different between outrigger vs rowlock

English

Alternative forms

• out-rigger

Noun

outrigger (plural outriggers)

1. (nautical) Any of various projecting beams or spars that provide support for a sailing ship's mast.
2. (nautical) A long thin timber, pontoon, or other float attached parallel to a canoe or boat by projecting struts as a means of preventing tipping or capsizing.
3. (rowing) An outrigger canoe or boat.
4. (nautical) An iron bracket or brace for an oarlock projecting from the side of a rowing boat.
5. An extension mechanism, often retractable when not in use, on a boat, vehicle, or structure which helps to stabilize it to keep it from tipping over.
   • 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1943, Chapter XII, p. 200, [1]

     From the cowcatcher hung the outrigger of the tricycle, leaping about as though in the grip of death itself, beating against the iron that had shattered it, striking the road, sending the gravel flying.
6. (skiing) A type of ski pole, with skis attached at the bottom, instead of the spike/pick found on a normal pole. It is used in downhill skiing variants of para-skiing, especially those that use a sit-ski, such as the monoski.

Related terms

• inrigger
• outrigged

Translations

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.