row

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 dialectal Norwegian rå (“boundary line”), Middle Dutch rīe, Dutch rij (“row, line”), Old High German rīga (“line”), rihan (“to string”), Middle High German rige (“line, row, ditch”), rīhe (“row, line, corridor”), German Reihe (“row”), Middle Low German rēge, rīge, Old Norse rega (“string”), Middle Dutch rīghe, Dutch rijg, rijge, German Riege (“sports team”).

• rew (dialectal)

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

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophones: rho, roe
• Rhymes: -əʊ

row (plural rows)

1. A line of objects, often regularly spaced, such as seats in a theatre, vegetable plants in a garden etc.
   • Bible, 1 Kings vii. 4

     And there were windows in three rows.

   • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton

     The bright seraphim in burning row.

   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 5, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

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

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

• column

• long row to hoe

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.

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

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophones: rho, roe
• Rhymes: -əʊ

row (plural rows)

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

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.
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.

• get in the boat and row
• rowboat (see also rowing boat)

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

• enPR: rou, IPA^(key): /ɹaʊ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊ

row (plural rows)

1. A noisy argument.
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 22, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     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:

     ‘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, p. 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?

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

2. A continual loud noise.

   Who's making that row?

   Synonyms: din, racket

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

1. (intransitive) to argue noisily

   Synonyms: argue, fight

• Wor., wor

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

• IPA^(key): /rɔw/, [row]

row m (diminutive rowk)

1. grave

• row in Ernst Muka/Mucke (St. Petersburg and Prague 1911–28): Słownik dolnoserbskeje rěcy a jeje narěcow / Wörterbuch der nieder-wendischen Sprache und ihrer Dialekte. Reprinted 2008, Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag.
• row in Manfred Starosta (1999): Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch. Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag.

From an old perfective particle ro- + va.

row

1. was, were (dependent form)

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

1. • 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.

From Proto-Slavic *rovъ.

row m

1. grave

• Audio

  (file)

rōw f (plural rowa)

1. rook (bird)
2. raven