moorish
UK /ˈmɔːɹɪʃ/ · US /ˈmʊɹ.ɪʃ/ adjective
- adjective (now rare) Of ground, soil etc: boggy, marshy.
- adjective Resembling or characteristic of a moor; abounding in moorland.
- adjective Of or pertaining to the Moors or their culture.
- adjective (architecture) Of or pertaining to a style of Spanish and Portuguese architecture from the time of the Moors, characterized by the horseshoe arch and ornate, geometric decoration.
Synonyms
Etymology
From moor + -ish.
From Moor + -ish.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Having the characteristics of a moor or heath. "Moorish fens." Thomson.
- adjective Of or pertaining to Morocco or the Moors; in the style of the Moors. Moorish architecture, the style developed by the Moors in the later Middle Ages, esp. in Spain, in which the arch had the form of a horseshoe, and the ornamentation admitted no representation of animal life. It has many points of resemblance to the Arabian and Persian styles, but should be distinguished from them. See Illust. under Moresque.
Etymology [From 2d Moor.]
Etymology [See 1st Moor, and cf. Morris, Moresque.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “moorish”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details