unmoor

[uhn-moo r]

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verb (used with object)

to loose (a vessel) from moorings or anchorage.

to bring to the state of riding with a single anchor after being moored by two or more.

verb (used without object)

(of a vessel) to become unmoored.

Origin of unmoor

First recorded in 1490–1500, unmoor is from the Middle English word unmooren. See un-², moor²

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for unmoored

afloat, loose, drifting, unanchored, unmoored, unmoor, up-anchor

Examples from the Web for unmoored

Contemporary Examples of unmoored

Millennials are “unmoored from institutions,” gasped Pew Research recently.
Rand Paul is Politically Divergent. And So He Must Be Stopped.
Nick Gillespie
March 27, 2014
The idea of the city was much more alluring than the city itself on a rainy, unmoored day.
Writers on Their Difficult—And Not So Difficult—Break-Ups with New York City
October 23, 2013
If we are unmoored from the Constitution, then what are we onto?
Radio’s Mark Levin Might Be the Most Powerful Conservative You Never Heard Of
David Freedlander
October 19, 2013
As a result, our modern gun-rights ideology is often unmoored from any sense of corresponding civic obligation.
Gun-Rights Advocates Should Fear History of Second Amendment
Saul Cornell
December 18, 2012

Historical Examples of unmoored

During this period my soldiers sleep; but the vessel must not be unmoored.
The Buccaneer
Mrs. S. C. Hall
She was cut off from duty, surrounded by strangers, unmoored from her niche in the world.
The Second Fiddle
Phyllis Bottome
They seated themselves in the boat and unmoored it from the pier.
The Fair Maid of Perth
Sir Walter Scott
Without any loss of time he unmoored the little ship, and stepped aboard.
The Story of Siegfried
James Baldwin
I ran in all haste to the beach, and unmoored a boat that lay alongside.
Harper's Magazine, Vol III, June 1851
Various

British Dictionary definitions for unmoored

unmoor

verb nautical

to weigh the anchor or drop the mooring of (a vessel)

(tr) to reduce the mooring of (a vessel) to one anchor

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for unmoored

unmoor

late 15c., "to free from moorings," from un- (2) + moor (v.). Related: Unmoored.