Meanings
- An interest in someone else's affairs, possibly through meddling.
"Mr. Betteredge," he said, "as you have honoured me by taking an oar in my boat, and as you may, I think, be of some assistance to me before the evening is out, I see no use in our mystifying one another any longer, and I propose to set you an example of plain speaking on my side.[…]"
1868 January 4 – June 6, [William] Wilkie Collins, “First Period. The Loss of the Diamond (1848). […]”, in The Moonstone. A Romance. […], volume I, London: Tinsley Brothers, […], published 1868, →OCLC, chapter XV, page 238Synonyms: stake
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAn interest in someone else's affairs, possibly through meddling.
Cite this entry
oar in someone's boat. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/oar%20in%20someone's%20boat
“oar in someone's boat.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/oar%20in%20someone's%20boat. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “oar in someone's boat,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/oar%20in%20someone's%20boat.
Source: oar in someone's boat on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.