put one's oar in

Idioms

Interfere with something or insert one's opinion, as in I'll thank you not to put your oar in when we're discussing a private matter. This term, referring to helping to row a boat, was first recorded in Charles Coffey's 1731 play The Devil to Pay: “I will govern my own house without your putting in an oar.”

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023