row

1
[ roh ]
See synonyms for: rowrowedrowing on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. a number of persons or things arranged in a line, especially a straight line: a row of apple trees.

  2. a line of persons or things so arranged: The petitioners waited in a row.

  1. a line of adjacent seats facing the same way, as in a theater: seats in the third row of the balcony.

  2. a street formed by two continuous lines of buildings.

  3. Music. tone row.

  4. Checkers. one of the horizontal lines of squares on a checkerboard; rank.

verb (used with object)
  1. to put in a row (often followed by up).

Idioms about row

  1. hard / long row to hoe, a difficult task or set of circumstances to confront: At 32 and with two children, she found attending medical school a hard row to hoe.

Origin of row

1
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English reue, reuwe, rou(e) “row, line, rank (line of soldiers),” Old English rǣw, rāw; akin to Middle Dutch rije, Middle High German rīhe, German Reihe “row”

Words Nearby row

Other definitions for row (2 of 3)

row2
[ roh ]

verb (used without object)
  1. to propel a vessel by the leverage of an oar or the like.

verb (used with object)
  1. to propel (a vessel) by the leverage of an oar or the like.

  2. to convey in a boat that is rowed.

  1. to convey or propel (something) in a manner suggestive of rowing.

  2. to require, use, or be equipped with (a number of oars): The captain's barge rowed twenty oars.

  3. to use (oarsmen) for rowing.

  4. to perform or participate in by rowing: to row a race.

  5. to row against in a race: Oxford rows Cambridge.

noun
  1. an act, instance, or period of rowing: It was a long row to the far bank.

  2. an excursion in a rowboat: to go for a row.

Origin of row

2
First recorded before 950; Middle English rouen, rouwen, Old English rōwan “to go by water, sail, row”; cognate with Old Norse rōa; akin to Latin rēmus, Greek eretmón, both meaning “oar”; see also rudder

Other words from row

  • row·a·ble, adjective
  • rower, noun
  • un·der·row·er, noun

Other definitions for row (3 of 3)

row3
[ rou ]

noun
  1. a noisy dispute or quarrel; commotion.

  2. noise or clamor.

verb (used without object)
  1. to quarrel noisily.

verb (used with object)
  1. Chiefly British. to upbraid severely; scold.

Origin of row

3
First recorded in 1740–50; origin uncertain

Other words for row

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use row in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for row (1 of 3)

row1

/ (rəʊ) /


noun
  1. an arrangement of persons or things in a line: a row of chairs

    • mainly British a street, esp a narrow one lined with identical houses

    • (capital when part of a street name): Church Row

  1. a line of seats, as in a cinema, theatre, etc

  2. maths a horizontal linear arrangement of numbers, quantities, or terms, esp in a determinant or matrix

  3. a horizontal rank of squares on a chessboard or draughtboard

  4. in a row in succession; one after the other: he won two gold medals in a row

  5. a hard row to hoe a difficult task or assignment

Origin of row

1
Old English rāw, rǣw; related to Old High German rīga line, Lithuanian raiwe strip

British Dictionary definitions for row (2 of 3)

row2

/ (raʊ) /


noun
  1. a noisy quarrel or dispute

  2. a noisy disturbance; commotion: we couldn't hear the music for the row next door

  1. a reprimand

  2. give someone a row informal to scold someone; tell someone off

verb
  1. (intr often foll by with) to quarrel noisily

  2. (tr) archaic to reprimand

Origin of row

2
C18: origin unknown

British Dictionary definitions for row (3 of 3)

row3

/ (rəʊ) /


verb
  1. to propel (a boat) by using oars

  2. (tr) to carry (people, goods, etc) in a rowing boat

  1. to be propelled by means of (oars or oarsmen)

  2. (intr) to take part in the racing of rowing boats as a sport, esp in eights, in which each member of the crew pulls one oar: Compare scull (def. 6)

  3. (tr) to race against in a boat propelled by oars: Oxford row Cambridge every year

noun
  1. an act, instance, period, or distance of rowing

  2. an excursion in a rowing boat

Origin of row

3
Old English rōwan; related to Middle Dutch roien, Middle High German rüejen, Old Norse rōa, Latin rēmus oar

Derived forms of row

  • rower, noun
  • rowing, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with row

row

see get one's ducks in a row; kick up a fuss (row); skid row; tough row to hoe.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.