Meanings
plural oarlocks
- nauticalA usually U-shaped device attached to the gunwale of a rowboat to hold the oars in place while rowing.
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 Boy1 more example
"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 361Synonyms: rowlock
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA usually U-shaped device attached to the gunwale of a rowboat to hold the oars in place while rowing.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna holder attached to the gunwale of a boat that holds the oar in place and acts as a fulcrum for rowing
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Bulgarian ключ
- ключ (ključ)device to hold oars in place
Catalan escalamera
- escalameradevice to hold oars in place
Dutch dol
- doldevice to hold oars in place
Finnish hankain, svirveli
- hankaindevice to hold oars in place
- svirvelidevice to hold oars in place
French dame de nage
- dame de nagedevice to hold oars in place
German Dolle
- Dolledevice to hold oars in place
Hungarian evezővilla
- evezővilladevice to hold oars in place
Irish pionna iomartha
- pionna iomarthadevice to hold oars in place
Italian scalmiera, forcola
- scalmieradevice to hold oars in place
- forcoladevice to hold oars in place
Latin scalmus
- scalmusdevice to hold oars in place
Māori rōraka
- rōrakadevice to hold oars in place
Norwegian Bokmål tollepinne
- tollepinnedevice to hold oars in place
Polish dulka
- dulkadevice to hold oars in place
Portuguese forqueta
- forquetadevice to hold oars in place
Romanian furchet
- furchetdevice to hold oars in place
Spanish horquilla
- horquilladevice to hold oars in place
Swedish årtull, årklyka
- årtulldevice to hold oars in place
- årklykadevice to hold oars in place
- roddtulldevice to hold oars in place
Tagalog lulubungan
- lulubungandevice to hold oars in place
Turkish ıskarmoz
- ıskarmozdevice to hold oars in place
Cite this entry
oarlock. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/oarlock
“oarlock.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/oarlock. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “oarlock,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/oarlock.
Source: oarlock on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.