What is "rudder"

Rudder \Rud"der\, n. A riddle or sieve. [Prov. Eng.]

Rudder \Rud"der\, n. [OE. rother, AS. r[=o][eth]er a paddle; akin to D. roer rudder, oar, G. ruder, OHG. roadar, Sw. roder, ror, Dan. roer, ror. [root] 8. See Row to propel with an oar, and cf. Rother. ]

1. (Naut.) The mechanical appliance by means of which a vessel is guided or steered when in motion. It is a broad and flat blade made of wood or iron, with a long shank, and is fastened in an upright position, usually by one edge, to the sternpost of the vessel in such a way that it can be turned from side to side in the water by means of a tiller, wheel, or other attachment.

2. Fig.: That which resembles a rudder as a guide or governor; that which guides or governs the course.

   For rhyme the rudder is of verses.
   --Hudibras.

3. In an aircraft, a surface the function of which is to exert a turning moment about an axis of the craft. Balance rudder (Naut.), a rudder pivoted near the middle instead of at the edge, -- common on sharpies. Drop rudder (Naut.), a rudder extending below the keel so as to be more effective in steering. Rudder chain (Naut.), one of the loose chains or ropes which fasten the rudder to the quarters to prevent its loss in case it gets unshipped, and for operating it in case the tiller or the wheel is broken. Rudder coat (Naut.), a covering of tarred canvas used to prevent water from entering the rudderhole. Rudder fish. (Zo["o]l.)

   1. The pilot fish.

   2. The amber fish ( Seriola zonata), which is bluish having six broad black bands.

   3. A plain greenish black American fish ( Leirus perciformis); -- called also black rudder fish, logfish, and barrel fish. The name is also applied to other fishes which follow vessels.

      Rudder pendants (Naut.), ropes connected with the rudder chains.

mid-15c. alteration of Middle English rother, from Old English roðor "paddle, oar," from Proto-Germanic *rothru- (cognates: Old Frisian roðer, Middle Low German roder, Middle Dutch roeder, Dutch roer, Old High German ruodar, German Ruder "oar"), from *ro- "steer" (see row (v.)) + suffix -þra, used to form neutral names of tools.\n

\nMeaning "broad, flat piece of wood attached to the stern of a boat and guided by a tiller for use in steering" is from c.1300. For shift of -th- to -d- compare burden (n.1), murder (n.); simultaneous but opposite to the movement that turned -d- to -th- in father (n.), etc.

n. 1 (context nautical English) An underwater vane used to steer a vessel. The rudder is controlled by means of a wheel, tiller or other apparatus (modern vessels can be controlled even with a joystick or an autopilot). 2 (context aeronautics English) A control surface on the vertical stabilizer of a fixed-wing aircraft or an autogyro. On some craft, the entire vertical stabilizer comprises the rudder. The rudder is controlled by foot-operated control pedals. 3 A riddle or sieve. 4 (context figurative English) That which resembles a rudder as a guide or governor; that which guides or governs the course.

1. n. a hinged vertical airfoil mounted at the tail of an aircraft and used to make horizontal course changes

2. (nautical) steering mechanism consisting of a hinged vertical plate mounted at the stern of a vessel

A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other conveyance that moves through a fluid medium (generally air or water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw and p-factor and is not the primary control used to turn the airplane. A rudder operates by redirecting the fluid past the hull (watercraft) or fuselage, thus imparting a turning or yawing motion to the craft. In basic form, a rudder is a flat plane or sheet of material attached with hinges to the craft's stern, tail, or after end. Often rudders are shaped so as to minimize hydrodynamic or aerodynamic drag. On simple watercraft, a tiller—essentially, a stick or pole acting as a lever arm—may be attached to the top of the rudder to allow it to be turned by a helmsman. In larger vessels, cables, pushrods, or hydraulics may be used to link rudders to steering wheels. In typical aircraft, the rudder is operated by pedals via mechanical linkages or hydraulics.

The surname Rudder may refer to:

• James Earl Rudder (1910–1970), United States Army major general, Texas Land Commissioner, and sixteenth president of Texas A&M University
• John E. Rudder (born 1925), the first African-American officer in the regular US Marine Corps, in 1948
• Michael Rudder (born 1950), Canadian actor
• Pieter De Rudder (1822–1898), farm labourer whose healed broken leg is considered one of the most famous recognized Lourdes miracles
• Samuel Rudder (c. 1726–1801), English topographer, printer and antiquarian
• Scott Rudder (born 1969), American politician
• Sean Rudder (born 1979), Australian former rugby league footballer

A rudder is a steering device.

Rudder may also refer to:

• Rudder (surname)
• Camp Rudder, a U.S. Army Ranger School training facility
• Rudder Middle School, San Antonio, Texas
• Rudder High School, Bryan, Texas
• Rudder Point, Leskov Island, South Sandwich Islands
• Rudder (software)

Rudder is an open source audit and configuration management utility to help automate system configuration across large IT infrastructures. Rudder relies on a lightweight local agent installed on each managed machine (derived from CFEngine 3).

Rudder is produced by Normation, founded in 2010. Its server-side web interface is written in Scala and its local agent is written in C, and are published as free software under the GNU Affero General Public License 3.0.