row
pronunciation
How to pronounce row in British English:
UK [rəʊ , raʊ]
How to pronounce row in American English:
US [roʊ , raʊ]
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- Noun:
- an arrangement of objects or people side by side in a line
- an angry dispute
- a long continuous strip (usually running horizontally)
- (construction) a layer of masonry
- a linear array of numbers side by side
- a continuous chronological succession without an interruption
- the act of rowing as a sport
-
- Verb:
- propel with oars
Word Origin
- row
- row: There are three distinct words row in English. The one meaning ‘use oars’ [OE] goes back to a prehistoric Germanic base *rō- ‘steer’, which also produced Dutch roeijen and Swedish ro, not to mention English rudder. Row ‘orderly line’ [OE] comes from a prehistoric Germanic *raigwa, and is probably related to German reihe ‘row’. Row ‘noisy quarrel’ [18] seems to have originated in the late 18th century as a piece of Cambridge University slang, but where it came from is not known.=> rudder
- row (n.1)
- "line of people or things," Old English ræw "a row, line; succession, hedge-row," probably from Proto-Germanic *rai(h)waz (cognates: 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" (cognates: 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.
- 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- (cognates: Old Norse roa, Dutch roeien, West Frisian roeije, Middle High German rüejen), from PIE root *ere- (1) "to row" (cognates: 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").
- 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 (compare pea from pease).
Example
- 1. Has it a third row behind that ?
- 2. But the row over their legacy is not over .
- 3. Each row should be about 30 centimetres apart .
- 4. Mine was a row of equals .
- 5. A list of children supposedly on iran 's death row hung on the campus gates .