oarlessness

English

Etymology

oarless +‎ -ness

Noun

oarlessness (uncountable)

1. Absence of oars.
   • 2002, Douglas Smith, Helsinki Drift: Travel Poems, page 10:

     Only dark birds know who let it rot over itself, mirror its oarlessness and the one thin seam that suddenly like a mouth opened to allow everything oceanic in.

   • 1989, Richard P. Blackmur, James T. Jones, Outsider at the Heart of Things: Essays, page 227:

     All that counts when Poe's gondolier loses his single oar is the idea of oarlessness.