MOOR  . (1) A

heath, an unenclosed stretch of waste or uncultivated land, covered with heather; also such a heath preserved for game-shooting, particularly for the shooting of grouse . The O . Eng. mar, bog, moor, is represented in other Teutonic languages; cf . Dan. mor, Ger . Moor, O . Du. moor, &c.; from an O . Du. adjectival form moerasch comes Eng. morass, a bog . Probably mere, marsh, are not to be connected with these words . (2) The verb " to moor," to fasten a ship or boat to the shore, to another vessel, or to an anchor or buoy, by cables, &c., is probably from the root seen in mod . Du. meren, which also gives the English nautical term " marline," small strands of rope used for lashings or seizings, and " marline-spike," a small iron tool for separating the strands of rope, &c .