Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To move back and forth or from side to side, especially gently or rhythmically.
  • intransitive verb To sway violently, as from a blow or shock. synonym: swing.
  • intransitive verb To be washed and panned in a cradle or in a rocker. Used of ores.
  • intransitive verb Music To play or dance to rock music.
  • intransitive verb Slang To be excellent or outstanding. Used in exclamations of approval.
  • intransitive verb To move (a child, for example) back and forth or from side to side, especially in order to soothe or lull to sleep.
  • intransitive verb To cause to shake or sway violently. synonym: agitate.
  • intransitive verb To disturb the mental or emotional equilibrium of; upset.
  • intransitive verb To excite or cause strong feeling in, as by playing rock music.
  • intransitive verb To wash or pan (ore) in a cradle or rocker.
  • intransitive verb In mezzotint engraving, to roughen (a metal plate) with a rocker or roulette.
  • noun A rocking motion.
  • noun The act of rocking.
  • noun Music A form of popular music characterized by electronically amplified instrumentation, a heavily accented beat, and relatively simple phrase structure. Originating in the United States in the 1950s, rock incorporates a variety of musical styles, especially rhythm and blues, country music, and gospel.
  • idiom (rock the boat) To disturb the balance or routine of a situation.
  • noun Relatively hard, naturally formed mineral or petrified matter; stone.
  • noun A relatively small piece or fragment of such material.
  • noun A relatively large body of such material, as a cliff or peak.
  • noun A naturally formed aggregate of mineral matter constituting a significant part of the earth's crust.
  • noun One that is similar to or suggestive of a mass of stone in stability, firmness, or dependability.
  • noun Slang Money.
  • noun Slang A large gem, especially a diamond.
  • noun Slang Crack cocaine.
  • noun A varicolored stick candy.
  • noun Rock candy.
  • idiom (between a rock and a hard place) Confronted with equally unpleasant alternatives and few or no opportunities to evade or circumvent them.
  • idiom (on the rocks) In a state of difficulty, destruction, or ruin.
  • idiom (on the rocks) Without money; bankrupt.
  • idiom (on the rocks) Served over ice cubes.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun 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.
  • noun A stone of any size, even a pebble.
  • noun A mass of stone forming an eminence or a cliff.
  • noun Hence, in Scripture, figuratively, foundation; strength; asylum; means of safety; defense.
  • noun A cause or source of peril or disaster: from the wrecking of vessels on rocks: as, this was the rock on which he split.
  • noun A kind of hard sweetmeat, variously flavored.
  • noun Same as rockfish, 1 .
  • noun The rock-dove, Calumba livia, more fully called blue-rock.
  • noun A kind of soap. See the quotation.
  • noun A piece of money: commonly in the plural: as, a pocketful of rocks.
  • noun A very hard kind of cheese, made from skimmed milk, used in Hampshire, England.
  • noun 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.
  • noun The act of rocking; specifically, a step in fancy dancing.
  • noun A / B ⟨ 7 / 1 ⟩ 5 / 3, A dominates over B;
  • noun A / B ⟨ 5 / 3 ⟩ 3 / 5, A and B are equal or nearly equal;
  • noun A / B ⟨ 3 / 5 ⟩ 1 / 7, B dominates over A;
  • noun 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;

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English rokken, from Old English roccian.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old North French roque, from Vulgar Latin *rocca.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle Dutch rocke (whence Dutch rok), Middle Low German rocken, or Old Norse rokkr (whence Icelandic / Faroese rokkur, Danish rok, Swedish spinnrock ("spinning wheel")). Cognate with Old High German rocko ("distaff").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Shortened from rock and roll. Since the meaning of rock has adapted to mean a simpler, more modern, metal-like genre, rock and roll has generally been left referring to earlier forms such as that of the 1950s, notably more swing-oriented style.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English rokken, from Old English roccian, from Proto-Germanic *rukkōnan (compare obsolete Dutch (Holland) rokken, Middle High German rocken ‘to drag, jerk’, Icelandic rukka ‘to yank’), from *rugnōnan, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃ruk-néh₂-, from *h₃runk- (compare Latin runcāre ("to weed"), Latvian rũķēt ("to toss, dig")).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English rocke, rokke ("rock formation"), from Old English *rocc (“rock”), as in Old English stānrocc ("high stone rock, peak, obelisk"), and also later from Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French roc, roce, roque (compare Modern French roche, from Old French), from Medieval Latin rocca (attested 767), from Vulgar Latin *rocca, of uncertain origin, sometimes said to be of Celtic origin (compare Breton roch).

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