rock Hear it!

rock¹ Definition

rock (räk)

noun

  1. a large mass of stone forming a peak or cliff
    1. a large stone detached from the mass; boulder
    2. broken pieces of any size of such stone
    3. any stone, large or small
    1. mineral matter variously composed, formed in masses or large quantities in the earth's crust by the action of heat, water, etc.
    2. a particular kind or mass of this
  4. anything like or suggesting a rock, as in strength or stability; esp., a firm support, basis, refuge, etc.
  5. ☆ rockfish
    1. Chiefly Brit. a hard candy made in sticks
    2. rock candy
  7. Slang a diamond or other gem
  8. ☆ Slang crack cocaine or a single piece of it

Etymology: ME rokke < OFr roche < ML rocca

rock¹ Idioms

between a rock and a hard place

☆

Informal in a predicament; specif., faced with equally unpleasant alternatives

get one's rocks off

Etymology: < slang term rocks, testicles

  1. to experience orgasm; ejaculate
  2. to feel any great or satisfying pleasure or excitement

on the rocks

Informal
    1. in or into a condition of ruin or catastrophe
    2. in trouble or approaching ruin a marriage that is on the rocks
  2. without money; bankrupt
  3. ☆ served over ice cubes: said of liquor, wine, etc.
rock² Definition

rock (räk)

transitive verb

  1. to move or sway back and forth or from side to side (a cradle, a child in the arms, etc.), esp. in a gentle, quieting manner
  2. to bring into a specified condition by moving or swaying in this way to rock a baby to sleep
    1. to move or sway strongly; shake; cause to tremble or vibrate the explosion rocked the house
    2. to upset emotionally
  4. Engraving to prepare the surface of (a plate) for a mezzotint by roughening with a rocker (sense )
  5. Mining to wash (sand or gravel) in a rocker (sense )

Etymology: ME rocken < OE roccian, prob. akin to Ger rücken, to pull, push < IE *rek-, to project, totter (> ON, MDu rā, sailyard) < base *reg-, to put in order, stretch out > right

intransitive verb

  1. to move or sway back and forth or from side to side, as a cradle
  2. to move or sway strongly; shake; vibrate
  3. to be rocked, as ore

noun

  1. the act of rocking
  2. a rocking motion
  3. ☆
    1. rock-and-roll
    2. popular music evolved from rock-and-roll, variously containing elements of folk music, country music, etc. and now often emphasizing loudness, distortion, the use of electronic synthesizers, etc.

rock Synonyms

rock

v.

sway, vibrate, reel, totter, swing, move, push and pull, agitate, roll, pitch, shake, shove, jolt, jiggle, quake, convulse, tremble, undulate, oscillate, quiver, quaver, wobble; see also wave 3.

rock Usage Examples

Possessives

  • n: They really love rock ' n ' roll, they really respond.

Object

  • horse: Rocking horse lovers in Lincolnshire admire rocking horses from our rocking horse maker for Lincolnshire.

Adjective modifier

  • sedimentary: The bedrock of the district consists of some of the oldest sedimentary rock exposed in the British Isles.
  • igneous: They relate changes of state to energy transfers in a range of contexts for example, the formation of igneous rocks.
  • volcanic: Heavy rainfall has accentuated the huge river valleys and steep sided ravines that occur in the mainly volcanic rock.
  • molten: LAVA FLOWS These are flows of extremely hot molten rocks extruded by the volcano.
  • loose: Finish up the broken crack taking care with loose rock.
  • bare: Sometimes the walls and roof were bare rock, sometimes even coal but often the walls would be of brick.

Modifies a noun

  • band: We've almost got a regular rock band line-up in places.
  • n: Stars visit ' home ' of rock n ' roll ( PA via Yahoo!
  • formation: And in Buena Vista there is a large rock pool formation in the extreme North West.
  • star: Mother Teresa 2 Which rock star was born William Perks?
  • outcrop: Many sites support notable bryophytes, in particular calcicoles associated with base-rich rock outcrops and ( in western stands ) Atlantic species.
  • roll: You could argue that this is a move back to the heyday of rock 'n' roll where the single was the dominant force.

Noun used with modifier

  • punk: There's even the popular new punk rock rendition of " Happy Song.
  • glam: I mean I wouldn't mind being taller - but not that way - prefer punk to glam rock.
  • prog: Floyd were always lumped in with that whole ' 70s prog rock scene.
  • limestone: Another surprise arose, when the earthworks ditch was dug in the local limestone basement rock.
  • granite: The granite rocks came from up north at the family's summer cottage.
  • garage: The music, however, is garage rock with hints of The White Stripes and Rolling Stones.
rock Quotes

I have been a rock of order.

—Metternich, Prince Clemens Lothar Wenzel

I emerged at last, stumbled a few steps in the mud and then I saw it: an ethereal mountain emerging from a tossing sea of clouds framed between two dark barracksöa massive, blue-black tooth of sheer rock inlaid with azure glaciers, austere yet floating fairy-like on the near horizon. It was the first17,000-foot peak I had ever seen. I stood gazing until the vision disappeared among the shifting cloud banks. For hours afterwards I remained spell-bound. I had definitely fallen in love.

—Benuzzi, Felice

Milton, Madam, was a genius that could cut a Colossus from a rock; but could not carve heads upon cherry- stones.

—Johnson, Samuel known as Dr Johnson

   I don't have a rock voice. I have to force it. I am like an opera singer.

—Meat Loaf

So then he said that he used to be a member of the choir himself, so who was heto cast the first rock at a girl like I.

—Loos, Anita

We're more popular than Jesus Christ now. I don't know which will go first, rock and roll or Christianity.

—Lennon,JohnWinston

It's Only Rock and Roll.

—Jagger, Mick and Richards, Keith

[He] made himself the rock against which crashed the successive waves of dissent.

—Schoenbaum,ThomasJ

There would be more women in the rock scene if they were any good.But there are so few who are.

—Harvey, P(olly) J(ean)

Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved.

—Bible (Old Testament)

We can do worse than remember the principle which both gives us a firm Rock and leaves us the maximum elasticity for our mindsöHold to Christ, and for the rest be totally uncommitted.

—Butterfield, Sir Herbert

We are beginning to see now it is matter is the scaffolding of spirit; that the poet emerges from morphemes and phonemes; that as form in sculpture is the prisoner of the hard rock, so in everyday life it is the plain facts and natural happenings that conceal God and reveal him to us little by little under the mind's tooling.

—Thomas, R(onald) S(tuart)

Everybody's got to reclaim these thingsöpoetry, rock'n'roll, political activismöand it's got to be done over and over again. It's like eating: you can't say,'Oh, I ate yesterday'.You have to eat again.

—Smith, Patti

   Rhyme is the rock on which thou art to wreck.

—Dryden,John

So there he is at last. Man on the moon. The poor magnificent bungler! He can't even get to the office without undergoing theagonies of the damned, but give hima littlemetal, a fewchemicals,somewireand twenty or thirty billion dollars and vroom! there he is, up on a rock a quarter of a million miles up in the sky.

—Baker, Russell Wayne

Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself inThee, Let the water and the blood, From thy riven side which flowed, Be of sin the double cure, Cleanse me from its guilt and power.

—Toplady, Augustus Montague

And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and fora rockof offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

—Bible (Old Testament)

[Alexander Hamilton] smote the rock of the national resources, and abundant streams of revenue gushed forth. He touched the dead corpse of the public credit, and it sprang upon its feet.

—Webster, Daniel

Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

—Bible (Old Testament)

Safe upon solid rock the ugly houses stand: Come and see my shining palace built upon the sand.

—Millay, Edna St Vincent

Givea manthesecure possessionof a bleak rock, and he will turn it into a garden; give him a nine years' lease on a garden, and he will convert it into a desert† The magic ofturns sand to gold.

—Young, Arthur

I waited patiently for the L, and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

—Bible (Old Testament)

Sex 'n'drugs 'n'rock 'n'roll.

—Dury, Ian

And a manshall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.

—Bible (Old Testament)

The poem in the rock and The poem in the mind Are not one. It was in dying I tried to make them so.

—Thomas, R(onald) S(tuart)

Most people get into bands for three very simple rock and roll reasons: to get laid, to get fame, and to get rich.

—Geldof, Bob

In a world where it is so easy to neglect, deny, pervert and suppress the truth, the scientist may find his discipline severe. For him, truth is so seldom the sudden lightthat showsneworderand beauty; more often, truth is the uncharted rock that sinks his ship in the dark.

—Cornforth, SirJohnWarcup