Moor

[moo r] /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.
[moo r] /mʊər/
verb (used with object)
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)
3.
to moor a ship, small boat, etc.
4.
to be made secure by cables or the like.
noun
5.
the act of mooring.
[moo r] /mʊər/
noun
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.
/mʊə; mɔː/
noun
1.
a tract of unenclosed ground, usually having peaty soil covered with heather, coarse grass, bracken, and moss
/mʊə; mɔː/
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 (sense 11)
/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)
v.

“to fasten (a vessel) by a cable,” late 15c., probably related to Old English mærels “mooring rope,” via unrecorded *mærian “to moor,” or possibly borrowed from Middle Low German moren or Middle Dutch maren “to moor,” from West Germanic *mairojan. Related: Moored, mooring. French amarrer is from Dutch.
n.

“waste ground,” Old English mor “morass, swamp,” from Proto-Germanic *mora- (cf. Old Saxon, Middle Dutch, Dutch meer “swamp,” Old High German muor “swamp,” also “sea,” German Moor “moor,” Old Norse mörr “moorland,” marr “sea”), perhaps related to mere (n.), or from root *mer- “to die,” hence “dead land.”

The basic sense in place names is ‘marsh’, a kind of low-lying wetland possibly regarded as less fertile than mersc ‘marsh.’ The development of the senses ‘dry heathland, barren upland’ is not fully accounted for but may be due to the idea of infertility. [Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names]

n.

“North African, Berber,” late 14c., from Old French More, from Medieval Latin Morus, from Latin Maurus “inhabitant of Mauritania” (northwest Africa, a region now corresponding to northern Algeria and Morocco), from Greek Mauros, perhaps a native name, or else cognate with mauros “black” (but this adjective only appears in late Greek and may as well be from the people’s name as the reverse). Being a dark people in relation to Europeans, their name in the Middle Ages was a synonym for “Negro;” later (16c.-17c.) used indiscriminately of Muslims (Persians, Arabs, etc.) but especially those in India.