oar

plural oars

1. A type of lever used to propel a boat, having a flat blade at one end and a handle at the other, and pivoted in a rowlock atop the gunwale, whereby a rower seated in the boat and pulling the handle can pass the blade through the water by repeated strokes against the water's resistance, thus moving the boat.

   The oar snaps in his hand Before he reaches dry land But the sound doesn't deafen his smile Just pokes at wet sand With an oar in his hand Floats off down the river Nile Floats off down the river Nile...

   19 October 1979, Madness, “Night Boat to Cairo”, Suggs (lyrics)

   Synonyms: paddle

2. An oarsman; a rower.

   He is a good oar.

3. biologyAn oar-like swimming organ of various invertebrates.

present singular third person oars · participle present oaring · participle past oared · past oared

1. literaryTo row; to travel with, or as if with, oars.

   Turning the long tables upside down — and there were twelve of them — they seated themselves, one behind another, within the upturned table tops as though they were boats and were about to oar their way into some fabulous ocean.

   1950, Mervyn Peake, Gormenghast, London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, →OCLC

   2 more examples

   The weather was fine, and whilst oaring along I would fain have landed on the islands between; but fearful of a change, and already half worn-out by my previous trail, I let them go by with the comforting resolve of turning them up on some future occasion.

   1866, Thomas S. Muir, Barra Head, page 52

   In Nopsca's theory, flight evolved as a means of running more quickly over the ground: "Birds originated from bipedal, long-tailed cursorial reptiles which during running oared along in the air by flapping their free anterior extremities."

   1996, Peter J. Bowler, Life's Splendid Drama

1. abbreviationinitialismInitialism of original aspect ratio.

   HD HBO is generally not as good as Showtime HD. Showtime is leaving movies in the OAR (16X9), while HBO insists on butchering the movies to pan and scan. In addition, Showtime is broadcasting in 5.1 Dolby Digital surround...sounds amazing.

   2000 April 19, I Want My DTV!, “Re: Lastest^([sic]) info on HDD200 availabilty?”, in alt.video.satellite.4dtv (Usenet)