rudder

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Indeed, the helm had far better be left loose than lashed very fast, for the rudder is apt to be torn off by heavy seas if there be no room for the helm to play.

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Definitions (19)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun A vertically hinged plate of metal, fiberglass, or wood mounted at the stern of a ship or boat for directing its course.
  2. noun A similar structure at the tail of an aircraft, used for effecting horizontal changes in course.
  3. noun A controlling agent or influence over direction; a guide.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (12)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

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Examples (50)

  • There was no power in the tiller to “keep her away” before the blast, for the rudder was almost out of water; but, fortunately, our mainsail burst in shreds from the bolt-ropes, and, relieving us from its pressure, allowed the schooner to right under control of the helm. —  The Project Gutenberg eBook of Captain Canot, or Twenty Years of an African Slaver, by Brantz Mayer and Theodore Canot.
  • "Your motivator may be your heart, but your rudder should be your mind." —  The Liberal OC
  • Each joystick also has a four-axis design including the rudder, which is ideal for simulated flight games, providing Aileron, Elevator, Throttle, and Power controls. —  Original Signal - Transmitting Gadgets
  • The boat being of light draught is kept afloat at a sufficient distance from land partly by means of the rudder which is managed by a person sitting in the stern of the boat, and partly by poling from the fore. —  The Voyage of the Vega round Asia and Europe, Volume I and Volume II
  • The wreckage hanging from her starboard quarter acted as a rudder, and so, instead of going straight ahead, she began to go round in circles She continued to make circles, and her officers and men stood to stations and waited for what next would happen. —  The U-boat hunters
 

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Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English ruder, from Old English rōther, steering oar; see erə- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English roder, rother, from Anglo-Saxon rōther, rōthor, rōthr, an oar, a paddle (rōthres blæd, ‘rudder-blade,’ steór-rōther, ‘a steering-rudder’ or paddle. scip-rōther, ‘a ship-rudder’); (cf. rōther, rōthra, rēthra, gerēthra, a rower, sailor, gerēthru, helm, rudder) (= Middle Dutch roeder, roer, Dutch roer, an oar, rudder (Middle Dutch roeder, a rower), = Middle Low German roder, Low German roeder, roer = Old High German ruodar, Middle High German ruoder, German ruder = Icelandic ræthri = Swedish roder, ror = Danish ror, rudder), with formative -der, -ther, of agent, from rōwan, row: see row.
  2. A dial, form of ridder.
 

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/ˈrədər/
by American Heritage

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