row1

[roh] /roʊ/
noun
1.
a number of persons or things arranged in a line, especially a straight line:
a row of apple trees.
2.
a line of persons or things so arranged:
The petitioners waited in a row.
3.
a line of adjacent seats facing the same way, as in a theater:
seats in the third row of the balcony.
4.
a street formed by two continuous lines of buildings.
5.
Music. tone row.
6.
Checkers. one of the horizontal lines of squares on a checkerboard; rank.
verb (used with object)
7.
to put in a row (often followed by up).
Idioms
8.
hard / long row to hoe, a difficult task or set of circumstances to confront:
At 32 and with two children, she found attending medical school a hard row to hoe.
Origin
1175-1225; Middle English row(e); compare Old English rǣw
British Dictionary definitions for hard row to hoe

row1

/rəʊ/
noun
1.
an arrangement of persons or things in a line: a row of chairs
2.
  1. (mainly Brit) a street, esp a narrow one lined with identical houses
  2. (capital when part of a street name): Church Row
3.
a line of seats, as in a cinema, theatre, etc
4.
(maths) a horizontal linear arrangement of numbers, quantities, or terms, esp in a determinant or matrix
5.
a horizontal rank of squares on a chessboard or draughtboard
6.
in a row, in succession; one after the other: he won two gold medals in a row
7.
a hard row to hoe, a difficult task or assignment
Word Origin
Old English rāw, rǣw; related to Old High German rīga line, Lithuanian raiwe strip

row2

/raʊ/
noun
1.
a noisy quarrel or dispute
2.
a noisy disturbance; commotion: we couldn't hear the music for the row next door
3.
a reprimand
4.
(informal) give someone a row, to scold someone; tell someone off
verb
5.
(intransitive) often foll by with. to quarrel noisily
6.
(transitive) (archaic) to reprimand
Word Origin
C18: origin unknown

row3

/rəʊ/
verb
1.
to propel (a boat) by using oars
2.
(transitive) to carry (people, goods, etc) in a rowing boat
3.
to be propelled by means of (oars or oarsmen)
4.
(intransitive) to take part in the racing of rowing boats as a sport, esp in eights, in which each member of the crew pulls one oar Compare scull (sense 6)
5.
(transitive) to race against in a boat propelled by oars: Oxford row Cambridge every year
noun
6.
an act, instance, period, or distance of rowing
7.
an excursion in a rowing boat
See also row over
Derived Forms
rower, noun
rowing, noun
Word Origin
Old English rōwan; related to Middle Dutch roien, Middle High German rüejen, Old Norse rōa, Latin rēmus oar
Word Origin and History for hard row to hoe

row

n.

"line of people or things," Old English ræw "a row, line; succession, hedge-row," probably from Proto-Germanic *rai(h)waz (cf. Middle Dutch rie, Dutch rij "row;" Old High German rihan "to thread," riga "line;" German Reihe "row, line, series;" Old Norse rega "string"), possibly from PIE root *rei- "to scratch, tear, cut" (cf. Sanskrit rikhati "scratches," rekha "line"). Meaning "a number of houses in a line" is attested from mid-15c., originally chiefly Scottish and northern English. Phrase a hard row to hoe attested from 1823, American English.

"noisy commotion," 1746, Cambridge University slang, of uncertain origin, perhaps related to rousel "drinking bout" (c.1600), a shortened form of carousal. Klein suggests a back-formation from rouse (n.), mistaken as a plural (cf. pea from pease).

v.

"propel with oars," Old English rowan "go by water, row" (class VII strong verb; past tense reow, past participle rowen), from Proto-Germanic *ro- (cf. Old Norse roa, Dutch roeien, West Frisian roeije, Middle High German rüejen), from PIE root *ere- (1) "to row" (cf. Sanskrit aritrah "oar;" Greek eressein "to row," eretmon "oar," trieres "trireme;" Latin remus "oar;" Lithuanian iriu "to row," irklas "oar;" Old Irish rome "oar," Old English roðor "rudder").

Slang definitions & phrases for hard row to hoe

row

noun

An elongated pile of narcotic, esp cocaine, for sniffing; line: and snorted a row of coke (1960s+ Narcotics)

Related Terms

a hard row to hoe, have one's ducks in a row, knock someone or something for a loop, skid row


Idioms and Phrases with hard row to hoe

hard row to hoe

see: tough row to hoe

row

see: