Word.ws English Dictionary

oarhole

oarhole noun: a slot or opening in the side of a galley or ship through which an oar is fitted.

Noun

oarhole (plural oarholes)

  1. a slot or opening in the side of a galley or ship through which an oar is fitted
    • Oarholes were sealed when not in use by wooden covers that rotated in place to keep out water. A slot cut into the oarhole allowed the blade of the oar to pass through the oarhole so oars could be deployed entirely inboard of the ship.2016, William R. Short, Icelanders in the Viking Age

Forms of oarhole

pluraloarholes
alternative formoar-hole

Origin of oarhole

From Middle English ore hol, equivalent to oar + hole.

Questions about oarhole

What does oarhole mean?
Oarhole means a slot or opening in the side of a galley or ship through which an oar is fitted.
What part of speech is oarhole?
Oarhole is a noun.
What is the plural of oarhole?
The plural of oarhole is oarholes.

Words near oarhole in the dictionary

  1. oare
  2. oared
  3. oares
  4. oarfish
  5. oarfishes
  6. oarhole
  7. oarholes
  8. oaring
  9. oaritis
  10. oarless
  11. oarlessness

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: oarhole (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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