Etymology From Middle English mor, from Old English mōr, from Proto-West Germanic *mōr, from Proto-Germanic *mōraz, from Proto-Indo-European *móri. Cognates include Welsh môr, Old Irish muir (from Proto-Celtic *mori); Scots muir, Dutch moer, Old Saxon mōr, Old Saxon mūr, German Moor and perhaps also Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐍂𐌴𐌹 (marei). See mere.
1
An extensive waste covered with patches of heath, and having a poor, light (and usually acidic) soil, but sometimes marshy, and abounding in peat; a heath. (Compare bog, peatland, marsh, swamp, fen.)
A cold, biting wind blew across the moor, and the travellers hastened their step.
In her girlish age, she kept sheep on the moor.
2 more examples
the ruins yet resting in the wild moors1609, Richard Carew, The Survey of Cornwall, London: […] S[imon] S[tafford] for Iohn Iaggard, […], →OCLC:
And now, without a word of warning from the Ghost, they stood upon a bleak and desert moor, where monstrous masses of rude stone were cast about, as though it were the burial-place of giants; and water spread itself wheresoever it listed, or would have done so, but for the frost that held it prisoner; and nothing grew but moss and furze, and coarse rank grass.1843, Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, →OCLC, pages 101-102:
Etymology From Middle English moren, from unattested Old English *mārian, from Proto-West Germanic *mairōn (“to moor, fasten to”), related to *maida- (“post”), from Proto-Indo-European *mēyt-, *meyt-, from *mēy-, *mey- (“stake, pole”). Cognate with Dutch meren (“to moor”), marren (“to bind”).
Nautical, Transport To fix or secure (e.g. a vessel) in a particular place by casting anchor, or by fastening with ropes, cables or chains or the like.
They moored the boat to the wharf.
His thought is tied, the curving prow Of motion moored to rock; And minutes burst upon a brow Insentient to shock.1941, Theodore Roethke, “Death Piece”, in Open House, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →OCLC; republished in The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke, London: Faber and Faber […], 1968, →OCLC, page 4:
Etymology From Middle English More, Moore, from Old French More (modern French Maure), from Latin Maurus (“a Moor, meaning a Mauretanian, an inhabitant of Mauretania”), from Ancient Greek Μαυρούσιος (Mauroúsios, “Mauretanian”). Doublet of Moro.
1
Historical A member of an ancient Amazigh people from Mauretania.
2
Historical A member of an Islamic people of Arab or Amazigh origin ruling Spain and parts of North Africa from the 8th to the 15th centuries.
[King of] Moro[cco]. Ye Moores and valiant men of Barbary, How can ye ſuffer theſe indignities?c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene iii:
3
Archaic A Muslim or a person from the Middle East or Africa.
4
Dated A person of mixed Arab and Amazigh ancestry inhabiting the Mediterranean coastline of northwest Africa.
5
A person of an ethnic group speaking the Hassaniya Arabic language, mainly inhabiting Western Sahara, Mauritania, and parts of neighbouring countries (Morocco, Mali, Senegal etc.).