- To ship the oars
- Oar Oar ([=o]r), n [AS. [=a]r; akin to Icel. [=a]r, Dan. aare,
Sw. [*a]ra; perh. akin to E. row, v. Cf. {Rowlock}.]
[1913 Webster]
1. 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.
[1913 Webster]
Note: An oar is a kind of long paddle, which swings about a kind of fulcrum, called a rowlock, fixed to the side of the boat. [1913 Webster]
2. An oarsman; a rower; as, he is a good oar. [1913 Webster]
3. (Zo["o]l.) An oarlike swimming organ of various invertebrates. [1913 Webster]
{Oar cock} (Zo["o]l.), the water rail. [Prov. Eng.]
{Spoon oar}, an oar having the blade so curved as to afford a better hold upon the water in rowing.
{To boat the oars}, to cease rowing, and lay the oars in the boat.
{To feather the oars}. See under {Feather}., v. t.
{To lie on the oars}, to cease pulling, raising the oars out of water, but not boating them; to cease from work of any kind; to be idle; to rest.
{To muffle the oars}, to put something round that part which rests in the rowlock, to prevent noise in rowing.
{To put in one's oar}, to give aid or advice; -- commonly used of a person who obtrudes aid or counsel not invited.
{To ship the oars}, to place them in the rowlocks.
{To toss the oars}, To peak the oars, to lift them from the rowlocks and hold them perpendicularly, the handle resting on the bottom of the boat.
{To trail oars}, to allow them to trail in the water alongside of the boat.
{To unship the oars}, to take them out of the rowlocks. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
