rowlock

English

Alternative forms

• rollock, rullock

Etymology

Probably from Old English ārlōc, equivalent to oar + lock.

Pronunciation

• enPR: rŭ'lək, IPA^(key): /ˈɹʌlək/
• enPR: rŏ'lək, IPA^(key): /ˈɹɒlək/
• enPR: rä'lək, IPA^(key): /ˈɹɑlək/

Noun

rowlock (plural rowlocks)

1. (nautical, chiefly British) a pivot attached to the gunwale (outrigger in a sport boat) of a boat that supports and guides an oar, and provides a fulcrum for rowing; an oarlock (mostly US).
   • 1884, Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapter VII

     I took a good gap and a stretch, and was just going to unhitch and start when I heard a sound away over the water. I listened. Pretty soon I made it out. It was that dull kind of a regular sound that comes from oars working in rowlocks when it's a still night.

   • 1951', C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian, Collins, 1998, Chapter 8,

     Everything smelled salt and there was no noise except the swishing of water and the clop-clop of water against the sides and the splash of the oars and the jolting noise of the rowlocks.

   Synonyms: oarlock, thole, tholepin, thowel

Translations

support for an oar

• Dutch: dol (nl) m
• Finnish: hankain (fi)
• French: dame de nage (fr) f, tolet (fr) m
• Galician: tolete m
• German: Dolle (de) f
• Greek: σκαρμός (el) m (skarmós)
• Irish: glacán m, leaba iomartha f, roillic f
• Italian: scalmo (it) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: rōraka
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: åregaffel (no) m, tollegaffel m, tollepinne m

• Russian: уклю́чина (ru) f (ukljúčina)
• Swedish: årtull (sv) c
• Tagalog: lulubungan
• Westrobothnian: , ,

References

• “rowlock”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.