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row1

[roh]
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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.
  3. a line of adjacent seats facing the same way, as in a theater: seats in the third row of the balcony.
  4. a street formed by two continuous lines of buildings.
  5. Music. tone row.
  6. Checkers. one of the horizontal lines of squares on a checkerboard; rank.
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verb (used with object)
  1. to put in a row (often followed by up).
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Idioms
  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.
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Origin of row1

1175–1225; Middle English row(e); compare Old English rǣw

row2

[roh]
verb (used without object)
  1. to propel a vessel by the leverage of an oar or the like.
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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.
  3. to convey or propel (something) in a manner suggestive of rowing.
  4. to require, use, or be equipped with (a number of oars): The captain's barge rowed twenty oars.
  5. to use (oarsmen) for rowing.
  6. to perform or participate in by rowing: to row a race.
  7. to row against in a race: Oxford rows Cambridge.
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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.
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Origin of row2

before 950; Middle English rowen, Old English rōwan; cognate with Old Norse rōa; akin to Latin rēmus oar. Cf. rudder
Related formsrow·a·ble, adjectiverow·er, nounun·der·row·er, noun

row3

[rou]
noun
  1. a noisy dispute or quarrel; commotion.
  2. noise or clamor.
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verb (used without object)
  1. to quarrel noisily.
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verb (used with object)
  1. Chiefly British. to upbraid severely; scold.
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Origin of row3

First recorded in 1740–50; origin uncertain

Synonyms

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1. spat, tiff, scrap, scrape, set-to.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for rowed

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • Halbert looked after him, enviously, as he rowed the boat out into the stream.

    Brave and Bold

    Horatio Alger

  • But they, deaf alike to the song and the sorcery, rowed harder than ever.

    Old Greek Folk Stories Told Anew

    Josephine Preston Peabody

  • Dick turned the oars and rowed cautiously toward the island.

    The Dare Boys of 1776

    Stephen Angus Cox

  • She waved her hand to them apathetically and rowed slowly on.

    A Spirit in Prison

    Robert Hichens

  • Then he, too, got into a boat and was rowed away across the calm water to the island.

    A Spirit in Prison

    Robert Hichens

British Dictionary definitions for rowed

row1

noun
  1. an arrangement of persons or things in a linea row of chairs
    1. mainly Britisha street, esp a narrow one lined with identical houses
    2. (capital when part of a street name)Church Row
  3. a line of seats, as in a cinema, theatre, etc
  4. maths a horizontal linear arrangement of numbers, quantities, or terms, esp in a determinant or matrix
  5. a horizontal rank of squares on a chessboard or draughtboard
  6. in a row in succession; one after the otherhe won two gold medals in a row
  7. a hard row to hoe a difficult task or assignment
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Word Origin

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

row2

noun
  1. a noisy quarrel or dispute
  2. a noisy disturbance; commotionwe couldn't hear the music for the row next door
  3. a reprimand
  4. give someone a row informal to scold someone; tell someone off
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verb
  1. (intr often foll by with) to quarrel noisily
  2. (tr) archaic to reprimand
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Word Origin

C18: origin unknown

row3

verb
  1. to propel (a boat) by using oars
  2. (tr) to carry (people, goods, etc) in a rowing boat
  3. to be propelled by means of (oars or oarsmen)
  4. (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 oarCompare scull (def. 6)
  5. (tr) to race against in a boat propelled by oarsOxford row Cambridge every year
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noun
  1. an act, instance, period, or distance of rowing
  2. an excursion in a rowing boat
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See also row over
Derived Formsrower, nounrowing, noun

Word Origin

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

Word Origin and History for rowed

row

n.1

"line of people or things," Old English ræw "a row, line; succession, hedge-row," probably from Proto-Germanic *rai(h)waz (cf. Middle Dutch rie, Dutch rij "row;" Old High German rihan "to thread," riga "line;" German Reihe "row, line, series;" Old Norse rega "string"), possibly from PIE root *rei- "to scratch, tear, cut" (cf. Sanskrit rikhati "scratches," rekha "line"). Meaning "a number of houses in a line" is attested from mid-15c., originally chiefly Scottish and northern English. Phrase a hard row to hoe attested from 1823, American English.

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row

v.

"propel with oars," Old English rowan "go by water, row" (class VII strong verb; past tense reow, past participle rowen), from Proto-Germanic *ro- (cf. Old Norse roa, Dutch roeien, West Frisian roeije, Middle High German rüejen), from PIE root *ere- (1) "to row" (cf. Sanskrit aritrah "oar;" Greek eressein "to row," eretmon "oar," trieres "trireme;" Latin remus "oar;" Lithuanian iriu "to row," irklas "oar;" Old Irish rome "oar," Old English roðor "rudder").

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row

n.2

"noisy commotion," 1746, Cambridge University slang, of uncertain origin, perhaps related to rousel "drinking bout" (c.1600), a shortened form of carousal. Klein suggests a back-formation from rouse (n.), mistaken as a plural (cf. pea from pease).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Idioms and Phrases with rowed

row

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

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