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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

Grace often takes her granddaughter, nearly five, onto the moor.

From BBC ● Apr. 19, 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

"So I went up into a top field and saw what I thought at the time to be a paraglider on the moor edge, engines and lights everywhere."

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

And we stumbled together up the bluff and across the moor toward Miss Maggie, who woke at our pounding and came to the door, wild eyed, and took us straight in.

From "Beyond the Bright Sea" by Lauren Wolk

Trafford has only played 32 top-flight games, but former Clarets boss Scott Parker previously praised his turnaround at Turf Moor before moving to the Etihad.

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026

He has only played 32 top-flight games in total, but former Clarets boss Parker previously praised his turnaround at Turf Moor before moving to Etihad Stadium.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

Each bird from Moor Farm was fitted with a metal ring carrying a unique identification number issued by the British Trust for Ornithology.

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026

The fluffy birds - which are estimated to be between 40 to 50 days old - were discovered at Moor Farm, near Peterborough, and were ringed on Thursday as part of ongoing conservation work.

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026

I wrote to Moor House and to Cambridge immediately, to say what I had done: fully explaining also why I had thus acted.

From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë

Nine females and 10 males from Scottish Highlands populations were introduced to the area by the Two Moors Pine Marten Project last year.

From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026

Dozens of the mammals, which are related to weasels, have been released into secret locations across Dartmoor and Exmoor since autumn 2024 as part of the Devon Wildlife Trust Two Moors Pine Marten project.

From BBC ● Apr. 12, 2026

The polyamorous community is bigger than many realize, said Amy C. Moors, an assistant professor of psychology at Chapman University who has researched the demographics of polyamorous people and discrimination against such relationships.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 18, 2026

In 2012, he was awarded the Maria Moors Cabot Prize for distinguished coverage in Latin America.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 3, 2026

There is an old castle on a hill, in ruins, and Father says it has probably been there since the days when the Moors ruled.

From "Across So Many Seas" by Ruth Behar

They are Europe's largest wading bird, and spend winters near coastlines and summers further inland on grasslands and moors.

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 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

While driving around Hebden Bridge and towns surrounding nearby Halifax, I more than once imagined I was Catherine Cawood and marveled at Wainwright’s loyalty to this land, its cities, towns, farms and moors.

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

On Wednesday, a drone struck a US-owned gas vessel moored in an Egyptian port, causing a fire.

From Barron's ● Aug. 2, 2026

It’s reminiscent of a question asked more than a century ago when a visitor noticed stockbrokers’ fine sailboats moored near Wall Street: “But where are the customers’ yachts?”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 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

They sailed into the shelter of a large floe and moored to it.

From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong

The crews use mooring ropes to lash the ships as close as 11 feet from each other so that they roll in the waves together.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 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

Analysis of mooring observations and hydrographic data suggest the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation deep water limb in the North Atlantic has weakened.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 19, 2024

From the moment he climbed into our dory to row out to Rena’s mooring, his personality changed.

From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey

Related Words

• dock
• tether
• tie up