rudder

[ruhd-er]

noun

Nautical. a vertical blade at the stern of a vessel that can be turned horizontally to change the vessel's direction when in motion.
Aeronautics. a movable control surface attached to a vertical stabilizer, located at the rear of an airplane and used, along with the ailerons, to turn the airplane.
any means of or device for governing, directing, or guiding a course, as a leader or principle: His ideas provided a rudder for the new company.

Origin of rudder

before 900; Middle English rodder, rother, ruder, Old English rōther; cognate with Old Frisian rōther, Middle Dutch rōder (Dutch roer), Old High German ruodar (German Ruder); akin to row²

Related formsrud·dered, adjectiverud·der·less, adjectiverud·der·like, adjectiveun·rud·dered, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for rudderless

Contemporary Examples of rudderless

Foer is the kind of adult for whom a pre-Huggies life was rudderless.
Fatherhood Gets Hip
Lizzie Skurnick
December 1, 2009

Historical Examples of rudderless

He felt as he had at his father's death, rudderless, derelict.
Still Jim
Honor Willsie Morrow
Without it she was like a rudderless boat on an endless sea, and he knew it.
Jennie Gerhardt
Theodore Dreiser
He can never get a ship: his career's cut short, he's a rudderless boat.
Beauchamp's Career, Complete
George Meredith
He accepts his life as a rudderless ship, drifting on the ocean of time.
The Majesty of Calmness
William George Jordan
One is left compassless, rudderless, chartless on a sea of ideas.
The Little Lady of the Big House
Jack London

British Dictionary definitions for rudderless

rudder

noun

nautical a pivoted vertical vane that projects into the water at the stern of a vessel and can be controlled by a tiller, wheel, or other apparatus to steer the vessel
a vertical control surface attached to the rear of the fin used to steer an aircraft, in conjunction with the ailerons
anything that guides or directs

Derived Formsrudderless, adjective

Word Origin for rudder

Old English rōther; related to Old French rōther, Old High German ruodar, Old Norse rōthr . See row ²

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 rudderless

rudder

Old English roðor "paddle, oar," from Proto-Germanic *rothru- (cf. Old Frisian roðer, Middle Low German roder, Middle Dutch roeder, Dutch roer, Old High German ruodar, German Ruder "oar"), from *ro- "steer" (see row (v.)) + suffix -þra, used to form neutral names of tools. Meaning "broad, flat piece of wood attached to the stern of a boat and used for steering" is from c.1300. Spelling with -d- for -th- first recorded mid-15c. (cf. feather, mother, gather).