOORISH has 1 sense:

1. a style of architecture common in Spain from the 13th to 16th centuries; characterized by horseshoe-shaped arches

  Familiarity information: MOORISH used as a noun is very rare.

• MOORISH (adjective)
  The adjective MOORISH has 1 sense:

1. relating to or characteristic of the Moors

  Familiarity information: MOORISH used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MOORISH (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A style of architecture common in Spain from the 13th to 16th centuries; characterized by horseshoe-shaped arches

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

Moorish; Moorish architecture

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

architectural style; style of architecture; type of architecture (architecture as a kind of art form)

Derivation:

Moorish (relating to or characteristic of the Moors)

• MOORISH (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Relating to or characteristic of the Moors

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Synonyms:

Moorish; Moresque

Context example:

Moorish courtyard

Pertainym:

Moor (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)

Derivation:

Moorish (a style of architecture common in Spain from the 13th to 16th centuries; characterized by horseshoe-shaped arches)

 Context examples 

No need to speak of the glad hearts at Twynham Castle that night, nor of the rich offerings from out that Moorish cargo which found their way to the chapel of Father Christopher.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I am poor; for I find that, when I have paid my father's debts, all the patrimony remaining to me will be this crumbling grange, the row of scathed firs behind, and the patch of moorish soil, with the yew-trees and holly-bushes in front.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

In the open plain clouds of light horse galloped and swooped with swaying bodies and waving javelins, after the fashion which the Spanish had adopted from their Moorish enemies.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A yell of exultation, and a forest of waving steel through the length and breadth of their column, announced that they could at last see their entrapped enemies, while the swelling notes of a hundred bugles and drums, mixed with the clash of Moorish cymbals, broke forth into a proud peal of martial triumph.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

On their journey home through the woods Alleyne learnt their wondrous story: how, when Sir Nigel came to his senses, he with his fellow-captive had been hurried to the coast, and conveyed by sea to their captor's castle; how upon the way they had been taken by a Barbary rover, and how they exchanged their light captivity for a seat on a galley bench and hard labor at the pirate's oars; how, in the port at Barbary, Sir Nigel had slain the Moorish captain, and had swum with Aylward to a small coaster which they had taken, and so made their way to England with a rich cargo to reward them for their toils.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)