row definition

English row definition

Etymology 1

From Middle English rewe, rowe, rawe, from Old English rǣw, rāw, probably from Proto-Germanic *raiwō, *raigwō, *raih- (“row, streak, line”), from Proto-Indo-European *reyk- (“to carve, scratch, etch”).

Cognate with Scots raw (“row”), dialectal Norwegian rå (“boundary line”), Saterland Frisian Riege (“row”), West Frisian rige (“row”), Dutch rij (“row, line”), German Low German Reeg, Riege, Rieg (“row”), German Reihe (“row”), German Riege (“sports team”).

Alternative forms

• rew (dialectal)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: rō, IPA^(key): /ˈɹəʊ/
• (US) enPR: rō, IPA^(key): /ˈɹoʊ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophones: rho, roe
• Rhymes: -əʊ

Noun

row (plural rows)

1. A line of objects, often regularly spaced, such as seats in a theatre, vegetable plants in a garden etc.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Kings vii:4:

     And there were windows in three rows.

   • 1646 (indicated as 1645), John Milton, “At a Solemn Musick”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], →OCLC:

     The bright seraphim in burning row.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands.

2. A horizontal line of entries in a table, etc., going from left to right, as opposed to a column going from top to bottom.

   Antonym: column

3. (slang, chiefly in the plural) Clipping of cornrow.
   • 2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World/Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 25:

     Vyreen had just finished braiding my hair, and his call had caught me coming out of her crib with my 'rows looking tight.

   • 2015 October 22, Stefan Bondy, “Kristaps Porzingis had cornrows as a kid because 'all the girls loved it'”, in New York Daily News‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: Daily News L.P., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-01-18:

     If you thought it'd be hard to get a good cornrow braiding in Latvia, think again. Porzingis said he was re-braided almost every week to keep his rows fresh.

Synonyms

• (line of objects): line, sequence, series, succession, tier (of seats)
• (in a table): line

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English rowen (“to row”), from Old English rōwan (“to row”), from Proto-Germanic *rōaną (“to row”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reh₁- (“to row”). Compare West Frisian roeie, Dutch roeien, Danish ro. More at rudder. Related to Russia.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: rō, IPA^(key): /ɹəʊ/
• (US) enPR: rō, IPA^(key): /ɹoʊ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophones: rho, roe
• Rhymes: -əʊ

Verb

row (third-person singular simple present rows, present participle rowing, simple past and past participle rowed)

1. (transitive or intransitive, nautical) To propel (a boat or other craft) over water using oars.

   Synonym: paddle

2. (transitive) To transport in a boat propelled with oars.

   to row the captain ashore in his barge

3. (intransitive) To be moved by oars.

   The boat rows easily.

Derived terms

• get in the boat and row, get in the boat and start rowing
• row back
• rowboat (see also rowing boat)
• rower

Translations

Noun

row (plural rows)

1. An act or instance of rowing.

   I went for an early-morning row.

2. (weightlifting) An exercise performed with a pulling motion of the arms towards the back.

Derived terms

• row-back

Translations

Etymology 3

Unclear; some suggest it is a back-formation from rouse, verb.

Pronunciation

• enPR: rou, IPA^(key): /ɹaʊ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊ

Noun

row (plural rows)

1. A noisy argument.

   Synonyms: argument, disturbance, fight, fracas, quarrel, shouting match, slanging match

   There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     In the autumn there was a row at some cement works about the unskilled labour men. A union had just been started for them and all but a few joined. One of these blacklegs was laid for by a picket and knocked out of time.

   • 1923, P.G. Wodehouse, The Inimitable Jeeves:

     As a rule, you see, I'm not lugged into Family Rows. On the occasions when Aunt is calling to Aunt like mastodons bellowing across primeval swamps and Uncle James's letter about Cousin Mabel's peculiar behaviour is being shot round the family circle... the clan has a tendency to ignore me.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 18, in The China Governess‎^[2]:

     ‘Then the father has a great fight with his terrible conscience,’ said Munday with granite seriousness. ‘Should he make a row with the police […]? Or should he say nothing about it and condone brutality for fear of appearing in the newspapers?

   • 1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, page 27:

     […] he wrote to me last week telling me about an incredible bitch of a row blazing there on account of someone having been and gone and produced an unofficial magazine called Raddled, full of obscene libellous Oz-like filth. And what I though, what Sammy and I thought, was—why not?

2. A continual loud noise.

   Synonyms: din, racket

   Who's making that row?

Translations

Verb

row (third-person singular simple present rows, present participle rowing, simple past and past participle rowed)

1. (intransitive) To argue noisily.

   Synonyms: argue, fight

Translations

Anagrams

• Wor., wor

Lower Sorbian row definition

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *rovъ. Cognate with Upper Sorbian row, Polish rów (“ditch”), Czech rov, Russian ров (rov, “ditch”), Old Church Slavonic ровъ (rovŭ, “ditch”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /rɔw/, [row]

Noun

row m (diminutive rowk)

1. grave

Declension

Further reading

• Muka, Arnošt (1921, 1928), “row”, in Słownik dolnoserbskeje rěcy a jeje narěcow (in German), St. Petersburg, Prague: ОРЯС РАН, ČAVU; Reprinted Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag, 2008
• Starosta, Manfred (1999), “row”, in Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (in German), Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag

Manx row definition

Etymology

From an old perfective particle ro- + va.

Verb

row

1. was, were (dependent form)

   Cha row aggle erbee er.

   He was not in the least afraid.

   Dooyrt eh dy row eh mac y ree.

   He claimed that he was the son of the king.

Usage notes

Part of the substantive verb bee. This is the dependent form of the past tense va used after negative and interrogative particles:

Old English row definition

Alternative forms

• rō

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *rōu, from Proto-Germanic *rōwō. Cognate with Old Norse ró (“rest”) and German Ruhe (“quietness, rest, repose”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /roːw/

Noun

rōw f

1. quiet, rest, calm

Declension

Descendants

• Middle English: ro, rou, rowe, roo
  • English: roo
  • Scots: ro, ruve

References

• Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898), “rōw”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Scots row definition

Noun

row (plural rows)

1. roll

Derived terms

• row-cloth: a folding cloak of warm cloth

Upper Sorbian row definition

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *rovъ.

Noun

row m

1. grave

Further reading

• “row” in Soblex

Vilamovian row definition

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

rōw f (plural rowa)

1. rook (bird)
2. raven