oar

oar — noun

1. a long wooden or plastic stick with a flat blade on one end, which a person dips

1.nounB2
Definition

a long wooden or plastic stick with a flat blade on one end, which a person dips into the water and pulls to move a small boat forward.

Example

Marcus lifted the wooden oar and dipped it gently into the river.

dip + oar + into the water

Each rower in the boat held a long oar with both hands.

hold + oar with both hands

Common collocations
  • wooden oar
  • pair of oars
  • pull on the oars
  • dip the oar
  • lift the oar
Synonyms
  • paddle

    shorter, hand-held, used with canoes or kayaks (not the same tool)

  • scull

    a light, thin oar used in racing boats; often used in pairs by one rower

Grammar Patterns

a pair of oars

pull on the oars

Usage Note

Almost always physical and countable; a small boat usually needs a pair (two oars). Distinguish from 'paddle', which is shorter, held in the hands without a fixed point on the boat, and used for canoes or kayaks.

Common Mistakes

I rowed the canoe with two oars.
I paddled the canoe with two paddles.
use 'paddle', not 'oar', for canoes and kayaks.
The boat had one oar on the back.
The boat had a rudder on the back.
the steering blade at the back is a 'rudder', not an oar.
Idioms

put/stick your oar in

idiom

To give an opinion or advice when it is not asked for or wanted.

Maya stuck her oar in during our meeting and confused everyone.

Why do you always put your oar in when we are discussing private matters?

oar — verb

Word family

  • oarsman
    nounC1
  • oarswoman
    nounC1
  • oarlock
    nounC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

These three tools all push a boat through water, but they look and behave differently. An 'oar' is long, has a flat blade at one end, and is locked into the side of a rowing boat at a fixed point (the oarlock); the rower sits facing backwards and pulls on it. A 'paddle' is shorter and not attached to the boat — the user holds it with both hands and digs it into the water on either side, as in a canoe or kayak. A 'scull' is a special, lighter kind of oar used in racing: a single rower usually holds two sculls, one in each hand. So a fisherman pulls on his oars, a tourist paddles a canoe, and an athlete trains with sculls on a narrow river.

oar ↗paddlescull

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • pair of oars
  • pull on the oars
  • lift the oar
  • dip the oar in the water
  • wooden oar

Prepositions

Etymology

Old EnglishMiddle EnglishModern English

From Old English 'ar', meaning a tool used for rowing a boat, related to similar words in Old Norse and other early Germanic languages. The word has kept almost the same form and meaning for over a thousand years, with the verb sense ('to move by oar') developing later from the noun.