mooring

Meanings

1. 1nouncountable

   A place in the water where a boat is tied up or anchored, or the fixing that holds it there.

   Grammar: Countable: a mooring, two moorings; often used in the plural.

   Patterns

   • a mooring for a boat
   • at its mooring

   The sailboat sat at its mooring in the bay.

   He paid a fee for a mooring near the town.

   A heavy buoy marked the mooring.

2. 2nounusually plural

   The ropes, chains, or anchors used to hold a boat or ship in place.

   Grammar: Often plural: the moorings broke in the storm.

   Patterns

   • slip the moorings
   • break the moorings

   The storm snapped the ship's moorings.

   Crew checked the moorings before leaving.

   The boat slipped its moorings at dawn.

3. 3nounusually pluralfigurative

   Something that gives a person a sense of stability and belonging.

   Grammar: Figurative; often used with 'lose' or 'without'.

   Patterns

   • lose your moorings
   • without moorings

   After the move, she felt cut loose from her moorings.

   He lost his moorings when his job ended.

   Family traditions give children a set of moorings.

Word forms

Common combinations

boat mooring

A boat mooring in the harbor costs a lot.

slip its moorings

The yacht slipped its moorings at midnight.

break loose from its moorings

The raft broke loose from its moorings.

mooring rope

He threw the mooring rope to the dock.

lose your moorings

She lost her moorings after the divorce.

Synonyms and how they differ

berth

Berth is the space where a ship docks, usually at a quay, whereas mooring can be a buoy out in open water.

anchorage

Anchorage is a place where ships may drop anchor, while mooring suggests a fixed tie.

dock

Dock is a structure beside the water, not the tie that holds the boat.

stability

Stability is the plain abstract word, while the figurative moorings uses a sea image.

Word family

moor verb

to tie a boat in place

moored adjective

tied up in place

unmoor verb

to release a boat from its ties

moorage noun

a place or charge for mooring

Practice

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