mooring, vbl. n.
(ˈmʊərɪŋ, ˈmɔərɪŋ)
[f. moor v.1 + -ing1.]
1. The action of the verb moor v.1
| 1485 [see mooring-chain below]. 1495 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 162 The Bryngyng the seyd Ship to the Shore And for moryng of hyre there. 1626 Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 3 To haue..the command of the long boate, for..warping, towing, and moreing. 1797 Burke Regic. Peace iii. (1892) 251 There is much want of room for the safe and convenient mooring of vessels, and constant access to them. 1886 Encycl. Brit. XXI. 598/1 One of the objections made to slack mooring is that turns are formed below water where they are not visible. |
2. concr. Something (
e.g. a rope, chain, etc.) by which a floating object is made fast; also the object to which it is moored.
a. sing. (Somewhat
rare.)
| 1775 N. D. Falck Day's Diving Vessel 51 Slacking a little of the mooring. 1809 Byron Lines to Mr. Hodgson 17 Now our boatmen quit their mooring, And all hands must ply the oar. 1820 Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. I. 256 Wrecked by the fall of their icy mooring. 1843 Penny Cycl. XXVI. 451/1 To one end of the line a chain-shot was attached by way of mooring. 1894 Outing (U.S.) XXIII. 401/1 Mainsail, foresail and gaff-topsail were hoisted, and her jib ready to hoist as soon as the mooring was dropped. |
| fig. a 1854 H. Reed Lect. Brit. Poets xiv. (1857) II. 184 The tempest which had driven him from his domestic mooring was followed by a fitful calm. |
b. pl.| 1744 J. Philips Jrnl. Anson's Exped. 192 The Prize drove off from her Moorings. 1750 T. R. Blanckley Nav. Expositor, Moarings, are laid out in Harbour, and consists of Claws, Pendant Chains, Cables [etc.]. 1858 Lytton What will he do i. v, Vance loosened the boat from its moorings, stepped in, and took up the oars. 1875 Encycl. Brit. II. 8/2 Mushroom anchors first proposed for ships, are now only used for moorings. 1889 Cath. News 27 July 8/6 The huge Rodney fouled a lightship the other day and broke her moorings. |
| transf. and fig. 1836 J. Gilbert Chr. Atonem. (1852) 116 Having broken from all moral moorings, he will find himself adrift. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. III. 507 When..the pylorus is dragged from its moorings. |
3. pl. The place in a river or harbour where a vessel can be moored.
| 1758 J. Blake Plan Mar. Syst. 65 Nearly the same time will be elapsed before the..ship..can be secured at her moorings. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 300 Some of the new men of war, indeed, were so rotten that, unless speedily repaired, they would go down at their moorings. 1860 Longfellow Wayside Inn, P. Revere's Ride 18 Where swinging wide at her moorings lay The Somerset. |
| fig. 1851 Carlyle Sterling ii. iv. (1872) 118 When once the household was settled in its new moorings..he returned to his employments and pursuits. |
4. attrib. and
Comb., as
mooring bridle,
mooring boat,
mooring buoy,
mooring cable,
mooring chain,
mooring-ground,
mooring hook,
mooring-port,
mooring-stone;
mooring anchor, one of the fixed anchors placed at the bottom of a harbour, to which vessels are moored;
mooring-block (see
quot. 1815);
mooring mast, a strong upright structure to which an airship is moored;
mooring-out, used
attrib. to denote a site at which an airship may be moored;
mooring-post, (
a) a strong upright post fixed into the ground for securing vessels to the landing-place by hawsers or chains; (
b) one of the strong pieces of oak inserted into the deck of a large ship for fastening the moorings to when alongside a quay (
Adm. Smyth);
mooring swivel, a swivel used in mooring a ship to shackle two chains together so that they may not become twisted.
| 1820 Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. I. 257 For the purpose of placing a *mooring anchor. 1875 Encycl. Brit. II. 8/1 Mooring anchors are not limited by considerations of weight, &c., as other anchors are... Mooring anchors may therefore be of stone..or of cast iron. |
| 1809 in Trans. Soc. Arts (1811) XXVIII. 173 Many of the line-of-battle ships..are moored with Mr. Hemman's cast-iron *mooring-blocks. 1815 Falconer's Dict. Marine (ed. Burney), Mooring-block is a sort of cast iron anchor of about 150 cwt. used in some of his Majesty's ports for riding ships by. |
| 1957 D. G. O. Baillie Sea Affair xii. 227 The Arab *mooring-boat crews were ready at the buoys to cast off our lines. 1967 S. Waters Indentures Indorsed xxvi. 153 The two ships were almost alongside each other with only a small mooring boat containing five men between them. |
| a 1865 Smyth Sailor's Word-Bk. (1867) 484 *Mooring-bridle, the fasts attached to moorings, one taken into each hawse-hole, or bridle-port. 1919 Gloss. Aeronaut. Terms (R. Aeronaut. Soc.) 58 Mooring bridle, a rigging passing between two points from a fitting in the length of which the mooring rope is attached. 1948 R. de Kerchove Internat. Maritime Dict. 474/2 Mooring bridle, the chains or fasts attached to permanent moorings and taken into the hawse holes. |
| 1809 Naval Chron. XXIV. 23 She ran against one of the *mooring buoys. |
| 1875 Encycl. Brit. II. 8/1 A large buoy is attached to the end of a *mooring cable. |
| 1485 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 38 Chenes for the Loves..j, *Moryng chenes..ij. 1812 Dramatic Censor 1811 223 The monopoly of the East-India Company, Lord Gwydir's mooring-chain monopoly, should be all abolished. 1888 Kipling Departm. Ditties (1890) 68 Through the mooring-chains The wide-eyed corpse rolled free. |
| 1856 Lever Martins of Cro' M. 576 Can you not see..that where one drags the anchor so easily, the *mooring-ground was never good? |
| 1907 J. Masefield Tarpaulin Muster viii. 97, I..cast the painter around the *mooring-hook. |
| 1919 Gloss. Aeronaut. Terms (R. Aeronaut. Soc.) 59 *Mooring mast, a mast to the head of which an airship may be moored. 1929 Times 2 Nov. 9/4, R 101..was walked over to the mast at dawn..in 20 minutes, was at once coupled up to the mooring-mast cable and then waited patiently..for the actual mooring. 1972 Daily Tel. 26 June 5/1 Europa was in the air for the first time since its mooring mast snapped and the airship careered for threequarters of a mile. |
| 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) Cc 3 b, Bridles..whose upper ends are drawn into the ship at the *mooring-ports. |
| 1864 Mrs. Lloyd Ladies Polc. 41 Two or three hardy fellows, who held on for life to the *mooring-posts. |
| 1803 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 468/2 The *mooring-stones remained perfectly steady as did all the ships that were properly moored. |
| c 1860 H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 54 What is the use of a *mooring swivel? It is put on when the ship has two anchors down, to keep the turns out of the cables. |
| 1934 J. A. Sinclair Airships in Peace & War 190 The *mooring-out station was more of a war measure. 1971 Country Life 6 May 1087/1 On flying from our base in Anglesey, or our mooring-out ground at Malahide, [etc.]. |