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• moor
  moor

  noun

  a tract of open, peaty, wasteland, often overgrown with heath, common in high latitudes and altitudes where drainage is poor; heath.
• Moor
  Moor

  noun

  a Muslim of the mixed Berber and Arab people inhabiting NW Africa.

moor

¹ American  

[moor] / mʊər /

noun

1. 

   a tract of open, peaty, wasteland, often overgrown with heath, common in high latitudes and altitudes where drainage is poor; heath.

2. a tract of land preserved for game.

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moor ² American  

[moor] / mʊər /

verb (used with object)

• moors,
  present (3rd person singular)
• moored,
  past participle,  past
• mooring
  present participle

1. to secure (a ship, boat, dirigible, etc.) in a particular place, as by cables and anchors or by lines.

2. to fix firmly; secure.

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verb (used without object)

• moors,
  present (3rd person singular)
• moored,
  past participle,  past
• mooring
  present participle

1. to moor a ship, small boat, etc.

2. to be made secure by cables or the like.

noun

1. the act of mooring.

Moor ³ American  

[moor] / mʊər /

noun

• Moors
  plural

1. a Muslim of the mixed Berber and Arab people inhabiting NW Africa.

2. a member of this group that invaded Spain in the 8th century a.d. and occupied it until 1492.

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moor ¹ British  

/ mɔː, mʊə /

verb

1. to secure (a ship, boat, etc) with cables or ropes

2. (of a ship, boat, etc) to be secured in this way

3. (not in technical usage) a less common word for anchor

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Moor ² British  

/ mʊə, mɔː /

noun

1. a member of a Muslim people of North Africa, of mixed Arab and Berber descent. In the 8th century they were converted to Islam and established power in North Africa and Spain, where they established a civilization (756–1492)

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moor ³ British  

/ mɔː, mʊə /

noun

1. a tract of unenclosed ground, usually having peaty soil covered with heather, coarse grass, bracken, and moss

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• moory
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• Moors
  plural

Participles

• mooring
  present
• moored
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• moor
  simple
• moors
  simple
• have moored
  perfect
• has moored
  perfect
• am mooring
  progressive
• are mooring
  progressive
• is mooring
  progressive
• have been mooring
  perfect progressive
• has been mooring
  perfect progressive

Past

• moored
  simple
• had moored
  perfect
• was mooring
  progressive
• were mooring
  progressive
• had been mooring
  perfect progressive

Future

• will moor
  simple
• will have moored
  perfect
• will be mooring
  progressive
• will have been mooring
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of moor¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English more, Old English mōr; cognate with Dutch moer, German Moor “marsh”

Origin of moor²

First recorded in 1485–95; earlier more, akin to Old English mǣrels- in mǣrelsrāp “rope for mooring a ship”; see marline

Origin of Moor³

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English More, from Middle French, variant of Maure, from Latin Maurus, from Greek Maûros, perhaps from Berber

Explanation

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

moor Moor Moors moors moored mooring

The proceeds bought a Chicago-area mansion, a private jet and a 12,000-square-foot waterfront home in Naples, Fla., with its own dock to moor his 130-foot yacht, Top Dog.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

"They want to come here and experience the Brontes, the moor, and find their own interpretation of Emily," he said.

From Barron's ● Feb. 28, 2026

Its single “Chains of Love” is a hybrid of new and old, with orchestral flourishes bouncing off the singer’s voice, which is processed to sound pinched and distant—as if echoing across a windswept moor, perhaps.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 30, 2025

Wild camping is "not about large tents and fairy lights" Dartmoor's authority has said after a court decision affirming the right to pitch a tent on the moor.

From BBC ● May 22, 2025

They had arrived on what appeared to be a deserted stretch of misty moor.

From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling

Companies need courage and leadership, she told enterprise tech bureau chief Steve Rosenbush, in a discussion that included Oege de Moor, founder and CEO of cybersecurity firm XBOW.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

Companies have long spent more to protect their most valuable assets while finding cheaper solutions for lesser priorities, de Moor said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

Apple’s issue two years ago was that it “overpromised and massively underdelivered,” Anshel Sag, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, told MarketWatch.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 7, 2026

How long might the Tintwistle Moor wildfire burn for?

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026

“Yes, to go with me to Moor House. Diana and Mary will be at home in a week, and I want to have everything in order against their arrival.”

From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë

Efforts to "rebuild the community" were continuing one year on from the North York Moors fire, she said.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

Windswept Whitby sits on the east coast of Yorkshire, with its back to the North York Moors National Park and its face to the North Sea.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2026

At Craven Cattle Marts on the outskirts of Skipton, North Yorkshire, the auction ring is buzzing as farmers from across the Yorkshire Dales and Pennine Moors come to buy and sell livestock.

From BBC ● Mar. 5, 2026

In Spain, fritter-like buñuelos showed up with the Moors, and by some reports, churros were a Chinese idea that was later dragged through molten chocolate by hungry Madrileños or wandering shepherds or both.

From Salon ● Feb. 5, 2026

"This is the true story of Dona Melisendra, wife of Don Gaiferos, on the occasion of her rescue from the prison in which the Moors had her in Spain," the boy said.

From "Adventures of Don Quixote" by Argentina Palacios

After growing up in wild isolation on the moors, they published groundbreaking novels under androgynous pseudonyms.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

Management of moors and heaths to "reduce the fuel loads" could help, he said, as well as grazing, but: "The public can do so much because they're all started by people basically."

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026

“Wuthering Heights” looks just as the voracious reader imagines it as they tear through the novel: drafty houses, windy moors, color and texture that bound from the screen.

From Salon ● Jun. 10, 2026

In my teens, I discovered the wild moors and ancient halls of “Jane Eyre” and “Wuthering Heights.”

From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2026

They spend their time sailing, playing tennis, and sometimes recalling the halcyon days of crossing the moors behind packs of beagles to hunt down rabbits.

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times

Ray Garland was already on the USS Tennessee, moored at Pearl Harbor’s Battleship Row, when the Japanese attacked.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

In Tamworth, Alan Berry's narrowboat is moored at the bottom of his garden on the Coventry Canal.

From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026

Three days before the U.S. game in Seattle some 500 fans, most wearing the blue-and-white striped jerseys of Argentina, filed onto a 322-foot cargo barge moored in Elliott Bay to watch their team play Algeria.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2026

“Psychologically, I’m moored somewhere. This place is my anchor.”

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 1, 2026

The Argo II was still aloft, barely, moored to the top of the Parthenon.

From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan

A 10,000-square-foot restricted access warehouse to be built at the port will house mooring lines, pedestrian barriers, gangways and repair gear for the US Navy, said a spokeswoman.

From Barron's ● Sep. 16, 2026

Polanski said he believed any charges linked to the mooring, including council tax, were covered by the fees he paid, and insisted there was no intention to evade payment.

From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026

Asked about the 5.5 million barrels of fuel that, according to Kpler data, arrived from Russia at the company’s mooring in the bay of Mersin this year, Ayrik said he couldn’t discuss the company’s customers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 27, 2025

The mooring lines tethered to the ocean floor are made of rope nearly thick as a telephone pole and under heavy tension.

From Seattle Times ● May 14, 2024

Then Nathaniel, coming back down the road on a run, slipped the rope from the mooring and as they pulled away from the wharf leaped nimbly to his place with the crew.

From "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare

Related Words

• dock
• tether
• tie up