oar

Everyday

1. An oar is a long pole with a flat blade at one end, used to row a boat. tree →
2. (idiom, UK informal) To stick or put your oar in means to give your opinion when it is not wanted. tree →

In the lessons

In everyday life and sport, rowers pull oars to move a boat; rowing teams race on rivers. In history, Viking longships and Roman galleys used many oars. In safety, boats carry spare oars. An oar is held in an oarlock or rowlock. A paddle (used in canoes) is different: it is held without a fixed place on the boat.

Examples

• He pulled hard on the oars. tree →
• The rowing boat has two oars. tree →
• Vikings rowed their longships with long oars. tree →
• We lost an oar and drifted in circles. tree →
• Don't stick your oar in; it's not your argument. (UK informal) tree →
• Eight rowers pulled their oars together. tree →
• "Go to Argus, the shipbuilder, and bid him build a galley with fifty oars." tree →

Note

Countable; use an before oar. Homophones: or (this or that) and ore (rock with metal) sound the same in many accents. An oar is fixed to the boat; a paddle is not.

In Jewish tradition

In everyday life and sport, rowers pull oars to move a boat; rowing teams race on rivers. In history, Viking longships and Roman galleys used many oars. In safety, boats carry spare oars. An oar is held in an oarlock or rowlock. A paddle (used in canoes) is different: it is held without a fixed place on the boat.

Examples

• Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; thy deck have they made of ivory inlaid in larch, from the isles of the Kittites. (Prophets EZK.27.6, JPS 1917) tree →
• And all that handle the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea, shall come down from their ships, they shall stand upon the land, (Prophets EZK.27.29, JPS 1917) tree →
• But there the LORD will be with us in majesty, in a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby. (Prophets ISA.33.21, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Countable; use an before oar. Homophones: or (this or that) and ore (rock with metal) sound the same in many accents. An oar is fixed to the boat; a paddle is not.