Word.ws English Dictionary

not have both oars in the water

not have both oars in the water verb: to be crazy.

Verb

not have both oars in the water

  1. (slang) To be crazy.

Questions about not have both oars in the water

What does not have both oars in the water mean?
Not have both oars in the water means to be crazy.
What part of speech is not have both oars in the water?
Not have both oars in the water is a verb.

Words near not have both oars in the water in the dictionary

  1. not have a clue
  2. not have a leg to stand on
  3. not have a pot to piss in
  4. not have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of
  5. not have a prayer
  6. not have both oars in the water
  7. not have the faintest
  8. not have the faintest idea
  9. not have the first idea
  10. not here for a haircut
  11. not here to fuck spiders

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: not have both oars in the water (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-doesn't have both oars in the water.ogg.

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