Oar
noun
A long pole with a flat end that is used for rowing a boat.
He lost an oar in the water while rowing.
Often appears as...
- grab the oar
- row with an oar
verb
To move a boat with oars.
They were oaring their way across the lake.
Often appears as...
- oar a boat
- oar across the lake
idiom
In control or in charge of a situation.
With our new project manager, she's at the oar now.
Often appears as...
- at the oars
- take the oars
Usage tips
Approving
Idiomatic
noun
A long pole with a flat end that is used for rowing a boat.
He lost an oar in the water while rowing.
Often appears as...
- grab the oar
- row with an oar
verb
To move a boat with oars.
They were oaring their way across the lake.
Often appears as...
- oar a boat
- oar across the lake
idiom
In control or in charge of a situation.
With our new project manager, she's at the oar now.
Often appears as...
- at the oars
- take the oars
Usage tips
Approving
Idiomatic
Definition 1 of 3
Pro Tip 1/3Physical Action
Refers to the physical effort of moving a boat with an oar.
The rowers put strength into their arms as they used the oars.
Pro Tip 2/3Part of Pair
Oars are usually used in pairs, one on each side of the boat.
Make sure both oars are securely in place before rowing.
Pro Tip 3/3Rowing Sport
In sports, 'oar' might indicate the activity of rowing as a competitive sport.
She bought a new oar for her upcoming rowing competition.
Pro Tip 1/3Physical Action
Refers to the physical effort of moving a boat with an oar.
The rowers put strength into their arms as they used the oars.
Pro Tip 2/3Part of Pair
Oars are usually used in pairs, one on each side of the boat.
Make sure both oars are securely in place before rowing.
Pro Tip 3/3Rowing Sport
In sports, 'oar' might indicate the activity of rowing as a competitive sport.
She bought a new oar for her upcoming rowing competition.
Pro Tip 1/3Physical Action
Refers to the physical effort of moving a boat with an oar.
The rowers put strength into their arms as they used the oars.
Pro Tip 2/3Part of Pair
Oars are usually used in pairs, one on each side of the boat.
Make sure both oars are securely in place before rowing.
Pro Tip 3/3Rowing Sport
In sports, 'oar' might indicate the activity of rowing as a competitive sport.
She bought a new oar for her upcoming rowing competition.
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Video examples
Safari Live - Day 32 PIPE...
little things at twin dam so we've got a little water boatmen and you can see why it's called a boatsman because of that oval-shaped body with those two oars basically they come out and help it swim around underneath the water and it's not every day we get to see them so super
Video examples
Chasing Rivers, Part 1:...
because we've just lost an oar, we're going to plan B'. This is 'Oh we are going to die' because we are going into the big kahuna wave now with no oars. We're taking this little tiny flimsy wooden boat, through the middle of this giant rapid and we realize we're about to flip.
Video examples
How did Polynesian...
which were powered by sails and steered with a single large oar. Canoe building involved the whole community, bringing together the navigators, canoe builders, priests, chanters, and hula dancers. Navigators were keen observers of the natural world.
Video examples
Roz Savage: Why I'm...
Then, when that gave out, I sawed the wheel axles off my spare rowing seat and used those. And then when those gave out, I cannibalized one of the broken oars. I'd never been very good at fixing stuff when I was living my old life,
Video examples
Infinity according to...
at the dawn of the 30th of April of 1882, and he could compare them in his recollection with the marbled grain in the design of a leather-bound book which he had seen only once, and with the lines in the spray which an oar raised
Video examples
The tale of the boy who...
If the boatman could hand his oars to a willing passenger, he would be free from his task. Back at the village, the youth declared that there was a mouse gnawing at the root of the tree, and an enormous toad blocking the well.
Video examples
What's so special about...
had large warships that controlled the sea, and cargo ships that transported goods along the waterways. These ships were powered by sail and oars and relied on a strong skeleton of internal timbers
Video examples
Corruption, wealth and...
for the locations of old boatyards, oar makers and ferry stations, imprinting the memory of the boat-building trades that once kept life in the most serene republic gliding along at a steady clip.
Video examples
Billy Collins: Everyday...
And when we lie down in a field or on a couch, drugged perhaps by the hum of a warm afternoon, they think we are looking back at them, which makes them lift their oars and fall silent
Video examples
173-Year-Old Whaling...
poisoned be of good Cheers get your tubs in your boats pose keep your bow lines all clear now bend to your oars and make your boats fly one thing we dread of keep clear of as I
Video examples
Safari Live - Day 32 PIPE...
little things at twin dam so we've got a little water boatmen and you can see why it's called a boatsman because of that oval-shaped body with those two oars basically they come out and help it swim around underneath the water and it's not every day we get to see them so super
Video examples
Chasing Rivers, Part 1:...
because we've just lost an oar, we're going to plan B'. This is 'Oh we are going to die' because we are going into the big kahuna wave now with no oars. We're taking this little tiny flimsy wooden boat, through the middle of this giant rapid and we realize we're about to flip.
Video examples
How did Polynesian...
which were powered by sails and steered with a single large oar. Canoe building involved the whole community, bringing together the navigators, canoe builders, priests, chanters, and hula dancers. Navigators were keen observers of the natural world.
Video examples
Roz Savage: Why I'm...
Then, when that gave out, I sawed the wheel axles off my spare rowing seat and used those. And then when those gave out, I cannibalized one of the broken oars. I'd never been very good at fixing stuff when I was living my old life,
Video examples
Infinity according to...
at the dawn of the 30th of April of 1882, and he could compare them in his recollection with the marbled grain in the design of a leather-bound book which he had seen only once, and with the lines in the spray which an oar raised
Video examples
The tale of the boy who...
If the boatman could hand his oars to a willing passenger, he would be free from his task. Back at the village, the youth declared that there was a mouse gnawing at the root of the tree, and an enormous toad blocking the well.
Video examples
What's so special about...
had large warships that controlled the sea, and cargo ships that transported goods along the waterways. These ships were powered by sail and oars and relied on a strong skeleton of internal timbers
Video examples
Corruption, wealth and...
for the locations of old boatyards, oar makers and ferry stations, imprinting the memory of the boat-building trades that once kept life in the most serene republic gliding along at a steady clip.
Video examples
Billy Collins: Everyday...
And when we lie down in a field or on a couch, drugged perhaps by the hum of a warm afternoon, they think we are looking back at them, which makes them lift their oars and fall silent
Video examples
173-Year-Old Whaling...
poisoned be of good Cheers get your tubs in your boats pose keep your bow lines all clear now bend to your oars and make your boats fly one thing we dread of keep clear of as I
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Dick Cavett
American Entertainer
Statistically, I'd say comedy writers are perhaps the sanest category of show people. And why not? They make big money, and although it's not an easy trade - particularly when you're at your galley oar five days a week - it's easier on the nerves and the psyche than living with the brain-squeezing pressure and cares of being the Star.
Quote examples
Michael Dirda
American Critic
In truth, my Anglophilia is fundamentally bookish: I yearn for one of those country house libraries, lined on three walls with mahogany bookshelves, their serried splendor interrupted only by enough space to display, above the fireplace, a pair of crossed swords or sculling oars and perhaps a portrait of some great English worthy.
Quote examples
Pliny the Elder
Roman Author
What is there more unruly than the sea, with its winds, its tornadoes, and its tempests? And yet in what department of her works has Nature been more seconded by the ingenuity of man than in this, by his inventions of sails and of oars?
Quote examples
Robert Frost
American Poet
Two such as you with such a master speed, cannot be parted nor be swept away, from one another once you are agreed, that life is only life forevermore, together wing to wing and oar to oar.
Quote examples
Esther Hicks
American Author
Most people are rowing against the current of life. Instead of turning the boat around, all they need to do is let go of the oars.
Quote examples
Kris Kristofferson
American Musician
You don't paddle against the current, you paddle with it. And if you get good at it, you throw away the oars.
Quote examples
Michel de Montaigne
French Philosopher
A straight oar looks bent in the water. What matters is not merely that we see things but how we see them.
Quote examples
Harold S. Geneen
British Businessman
I don't believe in just ordering people to do things. You have to sort of grab an oar and row with them.
Quote examples
Saint Francis de Sales
Swiss Clergyman
There are no galley-slaves in the royal vessel of divine love - every man works his oar voluntarily!
Quote examples
Kate Chopin
American Author
There are some people who leave impressions not so lasting as the imprint of an oar upon the water.
Quote examples
Dick Cavett
American Entertainer
Statistically, I'd say comedy writers are perhaps the sanest category of show people. And why not? They make big money, and although it's not an easy trade - particularly when you're at your galley oar five days a week - it's easier on the nerves and the psyche than living with the brain-squeezing pressure and cares of being the Star.
Quote examples
Michael Dirda
American Critic
In truth, my Anglophilia is fundamentally bookish: I yearn for one of those country house libraries, lined on three walls with mahogany bookshelves, their serried splendor interrupted only by enough space to display, above the fireplace, a pair of crossed swords or sculling oars and perhaps a portrait of some great English worthy.
Quote examples
Pliny the Elder
Roman Author
What is there more unruly than the sea, with its winds, its tornadoes, and its tempests? And yet in what department of her works has Nature been more seconded by the ingenuity of man than in this, by his inventions of sails and of oars?
Quote examples
Robert Frost
American Poet
Two such as you with such a master speed, cannot be parted nor be swept away, from one another once you are agreed, that life is only life forevermore, together wing to wing and oar to oar.
Quote examples
Esther Hicks
American Author
Most people are rowing against the current of life. Instead of turning the boat around, all they need to do is let go of the oars.
Quote examples
Kris Kristofferson
American Musician
You don't paddle against the current, you paddle with it. And if you get good at it, you throw away the oars.
Quote examples
Michel de Montaigne
French Philosopher
A straight oar looks bent in the water. What matters is not merely that we see things but how we see them.
Quote examples
Harold S. Geneen
British Businessman
I don't believe in just ordering people to do things. You have to sort of grab an oar and row with them.
Quote examples
Saint Francis de Sales
Swiss Clergyman
There are no galley-slaves in the royal vessel of divine love - every man works his oar voluntarily!
Quote examples
Kate Chopin
American Author
There are some people who leave impressions not so lasting as the imprint of an oar upon the water.
Example 1 of 10
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