different between gunwale vs rowlock

English

Alternative forms

• gunnel

Etymology

From Middle English gonnewalle, itself from gonne (“gun”) + wale, as it used to support the ship's guns; equivalent to gun +? wale.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???n?l/
• Rhymes: -?n?l

Noun

gunwale (plural gunwales)

1. (nautical) The top edge of the hull of a nautical vessel, where it meets the deck.

Translations

See also

• bulwark

References

• Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967

English

Alternative forms

• rollock, rullock

Etymology

Probably from Old English ?rl?c, equivalent to oar + lock.

Pronunciation

• (US, UK) enPR: r?'l?k, IPA^(key): /???l?k/
• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: r?'l?k, IPA^(key): /???l?k/
• (US) enPR: rä'l?k, IPA^(key): /???l?k/

Noun

rowlock (plural rowlocks)

1. (nautical, chiefly Britain) 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

References

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