Oaken-towel, subs. phr. (old).—A cudgel; a Plymouth cloak (q.v.).—Whence to rub down with an oaken towel = to thrash.—Grose (1785); Matsell (1859).
Oar, subs. (old).—1. A busy body:
hence, to put (or shove) one's
oar in = to interfere; to meddle
officiously.—Grose (1785).
1596. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, 37. A busie-body, medler in other's matters, one that hath an oare in other's boates.
1597. G. Harvey, Trimming of Nashe, in Wks. (Grosart), iii. 33. Think not that I thinke all those to haue good wits, that will talke of euerie subiect, and have an oare (as we say) in euerie mans boate: for manie fooles doo so, and so doost thou.
1606. Return from Parnassus. [Nares]. Lodge for his oare in every paper boate, He that turnes over Galen every day, To sit and simper Euphues legacie.
1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, iii. Pray thee mind him not, fellow; he'll have an oar in everything.
1659. Howell, Dict. He loves to have an oar in every one's boat, he likes meddling with other people's business.
1731. Coffey, Devil to Pay, i. 2. I say, meddle with your own affairs; I will govern my own house, without your putting in an oar.
1843. Moncrieff, The Scamps of London, iii. 1. I'll thank you not to put your oar in my private affairs.
1874. Mrs. H. Wood, Johnny Ludlow, 1st S. No. iii. 41. If you shove in your oar, Johnny Ludlow, or presume to interfere with me, I'll pummel you to powder.
1892. Gunter, Miss Dividends, ix. Mr. Kruger thinks to himself, 'Time for Lot to put his oar in.'
2. (colloquial).—(1) In pl. = a waterman: i.e., oars (= two men) as opposed to sculls, q.v. = one man); and (2) an oarsman.
1611. Tarleton's Jests [Halliwell]. Tarlton being one Sunday at court all day, caused a paire of oares to tend him, who at night called on him to be gone. Tarlton, being a carousing, drunk so long to the watermen, that one of them was bumpsie; and so, indeede, were all three for the most part.
First-oars, subs. phr. (common).—A favorite; a person or thing holding the first or highest place.
1774. Dibdin, The Waterman . . . 'The Jolly Young Waterman.'—He was always first oars with the fine City ladies.
1836. Dickens, Pickwick, xxxiii. But was it the maidens of humble life only who soothed, consoled, and supported him? No! He was always first oars with the fine City ladies.
To lie (or rest) on one's
oars, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To
rest; to take things easy.
1889. Pall Mall Gaz., 3 Aug., 3, 2. The Jacobyns, who were not present in force, and who have rested on their oars since the famous muster of 116, were not at all sorry that the division was decently let slip.
Oat, subs. (common).—An atom;
a particle: e.g. 'I've not an
oat' = I'm penniless.
Wild Oats, subs. phr. (old).—A
rake; a debauchee: hence,
to sow one's wild oats = to
indulge; to have sown one's
wild oats = to have reformed.
d.1570. Becon, Works (1843), 240. The tailors now-a-days are compelled to excogitate, invent, and imagine diversities of fashions for apparel, that they may satisfy the foolish desire of certain light brains and wild oats, which are altogether given to new fangleness.
1576. Touchstone of Complexions, 99. We meane that wilful and unruly age, which lacketh rypeness and discretion, and (as wee saye) hath not sowed all theyr wyeld oates.
1602. How a Man may Chuse a Good Wife [Nares]. Well, go to, wild oats! spendthrift, prodigal.
