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# oar

«oar» in Mova's school dictionary: **a long pole with a flat blade at one end, used to row a boat** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 4 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (an oar, oars)

### meaning for a pupil

1) An oar is a long pole with a flat blade at one end, used to row a boat. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/oar/#m1)

2) (idiom, UK informal) To stick or put your oar in means to give your opinion when it is not wanted. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/oar/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In everyday life and sport, rowers pull oars to move a boat; rowing teams race on rivers. In history, Viking longships and Roman galleys used many oars. In safety, boats carry spare oars. An oar is held in an oarlock or rowlock. A paddle (used in canoes) is different: it is held without a fixed place on the boat.

### examples

- He pulled hard on the oars. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/oar/#x1)
- The rowing boat has two oars. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/oar/#x2)
- Vikings rowed their longships with long oars. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/oar/#x3)
- We lost an oar and drifted in circles. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/oar/#x4)
- Don't stick your oar in; it's not your argument. (UK informal) [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/oar/#x5)
- Eight rowers pulled their oars together. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/oar/#x6)
- "Go to Argus, the shipbuilder, and bid him build a galley with fifty oars." [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/oar/#x7)

### note

Countable; use an before oar. Homophones: or (this or that) and ore (rock with metal) sound the same in many accents. An oar is fixed to the boat; a paddle is not.

### In the corpora

- [Sea snakes are very venomous but usually gentle and rarely bite people, and their tails are flat like oars for swimming.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/166-australias-venomous-animals-and-why-few-people-die/15/)
- [The Rat is laughing as he pushes him to shore with the oars under his arms.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/28-willows-ch1-part4-sploosh/7/)
- [Greeks sailed in triremes, fast warships with three rows of oars, and traded olive oil, wine and pottery.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/history/11-ancient-greece-city-states-athens-and-sparta/16/)
- [Viking longships were light and fast, with sails and oars, and could cross the sea and sail up shallow rivers.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/history/20-the-middle-ages-begin-the-vikings/11/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «oar» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/oar/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.