Obs. [f. TAWNY + MOOR sb.2: cf. BLACKAMOOR.] A name given to the tawny or brown-skinned natives of foreign lands; prob. originally to natives of northern Africa.
1603. Owen, Pembrokeshire, v. (1892), 42. They seeme more like tawney Moores, then people of this lande.
1650. R. Stapylton, Strada’s Low C. Warres, I. 22. Military Revells: wherein the Emperour himself ran a tilt, habited like a Tauny-moor.
1686. J. Dunton, Lett. fr. New-Eng. (1867), 27. Tho’ he was a Tawney-more Indian, yet he was a Converted one.
1717. Mrs. Centlivre, Bold Stroke for Wife, I. i. (1749), 14. There’s a Black, a Tawnymoor, and a Frenchman.
[1849. A tawny Moor: see MOOR sb.2 1.)
