to row up

Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.

To punish with words; to rebuke. It is an essential Westernism, and derived from the practice of making refractory slaves or servants row up the heavy keelboats of early navigation on the Western rivers, against the current, without being frequently relieved. It was thus regarded as a punishment.


We should really like, of all things, to row up the majority of Congress as it deserves in regard to the practice.--N. Y. Tribune, Dec. 10, 1845.

The most spicy part of the proceedings in the Senate was the rowing up which Mr. Hannegan gave Mr. Ritchie of the Union newspaper.--N. Y. Tribune, Jan. 30, 1846.

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