Rock
[rɒk] or [rɑk]
Definition
(noun.) pitching dangerously to one side.
(noun.) a lump or mass of hard consolidated mineral matter; 'he threw a rock at me'.
(noun.) (figurative) someone who is strong and stable and dependable; 'he was her rock during the crisis'; 'Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church'--Gospel According to Matthew.
(noun.) United States gynecologist and devout Catholic who conducted the first clinical trials of the oral contraceptive pill (1890-1984).
(noun.) material consisting of the aggregate of minerals like those making up the Earth's crust; 'that mountain is solid rock'; 'stone is abundant in New England and there are many quarries'.
(verb.) move back and forth or sideways; 'the ship was rocking'; 'the tall building swayed'; 'She rocked back and forth on her feet'.
(verb.) cause to move back and forth; 'rock the cradle'; 'rock the baby'; 'the wind swayed the trees gently'.
Typist: Montague--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) See Roc.
(n.) A distaff used in spinning; the staff or frame about which flax is arranged, and from which the thread is drawn in spinning.
(n.) A large concreted mass of stony material; a large fixed stone or crag. See Stone.
(n.) Any natural deposit forming a part of the earth's crust, whether consolidated or not, including sand, earth, clay, etc., when in natural beds.
(n.) That which resembles a rock in firmness; a defense; a support; a refuge.
(n.) Fig.: Anything which causes a disaster or wreck resembling the wreck of a vessel upon a rock.
(n.) The striped bass. See under Bass.
(v. t.) To cause to sway backward and forward, as a body resting on a support beneath; as, to rock a cradle or chair; to cause to vibrate; to cause to reel or totter.
(v. t.) To move as in a cradle; hence, to put to sleep by rocking; to still; to quiet.
(v. i.) To move or be moved backward and forward; to be violently agitated; to reel; to totter.
(v. i.) To roll or saway backward and forward upon a support; as, to rock in a rocking-chair.
Editor: Winthrop
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Stone (of large size).
v. a. Move backward and forward (as something that rests on a support).
v. n. Reel, totter, oscillate, move backward and forward.
Editor: Olaf
Definition
v.t. to move backward and forward: to lull or quiet.—v.i. to be moved backward and forward to reel.—ns. Rock′er the curved support on which a cradle or rocking-chair rocks: a rocking-horse or chair: a mining cradle; Rock′-cam a cam keyed to a rock-shaft; Rock′ing a swaying backward and forward: the abrading of a copper plate with a rocker preparatory to mezzo-tinting: the motion by which the design on a steel mill is transferred to a copper cylinder; Rock′ing-beam an oscillating beam in an automatic transmitter; Rock′ing-chair a chair mounted on rockers; Rock′ing-horse the figure of a horse of wood or other material mounted on rockers for children: a hobby-horse; Rock′ing-pier a pier fastened by a movable joint so as to allow it to rock slightly; Rock′ing-stone a logan or large mass of rock so finely poised as to move backward and forward with the slightest impulse; Rock′ing-tree in weaving the axle from which the lay of a loom is suspended; Rock′-shaft in steam-engines a shaft that oscillates instead of revolving.—adj. Rock′y disposed to rock: tipsy.
n. a large mass of stone: (geol.) a natural deposit of sand earth or clay: that which has the firmness of a rock foundation support defence: (Scot.) a distaff: a hard sweetmeat.—v.t. to throw stones at.—ns. Rock′-al′um alum stone; Rock′-away a four-wheeled North American pleasure-carriage; Rock′-bad′ger a ground-squirrel of North America; Rock′-bās′in a lacustrine hollow in a rock excavated by glacier-ice; Rock′-bass a centrarchoid fish the goggle-eye; Rock′-bird a cock of the rock.—adj. Rock′-bound hemmed in by rocks.—ns. Rock′-break′er a machine for breaking stones for road-metal; Rock′-butt′er an impure alum efflorescence of a butter-like consistency found oozing from some alum slates; Rock′-can′dy pure sugar in large crystals: candy-sugar; Rock′-cist a plant of the genus Helianthemum; Rock′-cook the small-mouthed wrasse; Rock′-cork mountain cork a variety of asbestos; Rock′-crab a crab found at rocky sea-bottoms.—adj. Rock′-crowned surmounted with rocks.—ns. Rock′-crys′tal the finest and purest quartz the name being generally applied however only to crystals in which the six-sided prism is well developed; Rock′-dol′phin the sea-scorpion; Rock′-dove the rock-pigeon or blue-rock; Rock′-drill a machine-drill worked by steam &c.; Rock′-eel a fish of the family Xiphidiontid; Rock′-elm an American elm; Rock′er the rock-dove; Rock′ery Rock′work a mound made with pieces of rock earth &c. for the cultivation of ferns &c.; Rock′-fē′ver intermittent fever; Rock′-fire in pyrotechny a composition of resin sulphur nitre regulus of antimony and turpentine burning slowly; Rock′-fish a name applied to various different varieties of wrasse the striped bass black goby &c.; Rock′-goat an ibex; Rock′-hawk the merlin; Rock′-head bed-rock; Rock′-hop′per a curl-crested penguin; Rock′ie (Scot.) the rock-lintie or twite; Rock′iness; Rock′-leath′er rock-cork; Rock′-lil′y a tropical American cryptogamous plant: a white-flowered Australian orchid; Rock′-lim′pet a limpet which adheres to rocks; Rock′ling a genus of fishes of the cod family Gadid of which several species frequent the British seas; Rock′-lin′tie (Scot.) the twite: the Rock′-lark; Rock′-man′ikin a rock-bird; Rock′-moss lichen which yields archil; Rock′-oil petroleum; Rock′-ou′sel the ring-ousel; Rock′-oys′ter an oyster-like bivalve; Rock′-pi′geon a pigeon inhabiting rocks and caves: the sand-pigeon; Rock′-pip′it the British tit-lark.—n.pl. Rock′-plants a term applied in gardening to a very miscellaneous group of plants which by their habit of growth are adapted to adorn rockeries.—ns. Rock′-plov′er the rock-snipe; Rock′-rabb′it a hyrax; Rock′-rose a plant of either of the genera Cistus and Helianthemum of the rock-rose family (Cistace); Rock′-ru′by a ruby-red garnet; Rock′-salm′on the coal-fish: an amber-fish; Rock′-salt salt in solid form; Rock′-ser′pent a venomous Indian serpent allied to the cobra; Rock′-slāt′er a wood-louse; Rock′-snake a python or anaconda; Rock′-snipe the purple sandpiper; Rock′-soap a deep-black mineral used for crayons consisting of silica alumina peroxide of iron and water; Rock′-sparr′ow a finch: the ring-sparrow; Rock′-star′ling the rock-ousel; Rock′-swift the white-throated rock-swift of North America; Rock′-tar petroleum; Rock′-tem′ple a temple hewn out of the solid rock; Rock′-thrush any bird of the genus Monticola or Petrocincla; Rock′-tripe lichens of the genus Umbilicaria; Rock′-trout the common American brook-trout: sea-trout; Rock′-vī′olet an alga growing on moist rocks in the Alps; Rock′-war′bler a small Australian bird; Rock′-win′kle a periwinkle; Rock′-wood ligniform asbestos; Rock′work (archit.) masonry in imitation of masses of rock: a rockery; Rock′-wren a wren which frequents rocks.—adj. Rock′y full of rocks: resembling a rock: hard: unfeeling.
n. a distaff.—n. Rock′ing an evening party in the country.
Inputed by Dennis
Unserious Contents or Definition
To dream of rocks, denotes that you will meet reverses, and that there will be discord and general unhappiness. To climb a steep rock, foretells immediate struggles and disappointing surroundings. See Stones.
Checker: Louie
Examples
- In a whisper, he explained to me the apparition of the three figures on the platform of rock. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Small holes a few inches apart are cut along a certain length of rock, into which steel wedges are inserted. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Oh, take me to your heart, my husband, for my love was founded on a rock, and it endures! Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- I passed the night under the shelter of a rock, strewing some heath under me, and slept pretty well. Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
- It is the Rock of Ages I ask you to lean on: do not doubt but it will bear the weight of your human weakness. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- I remained in a recess of the rock, gazing on this wonderful and stupendous scene. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- For some time I sat upon the rock that overlooks the sea of ice. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- I suppose it's smarter to use these rocks and build a good blind for this gun than to make a proper emplacement for it. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- Robert Jordan heard the stream, far down in the rocks, and he saw a faint, thin smoke that rose from the sentry box. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- The horses' hoofs have bored holes in these rocks to the depth of six inches during the hundreds and hundreds of years that the castle was garrisoned. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- Anselmo asked Fernando, the two of them standing at the entrance of the big rocks in the dark. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- To lay down on the rocks, a stick, or any straight thing to guide my hand, exactly in the line of the beacon and the flagstaff. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- A reef of rocks, black and rough, stretches far into the sea. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Before a lobster is cooked he is green, that being the color of the rocks around which he lives on the bottom of the ocean. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- She held her to her bosom; she cradled her in her arms; she rocked her softly, as if lulling a young child to sleep. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Black was the river as a torrent of ink; lights glanced on it from the piles of building round, ships rocked on its bosom. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- She rocked herself to and fro; caught her throat; and, uttering a gurgling sound, gasped for breath. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- Down upon her knees before that good woman, she rocked herself upon her breast, and cried, and sobbed, and folded her in her arms with all her might. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Rokesmith is already discharged,' said Mr Boffin, speaking in a muffled voice, with his hands before his face, as he rocked himself on the settle. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- And he rocked on the water perfectly, like the rocking of phosphorescence. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Gudrun rocked in her light boat, and dipped the paddle automatically to steady herself. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- She sat down in her little rocking-chair before the fire, swaying thoughtfully to and fro. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- The one staid foundation of her home, of her idea of her beloved father, seemed reeling and rocking. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- As the arm lifts upward, the pin moves along the under side of the lower arm of the rocking-lever, thus causing it to cant and shift the type-wheels to the right or left, as desired. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Then she dropped her chin to his head and then he felt her hands holding his head and rocking it against her. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- I'm too tired to go this afternoon, replied Meg, rocking comfortably as she sewed. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- And he rocked on the water perfectly, like the rocking of phosphorescence. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- The figure in the chair between them, was all the time monotonously rocking itself to and fro, and moaning. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
Edited by Leah