OAR

In Nautical Affairs, a long piece of timber, flat at one end, and round or square at the other, by which a boat, barge, or galley, &.C. is propelled through the water. The flat part dipped into tile water is called the blade; the other other end is the loom, which terminates in the handle. The fulcrum of the oar is the hole in the gunwale called the rowlock, or between two pins called thole pins, or one thole pin with a loose Blrap for confining the oar. There are various nautical phrases contingent upon this term, a few of which may not, perhaps, be out of place here. To boat the oars, signifies to lay them in from rowing; to feather the oar, to hold the blade horizontally, so as not to catch wind to lie on the oars, to suspend rowing for any interval; this is also the salute given to persons of distinction in pa ing; to ship and unship the oars, respectively to fix them and throw them out of the rowlocks. [s. 855]