rudder
/ˈrʌdə
/noun
1A flat piece hinged vertically near the stern of a boat or ship for steering.The ship has rudders and bowthrusters for harbour manoeuvring....
- The sailboat has a fin keel and a rudder that resemble the dorsal and pectoral fins of orcas.
- These were clinker-built - that is, with timbers overlapping and not laid flush - with flat bottom, straight stem and stern posts, a stern rudder and a single sail.
1.1A vertical aerofoil pivoted from the tailplane of an aircraft, for controlling movement about the vertical axis.Instead of a traditional rudder for yaw control, the upper and lower surfaces are each fitted with two sections of moving surfaces....
- Agglomerations of wings and cowling, flaps, rudders and fuselage rise dramatically from narrow steel legs.
- The Hunter air vehicle is a fixed wing, twin tail boom aircraft with a dual rudder.
1.2 [mass noun] Application of a rudder in steering a boat, ship, or aircraft: bring the aircraft to a stall and apply full rudder a small amount of extra rudder...
- It is highly spin-resistant, requiring full rudder to initiate and maintain a spin and recovering in one turn after centralising the flying controls.
- This was the only airspeed that provided a predictable and constant level of yaw that I could counter with full rudder.
- Now I did have a blown tire, and as the aircraft slowed through 100 knots, the pull to the right required almost a full boot of left rudder to keep the aircraft on the runway.
Origin
Old English rōther 'paddle, oar', of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch roer, German Ruder, also to the verb row2.