oar
UK/ɔː//oɹ/
oar noun: a type of lever used to propel a boat, having a flat blade at one end and a handle at the other, and pivoted in a rowlock atop the gunwale, whereby a rower seated in the boat and pulling the handle can pass the blade through the water by repeated strokes against the water's resistance, thus moving the boat.
Noun (1)
oar (plural oars)
- A type of lever used to propel a boat, having a flat blade at one end and a handle at the other, and pivoted in a rowlock atop the gunwale, whereby a rower seated in the boat and pulling the handle can pass the blade through the water by repeated strokes against the water's resistance, thus moving the boat.
- The oar snaps in his hand
Before he reaches dry land
But the sound doesn't deafen his smile
Just pokes at wet sand
With an oar in his hand
Floats off down the river Nile
Floats off down the river Nile...19 October 1979, Madness, “Night Boat to Cairo”, Suggs (lyrics)
- Synonyms:
- paddle
- The oar snaps in his hand
- An oarsman; a rower.
- He is a good oar.
- An oar-like swimming organ of various invertebrates.
Verb
oar (third-person singular simple present oars, present participle oaring, simple past and past participle oared)
- To row; to travel with, or as if with, oars.
- The weather was fine, and whilst oaring along I would fain have landed on the islands between; but fearful of a change, and already half worn-out by my previous trail, I let them go by with the comforting resolve of turning them up on some future occasion.1866, Thomas S. Muir, Barra Head, page 52
- Turning the long tables upside down — and there were twelve of them — they seated themselves, one behind another, within the upturned table tops as though they were boats and were about to oar their way into some fabulous ocean.1950, Mervyn Peake, Gormenghast, London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, →OCLC
Noun (2) capitalized: OAR
OAR
- Initialism of original aspect ratio.
- HD HBO is generally not as good as Showtime HD. Showtime is leaving movies in the OAR (16X9), while HBO insists on butchering the movies to pan and scan. In addition, Showtime is broadcasting in 5.1 Dolby Digital surround...sounds amazing.2000 April 19, I Want My DTV!, “Re: Lastest^([sic]) info on HDD200 availabilty?”, in alt.video.satellite.4dtv (Usenet)
oar meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
oar in Hindi
- implement used to row a boat
- पतवार patvār, चप्पू cappū, डांड़ ḍā̃ṛ, खेवनी khevnī, अरित्र aritra, डाँड़ ḍā̃ṛ
oar in Tamil
- implement used to row a boat
- துடுப்பு tuṭuppu
oar in Marathi
- implement used to row a boat
- वल्हे valhe, नौकादंड naukādaṇḍa, अवले avle
oar in Urdu
- implement used to row a boat
- چَپُّو cappū, پَتْوار patvār
More languagesFewer languages
- oar in Bengali
- মাঝি majhi, বৈঠা bōiṭha
- oar in Telugu
- తెడ్డు teḍḍu
- oar in Sanskrit
- अरित्र aritra
- oar in Assamese
- বঠা botha
- oar in Pashto
- پارو pāru
- oar in Tagalog
- gaod, sagwan
- oar in Arabic
- مِجْذَاف mijḏāf, مِجْدَاف mijdāf
- oar in Malay
- dayung
- oar in Indonesian
- dayung
- oar in Thai
- กรรเชียง gan-chiiang
- oar in Vietnamese
- chèo
- oar in Myanmar
- တက် tak
Examples of oar in a sentence
- Always be careful handling your oars or you'll end up with a case of summerteeth.
- I don't want her coming and sticking her oar in – she doesn't know anything about our financials.
- The rowing team laid to their oars.
Synonyms of oar
Forms of oar
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | oars |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | oars |
| present participle | oaring |
| past participle | oared |
| past | oared |
Origin of oar
From Middle English ore (“oar”), from Old English ār, from Proto-West Germanic *airu, from Proto-Germanic *airō (“oar”). Cognate with Old Norse ár.
Words formed from oar
Phrases with oar
Words that rhyme with oar
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about oar
- What does oar mean?
- Oar means a type of lever used to propel a boat, having a flat blade at one end and a handle at the other, and pivoted in a rowlock atop the gunwale, whereby a rower seated in the boat and pulling the handle can pass the blade through the water by repeated strokes against the water's resistance, thus moving the boat.
- What is oar in Hindi?
- Oar in Hindi is पतवार (patvār), चप्पू (cappū), डांड़ (ḍā̃ṛ). See Oar meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is oar?
- Oar can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce oar?
- Oar is pronounced /ɔː/ (UK).
- What is the plural of oar?
- The plural of oar is oars.
Words near oar in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: oar (page history and authors); OAR (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-oar.ogg.
Cite this entry: “oar.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/oar. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.