rock

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Relatively hard, naturally formed mineral or petrified matter; stone.
2. n. A relatively small piece or fragment of such material.
3. n. A relatively large body of such material, as a cliff or peak.
4. n. A naturally formed aggregate of mineral matter constituting a significant part of the earth's crust.
5. n. One that is similar to or suggestive of a mass of stone in stability, firmness, or dependability: The family has been his rock during this difficult time.
6. n. Slang Money.
7. n. Slang A large gem, especially a diamond.
8. n. Slang Crack cocaine.
9. n. A varicolored stick candy.
10. n. Rock candy.
11. idiom. between a rock and a hard place Confronted with equally unpleasant alternatives and few or no opportunities to evade or circumvent them.
12. idiom. on the rocks In a state of difficulty, destruction, or ruin: Their marriage is on the rocks.
13. idiom. on the rocks Without money; bankrupt: Our accountant says the business is on the rocks.
14. idiom. on the rocks Served over ice cubes: Scotch on the rocks.
15. v. To move back and forth or from side to side, especially gently or rhythmically.
16. v. To sway violently, as from a blow or shock. See Synonyms at swing.
17. v. To be washed and panned in a cradle or in a rocker. Used of ores.
18. v. Music To play or dance to rock 'n' roll.
19. v. To move back and forth or from side to side, especially in order to soothe or lull to sleep.
20. v. To cause to shake or sway violently. See Synonyms at agitate.
21. v. To disturb the mental or emotional equilibrium of; upset: News of the scandal rocked the town.
22. v. To wash or pan (ore) in a cradle or rocker.
23. v. In mezzotint engraving, to roughen (a metal plate) with a rocker or roulette.
24. n. A rocking motion.
25. n. The act of rocking.
26. n. Music Rock 'n' roll.
27. idiom. rock the boat Slang To disturb the balance or routine of a situation: He has an easygoing managerial style and won't rock the boat unless absolutely necessary.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The mass of mineral matter of which the earth, so far as accessible to observation, is made up; a mass, fragment, or piece of that crust, if too large to be designated as a stone, and if spoken of in a general way without special designation of its nature. When there is such special designation, the term stone is more generally adopted, as in building-stone, paving-stone, limestone, freestone; or the special designation of the material itself may be used without qualification, as granite, slate, marble, etc. The unconsolidated stony materials which form a considerable part of the superficial crust, or that which is at or near the surface, such as sand, gravel, and clay, are not commonly designated as rock or rocks; the geologist, however, includes under the term rock, for the purpose of general description, all the consolidated materials forming the crust, as well as the fragmental or detrital beds which have been derived from it. Rocks are ordinarily composed of two or more mineral species, but some rocks are made up almost entirely of one species: thus, granite is essentially an aggregate of quartz, feldspar, and mica, while marble usually consists chiefly of carbonate of lime, and sandstone and quartzite chiefly of quartz. The number of varieties of rock, according to the classification and description of lithologists, is very great. The number of names popularly in use for rocks is small: granite, porphyry, lava, sandstone or freestone, limestone, marble, and slate are terms under one or the other of which by far the largest part of the rocks are commonly classed. (See these words.) More than 600 distinct species of minerals have been described, but a very small number of them occur as essential constituents of rocks: of these, quartz, the feldspars, the micas, the minerals of the augite and hornbl ende group, talc, chlorite, olivin, and carbonate of lime, with which often more or less of carbonate of magnesia is associated, form the great bulk of the rocks. But there are several other minerals which are quite commonly found as accessory constituents, and sometimes in masses large enough to be worthy of the designation of rock: such are garnet, epidote, various oxids of iron, pyrites, apatite, andalusite, leucite, tourmalin, and a few others. Some mineral substances occur in masses of great extent and thickness, but do not play the part of rock-forming minerals: such are salt, gypsum, and the varieties of coal. Rocks are variously classed by geologists. The most general subdivision of them is into igneous and aqueous: the former are divided into plutonic and volcanic, according as they have been formed under conditions of depth and pressure, like granite, or have been poured out upon the surface in the manner of lava. The aqueous rocks are also designated as sedimentary, fossiliferous, or stratified. The sedimentary rocks in general are believed to be made up of material resulting from the decay and abrasion of igneous masses, since almost all geologists admit that the crust of the earth has cooled from a state of fusion. Part of the stratified deposits, however, have been formed through the agency of life, as in the case of the limestones, most of which have been secreted from an aqueous solution by various organisms, and of coal, which is the result of a peculiar kind of decay of vegetable matter. Some rocks have been formed by the simple evaporation of a solution: for instance, rock-salt. The sedimentary rocks are classified for lithological description according to the nature and texture of the materials of which they are made up: they are arranged in the chronological order of their deposition according to the nature of the fossils which they contain. Sedimentary rocks have frequently been greatly changed in character by metamorphosis, by which they have been rendered crystalline, and sometimes made so closely to resemble igneous rocks that their true character can only with the greatest difficulty be made out.
2. n. A stone of any size, even a pebble.
3. n. A mass of stone forming an eminence or a cliff.
4. n. Hence, in Scripture, figuratively, foundation; strength; asylum; means of safety; defense.
5. n. A cause or source of peril or disaster: from the wrecking of vessels on rocks: as, this was the rock on which he split.
6. n. A kind of hard sweetmeat, variously flavored.
7. n. Same as rockfish, 1 .
8. n. The rock-dove, Calumba livia, more fully called blue-rock.
9. n. A kind of soap. See the quotation.
10. n. A piece of money: commonly in the plural: as, a pocketful of rocks.
11. n. A very hard kind of cheese, made from skimmed milk, used in Hampshire, England.
12. n. Synonyms It is an error to use rock for a stone so small that a man can handle it: only a fabulous person or a demi-god can lift a rock.
13. To throw stones at; stone.
14. To move backward and forward, as a body supported below (especially on a single point, a narrow line, or a curved base); cause to sway upon a support: as, to rock a cradle; to rock a chair; sometimes, to cause to reel or totter.
15. To move backward and forward in a cradle, chair, etc.
16. To lull; quiet, as if by rocking in a cradle.
17. In engraving, to abrade the surface of, as a copper or steel plate, preparatory to scraping a mezzotinto. See cradle, n., 4 .
18. To cleanse by rocking or shaking about in sand.
19. To affect by rocking in a manner indicated by a connected word or words: as, to rock one into a headache; the earthquake rocked down the houses.
20. To move backward and forward; be moved backward and forward; reel.
21. n. The act of rocking; specifically, a step in fancy dancing.
22. n. A distaff used in hand-spinning; the staff or frame about which the flax or wool is arranged from which the thread is drawn in spinning.
23. n. A young hedgehog.
24. n. See roc.
25. n. A / B ⟨ 7 / 1 ⟩ 5 / 3, A dominates over B;
26. n. A / B ⟨ 5 / 3 ⟩ 3 / 5, A and B are equal or nearly equal;
27. n. A / B ⟨ 3 / 5 ⟩ 1 / 7, B dominates over A;
28. n. A / B ⟨ 1 / 7, B is extreme. Names or terms applicable to and are formed with the prefix per-; those applicable to and are formed with the prefix do-; terms applied to combine two syllables mnemonic of the two factors compared. All igneous rocks fall into five classes, according to the proportions of the salic and femic groups of standard minerals expressing their chemical composition, that is, according to the proportions of the salic and femic minerals in their norms. These minerals are calculated from a chemical analysis of the rock, which may have been obtained by the usual chemical methods, or by calculation from the mineral composition of the rock determined by optical methods. The five classes are: persalane, extremely salic, including rocks high in quartz, feldspar or feldspathoids, corundum or zircon;
29. n. dosalane, dominantly salic, including rocks in which the minerals just mentioned dominate over the femic minerals;
30. n. salfemane, equally, or nearly equally, salic and femic;
31. n. dofemane, dominantly femic;
32. n. perfemane, extremely femic, including such rocks as peridotites and pyroxenites. Each class is divided into five subclasses on the proportions of two subgroups of the predominant group of standard minerals. For salic minerals the subgroups are: quartz, feldspars, feldspathoids;
33. n. corundum, zircon. For femic minerals the subgroups are: pyroxenes, olivin, akermanite, magnetite, hematite, titanite, ihnenite, perofskite, rutile;
34. n. apatite, fluorite, pyrite, etc. Almost all igneous rocks belong to the first subclass in each class. Few are rich in corundum, or zircon, or apatite. Orders are based on the proportions of mineral subdivisions of the preponderant subgroup making a subclass. Thus of the first subgroup of salic minerals, quartz and feldspars are compared with each other, and feldspars and feldspathoids, yielding nine orders in classes 1, 2, 3, as: perquaric
35. n. doquaric, etc. The orders are further divided into sections by comparing the proportions of normative pyroxene with olivin and akermanite, and the proportions of normative minerals having ferric iron with those containing titanium oxid. Rangs are formed on the character of the chemical basis in the groups of standard minerals forming orders. Thus in the first three classes the five rangs are based on the proportions of K₂O + Na₂O to CaO in the salic minerals, making: peralkalic
36. n. domalkalic
37. n. alkalicalcic
38. n. docalcic
39. n. percalcic. In the last two classes the rangs are based on the proportions of CaO + MgO + FeO to K₂O + Na₂O in the femic minerals, giving: permirlic
40. n. domirlic
41. n. alkalimirlic
42. n. domalkalic
43. n. peralkalie. Subrangs are based on the proportions of the chemical components within the dominant group of oxids. Thus when the alkalis are dominant the subrangs are: perpotassic.
44. n. dopotassic
45. n. sodipotassic
46. n. dosodic
47. n. persodic. In rangs in which CaO + MgO + FeO dominate sections of rangs are based on the proportions of MgO + FeO compared with CaO, giving: permiric
48. n. domiric
49. n. calcimiric
50. n. docalcic
51. n. percalcic. Subrangs of these are based on the proportions of MgO and FeO, and are: permagnesic
52. n. domagnesic
53. n. magnesiferrous
54. n. doferrous
55. n. perferrous. Grads, the next taxonomic divisions, are based on the proportions of subdivisions of the subordinate group of standard minerals in a manner analogous to the formation of orders; subgrads are based on the chemical characters of these minerals in a manner similar to that followed in forming rangs. The names of other divisions of the system are constructed from geographical names with suffixes peculiar to the different ranks of the system as follows: -ane, class; -one, subclass; -are, order; -ore, suborder; -ase, rang; -ose, subrang; -ate, grad; -ote, subgrad. The termination for the name of a section of any of these is formed by inserting i before the proper suffix.

Wiktionary

1. n. The naturally occurring aggregate of solid mineral matter that constitutes a significant part of the earth's crust.
2. n. A mass of stone projecting out of the ground or water.
3. n. A boulder or large stone.
4. n. A large hill or island having no vegetation.
5. n. Something that is strong, stable, and dependable; a person who provides security or support to another.
6. n. Any natural material with a distinctive composition of minerals.
7. n. A precious stone or gem, especially a diamond.
8. n. A lump or cube of ice.
9. n. A type of confectionery made from sugar in the shape of a stick, traditionally having some text running through its length.
10. n. A crystalized lump of crack cocaine.
11. n. An unintelligent person, especially one who repeats mistakes.
12. n. An Afrikaner.
13. n. In poker, an extremely conservative player who is willing to play only the very strongest hands.
14. n. An act of rocking.
15. n. A style of music characterized by basic drum-beat, generally 4/4 riffs, based on (usually electric) guitar, bass guitar, drums, and vocals.
16. n. distaff
17. n. The flax or wool on a distaff.
18. v. To move gently back and forth.
19. v. To cause to shake or sway violently.
20. v. To sway or tilt violently back and forth.
21. v. To be washed and panned in a cradle or in a rocker.
22. v. To disturb the emotional equilibrium of; to distress.
23. v. To excel.
24. v. To play, perform, or enjoy rock music, especially with a lot of skill or energy.
25. v. To be very favourable or skilful.
26. v. to thrill or excite, especially with rock music
27. v. to do something with excitement yet skillfully
28. v. to wear or carry something with pride and skill.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. See roc.
2. n. A distaff used in spinning; the staff or frame about which flax is arranged, and from which the thread is drawn in spinning.
3. n. A large concreted mass of stony material; a large fixed stone or crag. See stone.
4. 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.
5. n. That which resembles a rock in firmness; a defense; a support; a refuge.
6. n. Fig.: Anything which causes a disaster or wreck resembling the wreck of a vessel upon a rock.
7. n. The striped bass. See under Bass.
8. v. To cause to sway backward and forward, as a body resting on a support beneath; ; to cause to vibrate; to cause to reel or totter.
9. v. To move as in a cradle; hence, to put to sleep by rocking; to still; to quiet.
10. v. To move or be moved backward and forward; to be violently agitated; to reel; to totter.
11. v. To roll or saway backward and forward upon a support.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a lump or mass of hard consolidated mineral matter
2. n. a genre of popular music originating in the 1950s; a blend of black rhythm-and-blues with white country-and-western
3. v. cause to move back and forth
4. n. hard bright-colored stick candy (typically flavored with peppermint)
5. n. United States gynecologist and devout Catholic who conducted the first clinical trials of the oral contraceptive pill (1890-1984)
6. n. (figurative) someone who is strong and stable and dependable
7. n. material consisting of the aggregate of minerals like those making up the Earth's crust
8. n. pitching dangerously to one side
9. v. move back and forth or sideways