I . *row
/ rəʊ; NAmE roʊ/ noun , verb
—see also row (II)
■ noun
1.
row (of sb/sth) a number of people standing or sitting next to each other in a line; a number of objects arranged in a line :
a row of trees
We sat in a row at the back of the room.
The vegetables were planted in neat rows.
2.
a line of seats in a cinema / movie theater, etc. :
Let's sit in the back row.
Our seats are five rows from the front.
3.
a complete line of stitches in knitting or crochet
—picture at knitting
4.
Row used in the name of some roads :
Manor Row
5.
[ usually sing. ] an act of rowing a boat; the period of time spent doing this :
We went for a row on the lake.
—see also death row , skid row
•
IDIOMS
- in a row
—more at duck noun
■ verb
1.
to move a boat through water using oars (= long wooden poles with flat ends) :
[ v ]
We rowed around the island.
[ vn ]
Grace rowed the boat out to sea again.
2.
[ vn ] to take sb somewhere in a boat with oars :
The fisherman rowed us back to the shore.
II . row
/ raʊ; NAmE / noun , verb
—see also row (I)
■ noun ( informal , especially BrE )
1.
[ C ] row (about / over sth) a serious disagreement between people, organizations, etc. about sth :
A row has broken out over education.
2.
[ C ] a noisy argument between two or more people
SYN quarrel :
She left him after a blazing row .
family rows
He had a row with his son.
3.
[ sing. ] a loud unpleasant noise
SYN din , racket :
Who's making that row?
■ verb
[ v ] row (with sb) ( BrE , informal ) to have a noisy argument :
Mike and Sue are always rowing.
She had rowed with her parents about her boyfriend.
••
WORD ORIGIN
I . noun senses 1 to 4 Old English rāw , of Germanic origin; related to Dutch rij and German Reihe . noun sense 5 and verb Old English rōwan , of Germanic origin; related to rudder ; from an Indo-European root shared by Latin remus oar, Greek eretmon oar.
II . mid 18th cent.: of unknown origin.