rowing

Pluralrowings (some meanings)

1. 1
   noununcountable

   The action of moving a boat forward by pulling on oars.

   Years of rowing had given the fisherman powerful shoulders.

   Rowing against the tide slowed their crossing considerably.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The competitive sport of racing boats propelled with oars.

   Olympic rowing draws athletes who train for hours each day.

   The university is famous for its rowing, having won the regatta repeatedly.

   Similarcrew

3. 3
   noununcountable

   The act of working oars to move a boat through the water.

   Steady rowing brought the lifeboat clear of the rocks.

   Rowing for hours left blisters across both of his palms.

4. 4
   SayROW-ing/ˈɹaʊɪŋ/

   nouncountable or uncountable

   The act of having a noisy quarrel or heated argument.

   Their endless rowing over money strained the whole household.

   Rowing in front of the guests left everyone feeling awkward.

   Similararguing, bickering, squabbling, fighting, wrangling

   Note

   Unlike the boating nouns, this one can be counted: quarrels can be tallied, so rowings is a natural plural. The Guernsey Magazine of 1891 pairs a couple's rowings with their sprees as what disgraced the neighborhood. Without the plural it names a habit of quarreling, as in endless rowing over money, rather than any single argument.

5. 5
   verb

   Present participle of row.

   The team was rowing hard against the strong current.

   He is rowing toward the dock as the sun sets.

   Note

   The participle carries every construction the verb allows: rowing a boat, rowing passengers across a harbor, and the intransitive use where the boat itself is rowing, moved by oars. The same spelling belongs to the quarreling participle, a separate word that only looks like this one. Context, not form, tells them apart: rowing across a lake versus rowing over the bills.

6. 6
   SayROW-ing/ˈɹaʊɪŋ/

   verb

   Present participle of row.

   The couple was rowing over the unpaid bills again.

   They are rowing about politics at every family dinner.

   Note

   The quarreling participle takes no object: people row with each other, never row each other. The subject of the quarrel follows over or about, as in rowing over money or rowing about politics. Because it shares its spelling with the boating participle, a bare sentence can read either way, so the preposition does real work in making the meaning clear.

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