Jump To:

• 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.

---

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.

---

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.

---

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

---

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)

---

moor ³ British  

/ mɔː, mʊə /

noun

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

---

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

"Hopefully they will be okay because the wind is horrendous up on the moor edge," he said.

From BBC ● Feb. 3, 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

The mountain is a biological island of rain forest in the center of Africa, an isolated world rising above dry plains, fifty miles across, blanketed with trees, bamboo, and alpine moor.

From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston

However, he could not keep the team up last season and he departed Turf Moor after their relegation was confirmed.

From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026

The council also noted the proposed development was close to the Swastika Stone, a prehistoric rock carving which is one of hundreds of Scheduled Ancient Monuments on Ilkley Moor.

From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2026

"Of course, there's many things we still don't know about these disks," said Attila Moor of Konkoly Observatory, a coauthor of the study.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 7, 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

The more I knew of the inmates of Moor House, the better I liked them.

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

At the highest point in Tarifa there is an old fort, built by the Moors.

From "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho

National landscapes were formerly known as areas of outstanding natural beauty, and the North Pennines features heather moors, dales, woods and one of England's highest waterfalls High Force.

From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2026

In her story of ill-starred lovers and class divisions set on the bleak moors of Yorkshire, England, Emily Brontë creates two contrasting visions of home.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 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

As do the moors that stretch behind the parsonage.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2026

Instead, he determined the companions would travel some distance from the edges of the swamp, keeping to solid ground and following a path half-circling the bog until they reached the moors.

From "The Black Cauldron" by Lloyd Alexander

The ship is moored in an island cove, about 100 meters from a section of coastline, said Steven Pereira, president of the local government.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026

Officers who had been recovered from the river were seen being treated by paramedics on a rigid black inflatable boat moored to the side of the river.

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 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

The futures contracts aren’t moored to any underlying equity stake in the company.

From MarketWatch ● May 20, 2026

They moored the ship some way off shore, and left her to take their evening meal there, waiting for night to come.

From "The Odyssey" by Homer

After the mooring lines were dropped, passengers and crew heard a faint bang and felt a shudder deep within the airship, which was at that point well more than 100 feet in the air.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

A major Russian oil terminal near the southern port of Novorossiysk halted operations early Saturday after a naval drone attack damaged one of its three mooring points.

From Barron's ● Nov. 29, 2025

The ocean-going yellow sub - called Boaty McBoatyface - was being put through trials when its propeller snagged the mooring for the 1970s camera system.

From BBC ● Mar. 31, 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

On board were two benches, some steel wool, an old cooler, and a mound of frayed rope with one end tied to the mooring.

From "The Son of Neptune" by Rick Riordan

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---

Related Words

• dock
• tether
• tie up

---