rod
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɹɒd/
ipa: /ɹɑd/
rhymes: -ɒd
Forms: form: rods
Etymology: From Middle English rodde, from Old English *rodd or *rodde (attested in dative plural roddum (“rod, pole”)), of uncertain origin, but probably from Proto-Germanic *rudd- (“stick, club”), from Proto-Indo-European *rewdʰ- (“to clear land”). Compare Old Norse rudda (“club”). For the root, compare English rid. Presumably unrelated to Proto-Germanic *rōdō (“rod, pole”).
Senses: examples: text: The circus strong man proved his strength by bending an iron rod, and then straightening it.
text: Which makes the concept known as Rods From God the ultimate form of kinetic weaponry. This theoretical weapon would drop telephone pole sized rods of dense tungsten from a satellite in orbit.
Picking up speed with each passing second, the rod would then penetrate the ground and generate an explosion akin to a small nuclear weapon using nothing but gravity for its propulsion.
ref: 2025 May 12, Jeff Edwards, “Rods from God: Unleashing Orbital Kinetic Bombardment as a Theoretical Defense System”, in Mira Safety:
glosses: A straight, round stick, shaft, bar, cane, or staff.
glosses: A longitudinal pole used for forming part of a framework such as an awning or tent.
examples: text: When I hooked a snake and not a fish, I got so scared I dropped my rod in the water.
topics: fishing
hobbies
lifestyle
glosses: A long slender usually tapering pole used for angling; fishing rod.
examples: text: So was I brought up: they tell mee, that in all my youth, I never felt rod [translating verges] but twice, and that very lightly.
ref: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 8, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
glosses: A stick, pole, or bundle of switches or twigs (such as a birch), used for personal defense or to administer corporal punishment by whipping.
examples: text: The judge imposed on the thief a sentence of fifteen strokes with the rod.
glosses: An implement resembling and/or supplanting a rod (particularly a cane) that is used for corporal punishment, and metonymically called the rod, regardless of its actual shape and composition.
examples: text: I notched a rod and used it to measure the length of rope to cut.
glosses: A stick used to measure distance, by using its established length or task-specific temporary marks along its length, or by dint of specific graduated marks.
examples: text: ‘And this thicket, so full of a natural art, was in the immediate vicinity, within a few rods, of the dwelling of Madame Deluc, whose boys were in the habit of closely examining the shrubberies about them in search of the bark of the sassafras.’
ref: 1842, Edgar Allan Poe, The Mystery of Marie Rogêt:
text: In one of the villages I saw the next summer a cow tethered by a rope six rods long[…].
ref: 1865, Henry David Thoreau, Cape Cod:
text: A few rods farther led him past the old black Presbyterian church, with its square tower, embowered in a stately grove; past the Catholic church, with its many crosses, and a painted wooden figure of St. James in a recess beneath the gable; and past the old Jefferson House, once the leading hotel of the town, in front of which political meetings had been held, and political speeches made, and political hard cider drunk, in the days of "Tippecanoe and Tyler too."
ref: 1900, Charles W[addell] Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC:
text: the valley is forty to sixty rods wide
ref: 1924, Edward A. Ross, “Pocketed Americans”, in World Drift, New York; London: The Century Co., published 1928, page 68:
glosses: A unit of length equal to 1 pole, a perch, ¹⁄₄ chain, 5+¹⁄₂ yards, 16+¹⁄₂ feet, or exactly 5.0292 meters (these being all equivalent).
glosses: An implement held vertically and viewed through an optical surveying instrument such as a transit, used to measure distance in land surveying and construction layout; an engineer's rod, surveyor's rod, surveying rod, leveling rod, ranging rod. The modern (US) engineer's or surveyor's rod commonly is eight or ten feet long and often designed to extend higher. In former times a surveyor's rod often was a single wooden pole or composed of multiple sectioned and socketed pieces, and besides serving as a sighting target was used to measure distance on the ground horizontally, hence for convenience was of one rod or pole in length, that is, 5+¹⁄₂ yards.
examples: text: The house had a small yard of about six rods in size.
glosses: A unit of area equal to a square rod, 30+¹⁄₄ square yards or ¹⁄₁₆₀ acre.
examples: text: The engine threw a rod, and then went to pieces before our eyes, springs and coils shooting in all directions.
glosses: A straight bar that unites moving parts of a machine, for holding parts together as a connecting rod or for transferring power as a driveshaft.
examples: text: The rods are more sensitive than the cones, but do not discern color.
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
glosses: A rod cell: a rod-shaped cell in the eye that is sensitive to light.
examples: text: He applied a gram positive stain, looking for rods indicative of Listeria.
topics: biology
natural-sciences
glosses: Any of a number of long, slender microorganisms.
topics: chemistry
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: A stirring rod: a glass rod, typically about 6 inches to 1 foot long and ¹⁄₈ to ¹⁄₄ inch in diameter that can be used to stir liquids in flasks or beakers.
examples: text: One of them strode to his side and ran experienced fingers through his clothes. "No rod," he reported, "where's the jewelry?"
ref: 1916 August 23, The Electrical Experimenter, New York, page 249, column 1:
glosses: A pistol; a gun.
examples: text: [I'm gonna][…]throw some vaseline right in the crack a your ass, then I'm gonna shove my rod in your open hole and try to pacify your ornery soul.
ref: 2004, Bruce Jackson, Get Your Ass in the Water and Swim Like Me:
glosses: The penis.
glosses: A hot rod, an automobile or other passenger motor vehicle modified to run faster and often with exterior cosmetic alterations, especially one based originally on a pre-1940s model or (currently) denoting any older vehicle thus modified.
examples: text: These cylindrical rods fly through the air at incredible speeds and can only be picked up by high-speed cameras.
ref: 2000, Jack Barranger, Paul Tice, Mysteries Explored: The Search for Human Origins, Ufos, and Religious Beginnings, Book Three, p.37:
text: During one such broadcast in 1997, the esteemed radio host bellowed, “I got a fax earlier today from MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) in Arizona and they said what you think are rods are actually insects!”
ref: 2009, Barry Conrad, An Unknown Encounter: A True Account of the San Pedro Haunting, Dorrance Publishing, pages 129–130:
text: He tells of a home video showing a rod flying into the open mouth of a girl singing at a wedding.
ref: 2010, Deena West Budd, The Weiser Field Guide to Cryptozoology: Werewolves, Dragons, Skyfish, Lizard Men, and Other Fascinating Creatures Real and Mysterious, Weiser Books, page 15:
topics: human-sciences
mysticism
mythology
philosophy
sciences
ufology
synonyms: skyfish
glosses: A rod-shaped object that appears in photographs or videos traveling at high speed, not seen by the person recording the event, often associated with extraterrestrial entities.
topics: mathematics
sciences
glosses: A Cuisenaire rod.
examples: text: In the early days troubles were experienced with oscillation from the rod drive and with the transformers, but were overcome later, and these machines performed useful service until superseded by more modern locomotives less costly in maintenance.
ref: 1960 December, Cecil J. Allen, “Operating a mountain main line: the Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, page 743:
topics: rail-transport
railways
transport
glosses: A coupling rod or connecting rod, which links the driving wheels of a steam locomotive, and some diesel shunters and early electric locomotives.
topics: business
construction
manufacturing
plumbing
glosses: A drain rod, being a set of segmented rods with interlocking connectors designed to remain attached even under rotation in use.
Derived terms: Aaron's rod
anglerod
Auer rod
axlerod
boning rod
carpet rod
cleaning rod
connecting rod
con rod
conrod
control rod
counting rod
coupling rod
Cuisenaire rod
curtain rod
dicker-rod
divining rod
dowsing rod
drawrod
ferrod
fit rod
flatrod
flying rod
fly-rod
flyrod
fly rod
forty-rod
fuckrod
fuel rod
goldenrod
green rod
hot rod
interrod
kiss the rod
Lenker rod
lightning rod
wiki.openstreetmap.org
wiki
Lightning_conductor Lightning conductor
rod in OSM]
limerod
measuring rod
meat rod
microrod
Mosaical rod
myorod
nail rod
nanorod
picture rod
piston rod
plug rod
polyrod
pushrod
put a rod in pickle
radius rod
ramrod
range rod
rat rod
Rhineland rod
riding-rod
rodbuster
rodder
roddy
rodfisher
rodfishing
rod for one's back
rod for one's breech
rod for one's own back
rod for one's own breech
rod-headed
rod in pickle
rodless
rodlet
rodlike
rod line
rod machine
rodman
rodmeter
rod numeral
rod of Asclepius
rod-on
rod pod
rod ring
rodshaped
rod-shaped
rodsman
rodster
rodwork
rule with a rod of iron
shepherd's rod
siderod
skirod
sounding rod
spare the rod and spoil the child
spare the rod, spoil the child
spinning rod
stair rod
tension rod
thunder rod
tie rod
trolling-rod
truss rod
Wheatstone's rod
Related terms: crook