row

plural rows · alternative rew

1. A line of objects, often regularly spaced, such as seats in a theatre, vegetable plants in a garden, etc.

   The bright seraphim in burning row.

   1646 (indicated as 1645), John Milton, “At a Solemn Musick”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], →OCLC

   2 more examples

   And there were windows in three rows.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Kings vii:4

   Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

   1. Specifically, a line of buildings on a street; also, the street itself (especially in street names)
2. A horizontal line of entries in a table, etc., going from left to right, as opposed to a column going from top to bottom.

   Synonyms: line · Antonyms: column

3. abbreviationclippingin pluralslangClipping of cornrow.

   Vyreen had just finished braiding my hair, and his call had caught me coming out of her crib with my 'rows looking tight.

   2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 25

   1 more example

   If you thought it'd be hard to get a good cornrow braiding in Latvia, think again. Porzingis said he was re-braided almost every week to keep his rows fresh.

   2015 October 22, Stefan Bondy, “Kristaps Porzingis had cornrows as a kid because 'all the girls loved it'”, in New York Daily News, New York, N.Y.: Daily News L.P., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 Jan 2022

present singular third person rows · participle present rowing · participle past rowed · past rowed

1. intransitivetransitivenauticalTo propel (a boat or other craft) over water using oars.

   Synonyms: paddle

2. transitiveTo transport in a boat propelled with oars.

   to row the captain ashore in his barge

3. intransitiveTo be moved by oars.

   The boat rows easily.

plural rows

1. An act or instance of rowing.

   I went for an early-morning row.

2. hobbiesAny of several thematically similar exercise movements performed with a pulling motion of the arms towards the back.

plural rows

1. UKA noisy argument.

   There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.

   5 more examples

   In the autumn there was a row at some cement works about the unskilled labour men. A union had just been started for them and all but a few joined. One of these blacklegs was laid for by a picket and knocked out of time.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

   As a rule, you see, I'm not lugged into Family Rows. On the occasions when Aunt is calling to Aunt like mastodons bellowing across primeval swamps and Uncle James's letter about Cousin Mabel's peculiar behaviour is being shot round the family circle... the clan has a tendency to ignore me.

   1923, P.G. Wodehouse, The Inimitable Jeeves

   ‘Then the father has a great fight with his terrible conscience,’ said Munday with granite seriousness. ‘Should he make a row with the police […]? Or should he say nothing about it and condone brutality for fear of appearing in the newspapers?

   1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 18, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC

   […]he wrote to me last week telling me about an incredible bitch of a row blazing there on account of someone having been and gone and produced an unofficial magazine called Raddled, full of obscene libellous Oz-like filth. And what I though, what Sammy and I thought, was—why not?

   1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, page 27

   The row comes at a time when Africa is supposed to be moving towards greater free trade through the establishment of a continent-wide free-trade area, which began operating four years ago.

   2025 April 24, Sammi Awami, “Tanzania bans South Africa and Malawi imports as trade row escalates”, in BBC

   Synonyms: argument, disturbance, fight, fracas, quarrel, shouting match, slanging match

2. UKA continual loud noise.

   Who's making that row?

   Synonyms: din, racket

present singular third person rows · participle present rowing · participle past rowed · past rowed

1. intransitiveTo argue noisily.

   Synonyms: argue, fight

plural Rows

1. A surname.

1. abbreviationcolloquialellipsishistoricalEllipsis of Paternoster Row, a former street in London, England, that was a centre of the publishing trade.
2. abbreviationcolloquialellipsisEllipsis of Savile Row, a street in London, England, known for its traditional bespoke tailoring.

   Its mission is to protect and promote the art of bespoke tailoring on The Row.

   2008, Mark Tungate, Branded Male: Marketing to Men, Kogan Page Publishers, →ISBN, page 51

   1 more example

   Three points about this unobtrusive person showed promptly to the exercised eye that he was not a Row man pur sang. First, an irrepressible wrinkle or two in the waist of his frock-coat—denoting that he had not damned his tailor sufficiently to drive that tradesman up to the orthodox high pressure of cunning workmanship.

   1872 September – 1873 July, Thomas Hardy, “‘We Frolic while ’Tis May’”, in A Pair of Blue Eyes. […], volume II, London: Tinsley Brothers, […], published 1873, →OCLC, page 20

plural ROWs

1. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableadvertisingInitialism of run of week.
2. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountabledigital rights managementlifestyleInitialism of rest of world.
3. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableInitialism of right of way.

   In some of these areas, the road ROWs are also adjacent to existing aboveground MVEC distribution lines, which are shown on maps in Appendix A. […] Great River Energy will require a new 100-foot-wide ROW for construction and maintenance of the Transmission Line.

   2024 August 19, “LAKETOWN 115-kV TRANSMISSION LINE PROJECT IN CARVER COUNTY, MN”, in Great River Energy, page 30

1. abbreviationinitialismuncountabledigital rights managementlifestyleInitialism of rest of world