Word Confusion: O’er vs Oar vs Or vs Ore

Posted July 20, 2017 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
18 Jan 2023

You can take up an oar or haul the ore o’er here. Or you can haul the oar o’er the sides of the boat and take up the ore.

But, and you can trust me on this, oar will be a lot more watery while ore is a lot more filthy. Or is that vice versa with this pair in this heterographic quartet? Read on to find out!

The Or of a List

Do note that when using or in a list of singular items, the verb that follows the list must be singular as well. If even one of the list items is a plural, then the following verb must agree with the plural item.

“A sandwich or other snack is included in the price”
versus
“a sandwich or other snacks are included in the price”.

Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.

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O’er Oar Or Ore

Colorful hot air balloons ascending into the sky

International Hot Air Balloon Festival in Leon Guanajuato, Mexico, 2012 © Tomas Castelazo, <www.tomascastelazo.com> under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.

Colorful hot air balloons o’er Leon Guanajuato.


Full-face and profile of a bentshaft wooden paddle

Double Bentshaft Wood Paddle is Hans Lauterbach Furchenstein’s own work under the CC0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.

An oar that has achieved art status.


A display case full of desserts

Tea Room’s Store Front in Collins Street, Melbourne, is by Patrick M (Flickr: [1]) under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.

Nope, you can have only one: that one or that one or that or this one or . . .


A chunk of green lead ore set against a size chart

Lead Ore US GOV by Chris 73 is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Part of Grammar:
Morpheme: over


Adverb; Preposition
Noun;
Verb, intransitive & transitive

Plural for the noun: oars
Gerund: oaring

Third person present verb: oars
Past tense or past participle: oared
Present participle: oaring

Abbreviation 1;
Conjunction 2;
Noun 2, 3;
Suffix 4, 5, 6, 7
Noun

Plural for noun: ores

Adverb and Preposition:
[Archaic; Poetic; Literary] Contraction for over

Adverb:
Throughout a period of time

Preposition:
Before

Noun:
A pole with a flat blade, pivoting in an oar lock, used to row or steer a boat through the water

  • A rower

Something resembling a pole with a flat blade or having a similar purpose

Verb, intransitive:
To row

To move or advance as if by rowing

Verb, transitive:
Row

  • Propel with or as with oars

To traverse or make one’s way by, or as if by, rowing

Abbreviation:
Operational research 1

Operations research

Owner’s risk

[Law] One’s own recognizance

[Official postal use] Oregon

[British Military] other ranks (as opposed to commissioned officers)

Operating room

Conjunction:
Used to link alternatives 2

Introducing a synonym or explanation of a preceding word or phrase

Otherwise (used to introduce the consequences of something not being done or not being the case)

Introducing an afterthought, usually in the form of a question

[Literary] Either

Otherwise

  • Or else

Noun:
A Boolean operator that gives the value one if at least one operand (or input) has a value of one, and otherwise has a value of zero 2

  • [Also OR gate] A circuit that gives an output signal if there is a signal on any of its inputs

[Heraldry; postpositive] Gold or yellow, as an official color used in heraldic devices 3

Suffix:
-or


[Forming nouns] Denoting a person or thing performing the action of a verb, or denoting another agent 4

[Forming adjectives] Expressing a comparative sense 5

[Forming nouns] Denoting a state or condition 6

US form of the British suffix, -our 7

A naturally occurring solid material from which a metal or valuable mineral can be profitably extracted
Examples:
Adverb:
“Sweeps in pride his sounding chariot till it almost seems to fly, Arjun lords it o’er the battle like the comet in the sky!” (Dasa).

“You cannot sure forget A prison-roof is o’er you, Strafford?” (Clarke).

“Wide o’er the ethereal walks extends thy sway, And o’er the infernal mansions void of day! Look upon us on earth!” (Various).

You should stay o’er the weekend.

“The world’s great empress on the Egyptian plain, that spreads her conquests o’er a thousand states” (Silverberg).

Tell me when the night is o’er.

Preposition:
As long as mist hangs o’er the mountains, the deeds of the brave will be remembered.

O’er land and sea they sped.

“We see him now — the old slouched hat cocked o’er his eye askew,/
The shrewd, dry smile, the speech so pat, so calm, so blunt, so true” (Palmer).

Noun:
Don’t think you’ll be able to rest on your oars, Bobby.

I was stroke oar and John was in the bow.

Jane dipped her oars in and pulled smoothly away.

Must he always stick his oar in!

If we each take an oar, it’ll be easier and give us a chance to get to know each other.

The difference between oars and paddles are that oars are connected to the boat while paddles are held by the rowers.

I don’t think anyone has used these beat-up oars in years.

Ship the oars, lad, so we can drag the boat up on shore.

I was doing quite well until you stuck your oar in.

Verb, intransitive:
We oared carefully through the weeds.

She oared strongly across the finish line.

So, they oared once more, and I looked out for anything like a house.

Verb, transitive:
They were oaring the sea like madmen.

Since the wind had completely died, they had to oar the sailboat back to shore.

It’ll take an hour to oar the strait.

Abbreviation:
OR is a discipline that deals with the application of advanced analytical methods to help make better decisions.

Address it to Henry Stanton, 1319 West Main, Portland OR 97205.

That corporal shouldn’t be in the officers’ mess. He’s OR!

Get him into the OR, stat!

They released him on OR.

Be cautious of that OR clause in a mover’s contract.

Conjunction:
Would you like a cup of tea or coffee?

Are you coming or not?

She couldn’t read or write.

I either take taxis or walk everywhere.

It doesn’t matter whether the theory is right or wrong.

I prefer the espionage novel, or as it is known in the trade, the thriller.

Hurry up or you’ll miss it all.

John’s indifference — or was it? — left her unsettled.

To love is the one way to know God or man.

I don’t know. There were a dozen or so people.

Noun:
An OR gate is sometimes called an any or all gate.

The most celebrated armorial dispute in English heraldry is that of Scrope v. Grosvenor in 1390, in which two different men claimed the right to bear azure, a bend or.

Suffix:
Let’s take the escalator.

Is that the governor?

Is it a bad resistor?

I can’t decide if it needs a minor or major beat.

It’s an unholy error.

Look at the pallor of her face!

She’s in terror of her life.

This egg salad has a weird flavor.

He was our Lord and Savior.

I want to savor every moment.

An extractive metallurgist knows how to get the ore out.

Copper ore is commonly found scattered more or less uniformly through a large volume of rock.

Ore is always mixed with unwanted or valueless rocks and minerals that are collectively known as gangue.

Gold is usually extracted by crushing the ore.

Derivatives:
Adjective: oarless, oarlike
Noun: oarlock, oarsman, oarsmanship, oarsmen, oarweed, oarswoman, oarswomen
History of the Word:
The first known use was in 1592. From Old English ār is of Germanic origin and related to the Danish and Norwegian åre.
  1. Unknown.
  2. From Middle English in a reduced form of the obsolete conjunction other, which superseded the Old English oththe meaning or and is of uncertain ultimate origin.
  3. Early 16th century from the French, which is from the Latin aurum meaning gold.
  4. From Latin, sometimes via the Anglo-Norman French -eour or the Old French -eor (see also -ator).
  5. Via Anglo-Norman French from Latin.
  6. From Latin, sometimes via the Old French -or, -ur.
  7. 1828, when Webster’s dictionary popularized this form.
From the Old English ōra meaning unwrought metal was influenced in form by the Old English ār meaning bronze, which is related to the Latin aes meaning crude metal, bronze.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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Resources for O’er vs Oar vs Or vs Ore

Some of these links may be affiliate links, and I will earn a small percentage, if you should buy it. It does not affect the price you pay.

Apple Dictionary.com

Cambridge Dictionary: o’er

Clarke, Helen Archibald. Browning’s England. 2011. <https://amzn.to/3Bztw7v>.

Collins Dictionary: o’er

Dasa, Manonatha and Romesh Dutt. Maha-bharata. 2012. <https://amzn.to/3xJ0u4u>.

Dictionary.com: oar, o’er

The Free Dictionary: o’er, oar

Merriam-Webster: o’er

Palmer, John Williamson. Stonewall Jackson’s Way. New York: Columbia University, 1862. Google Books, <bit.ly/3VMGHe9>.

Silverberg, Robert. Thebes of the Hundred Gates. Phoenix Pick, 2013. <https://amzn.to/3VTIXAr>. Ebook.

Various. J.A. Giles (ed.) Old English Chronicles. <https://amzn.to/3DLhTwT>.

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Pinterest Photo Credits:

Boat Fair, 28 November 2009, is de:User:Ralf Roletschek Fahrradmonteur.de’s own work under the GFDL 1.2 license and Gold Crystals is Alchemist-hp (talk)’s own work under the FAL or CC BY-SA 3.0 de licenses; both are via Wikimedia Commons.

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