Oar
[ɔː] or [ɔr]
Definition
(n) An implement for impelling a boat, being a slender piece of timber, usually ash or spruce, with a grip or handle at one end and a broad blade at the other. The part which rests in the rowlock is called the loom.
(n) An oarsman; a rower; as, he is a good oar.
(n) An oarlike swimming organ of various invertebrates.
(v. t. & i.) To row.
Editor: Murdoch
Definition
n. a light pole with a flat feather or spoon-shaped end (the blade) for propelling a boat: an oar-like appendage for swimming as the antenn?of an insect or crustacean &c.: an oarsman.—v.t. to impel by rowing.—v.i. to row.—n. Oar′age oars collectively.—adj. Oared furnished with oars.—ns. Oar′lap a rabbit with its ears standing out at right-angles to the head; Oar′-lock a rowlock; Oars′man one who rows with an oar; Oars′manship skill in rowing.—adj. Oar′y having the form or use of oars.—Boat oars to bring the oars inboard; Feather oars to turn the blades parallel to the water when reaching back for another stroke; Lie on the oars to cease rowing without shipping the oars: to rest take things easily: to cease from work; Put in one's oar to give advice when not wanted; Ship or Unship oars to place the oars in the rowlocks or to take them out.
Typist: Wilhelmina
Unserious Contents or Definition
To dream of handling oars, portends disappointments for you, inasmuch as you will sacrifice your own pleasure for the comfort of others. To lose an oar, denotes vain efforts to carry out designs satisfactorily. A broken oar represents interruption in some anticipated pleasure.
Checker: Wendy
Unserious Contents or Definition
A popular device for catching crabs.
Typed by Edmund
Examples
- I urged my companions to prepare for the wreck of our little skiff, and to bind themselves to some oar or spar which might suffice to float them. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- I went back to the stern and showed her how to hold the oar. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- But some of the poorer free citizens followed mechanic arts, and, as we have already noted, would even pull an oar in a galley for pay. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- He lifted the oar to bring it back. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Dip an oar, and its blade turns to splendid frosted silver, tinted with blue. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- Spread the sail, and strain with oar, hurrying by dark impending crags, adown steep rapids, even to the sea of desolation I have reached. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- First one oar is backing water, and then the other; it is seldom that both are going ahead at once. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- I threw down the oar; and, leaning my head upon my hands, gave way to every gloomy idea that arose. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- I unhooked the handle from the seat, laid the umbrella in the bow and went back to Catherine for the oar. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- Gerald automatically took the oar and pushed off. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- I took the oar. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- You take this oar and hold it under your arm close to the side of the boat and steer and I'll hold the umbrella. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- The man carried something over his shoulder which might have been a broken oar, or spar, or bar, and took no notice of him, but passed on. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- At college he pulled stroke-oar in the Christchurch boat, and had thrashed all the best bruisers of the town. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Feeling that she had not mended matters much, Amy took the offered third of a seat, shook her hair over her face, and accepted an oar. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- He was always first oars with the fine city ladies. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- So, they plied their oars once more, and I looked out for anything like a house. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- Finally my hands were so sore I could hardly close them over the oars. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- Then a dozen sailors bent to the oars and pulled rapidly toward the point where Tarzan crouched in the branches of a tree. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
- Besides, the nights are so still, that the sound of oars can easily be heard a long way off, especially by men trained to hear like my Greeks. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- I pulled in the oars, took hold of an iron ring, stepped up on the wet stone and was in Switzerland. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- But suppose Alcibiades uses no oars? Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- I could see Catherine in the stern but I could not see the water where the blades of the oars dipped. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- Sometimes I missed the water with the oars in the dark as a wave lifted the boat. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- I held the oars up and we sailed with them. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- I could take the oars awhile. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- I did not feather the oars because the wind was with us. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- If the crew laughed, the Malays did not, and when the captain of one of the proas was struck by a rocket, both crafts rested oars and came no nearer. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- That room was their boat; that audience were the maidens; and he (Mr. Anthony Humm), however unworthily, was 'first oars' (unbounded applause). Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- He had rejected the plan of using paddles or oars, and also of forcing water out of the stern of the vessel, and had retained the idea of the paddle-wheel. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
Editor: Paula