unmoor means to unfix or unsecure (a moored boat). Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why “unmoor” is a great word
UNMOOR — [Verb] To release a vessel from its moorings, or, figuratively, to free from stability or a fixed position. From the Middle English prefix un- (expressing reversal) + moor (to secure a vessel). First recorded in use 1490–1500. Unlike "dislodge," which implies a forcible removal from a resting place, or "anchor," its direct and securing opposite, to unmoor is the deliberate undoing of a chosen fastening. It is the heavy rope slipping free of the bollard; the slow, wide swing of a bow into an open channel; the sudden, lurching warmth in the stomach as the known world shrinks to a line on the horizon—a necessary concession to the current that precedes all drift.
Etymology
From un- + moor.
verb
- To unfix or unsecure (a moored boat).““It would’ve taken him a half-hour to unmoor the boat.””
- To set free or loose.“When oblivion finally unmoors us.”
- To weigh anchor.