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American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

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

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. That part of the helm which is abaft the stern-post, and is turned by the tiller so as to expose its side more or less to the resistance of the water and thus direct the ship's course. It is usually hinged on the stern-post by pintles and gudgeons.
  2. n. That which guides or governs the course.
  3. n. . A kind of paddle to stir with.
  4. n. A bird's tail-feather; a rectrix: as, “rectrices, rudders, or true tail-feathers,”
  5. n. A riddle or sieve.
  6. n. An obsolete form of rother.



GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. Prov. Eng. A riddle or sieve.
  3. n. Fig.: That which resembles a rudder as a guide or governor; that which guides or governs the course.
  4. n. In an aircraft, a surface the function of which is to exert a turning moment about an axis of the craft.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a hinged vertical airfoil mounted at the tail of an aircraft and used to make horizontal course changes
  2. n. (nautical) steering mechanism consisting of a hinged vertical plate mounted at the stern of a vessel


  1. Old English rōþor ("rudder"), from Proto-Germanic *rōþran (“rudder"; literally, "paddle, instrument for rowing”), from Proto-Germanic *rōanan "to row" from Proto-Indo-European *ere-, *rē- (“to row”) + Proto-Germanic *-þran, *-þraz, instrumental suffix. Akin to Old English rōwan ("to row"). More at rōwan, -þor. (Wiktionary)
  2. Middle English ruder, from Old English rōther, steering oar. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)


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‘rudder’ has been looked up 1463 times, added to 9 lists, and has a Scrabble score of 8.