rowlock

noun

Etymology: An alteration, based on row, of earlier oarlock, from Old English ārlōc, equivalent to oar + lock.

1. A usually U-shaped pivot attached to the gunwale (outrigger in a sport boat) of a boat that supports and guides an oar, and provides a fulcrum for rowing; an oarlock.

   “I took a good gap and a stretch, and was just going to unhitch and start when I heard a sound away over the water. I listened. Pretty soon I made it out. It was that dull kind of a regular sound that comes from oars working in rowlocks when it's a still night.”

   “Everything smelled salt and there was no noise except the swishing of water and the clop-clop of water against the sides and the splash of the oars and the jolting noise of the rowlocks.”

2. A brick, for example in a course of brickwork, that is laid vertically with its tallest but slimmest side facing down, and its shortest face facing the outside of the wall (oriented so that it is taller than it is wide).