Dictionary

oarlock en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From oar + lock.

Meanings

1. A usually U-shaped device attached to the gunwale of a rowboat to hold the oars in place while rowing.
   • "No motor," Tranny says. "It snag bad." Right. The spiderweb would get wrapped around the propeller. Tranny shows Hiro how to snap zodiac's oars into the oarlocks. 1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, page 361:
   • But, as luck would have it, scarcely had he started to row his boat again when an oarlock broke, and so it took him the best part of an hour to make the trip. 1906, Horatio Alger, Joe the Hotel Boy:

Forms

Synonyms

rowlock

Translations (27)

tl lulubungan (device to hold oars in place) · ga pionna iomartha (device to hold oars in place) · nl dol (device to hold oars in place) · nb tollepinne (device to hold oars in place) · fi svirveli (device to hold oars in place) · nn tollepinne (device to hold oars in place) · ca escalamera (device to hold oars in place) · it scalmiera (device to hold oars in place) · sv årklyka (device to hold oars in place) · es horquilla (device to hold oars in place) · sh sòha (device to hold oars in place) · pl dulka (device to hold oars in place) · sv roddtull (device to hold oars in place) · mi rōraka (device to hold oars in place) · pt forqueta (device to hold oars in place) · de Dolle (device to hold oars in place) · fo tollur (device to hold oars in place) · fi hankain (device to hold oars in place) · hu evezővilla (device to hold oars in place) · tr ıskarmoz (device to hold oars in place) · la scalmus (device to hold oars in place) · sh со̀ха (device to hold oars in place) · it forcola (device to hold oars in place) · bg ключ (device to hold oars in place) · ro furchet (device to hold oars in place) · sv årtull (device to hold oars in place) · fr dame de nage (device to hold oars in place)