Oarlock

Full definition of oarlock

Noun

1. A device attached to the gunwale of a rowboat to hold the oars in place while rowing.
• 1906: Horatio Alger, Joe the Hotel Boy http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Joe_the_Hotel_Boy/Chapter_XIBut, as luck would have it, scarcely had he started to row his boat again when an oarlock broke, and so it took him the best part of an hour to make the trip.

Synonyms

• (UK) rowlock