rocket
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɹɒk.ɪt/
ipa: /ˈɹɑk.ɪt/
note: weak vowel merger
ipa: /ˈɹɑ.kət/
rhymes: -ɒkɪt
Forms: form: rockets
Etymology: From Italian rocchetta, from Old Italian rocchetto (“rocket”, literally “a bobbin”), diminutive of rocca (“a distaff”), from Lombardic rocko (“spinning wheel”), from Proto-West Germanic *rokkō, from Proto-Germanic *rukkô (“a distaff, a staff with flax fibres tied loosely to it, used in spinning thread”). Cognate with Old High German rocco, rocko, roccho, rocho ("a distaff"; > German Rocken (“a distaff”)), Swedish rock (“a distaff”), Icelandic rokkur (“a distaff”), Middle English rocke (“a distaff”). More at rock⁴.
For the meaning development, compare fuselage, ultimately from Latin fūsus (“spindle, spinning wheel”).
Senses: glosses: A projectile.
A cylindrical projectile that can be fired to a great height through combustion, (specifically) a type of firework of this form, typically exploding with light and colour; a skyrocket.
glosses: A projectile.
A blunt lance head used in jousting.
glosses: A projectile.
A long vehicle or craft propelled by a rocket engine; a missile or rocket-propelled spacecraft.
glosses: A projectile.
An engine operating similarly to the pyrotechnic, generating thrust by the expulsion of hot gases; a rocket engine.
examples: text: Fernandinho launched a rocket that flew just over. Gundogan's shot hit off Sviatchenko and Gordon and went out. City pressed and pressed.
ref: 2016 September 28, Tom English, “Celtic 3–3 Manchester City”, in BBC Sport, BBC Sport:
glosses: Figurative uses.
Something that travels high in the air and/or with great speed; especially (sport), a hard shot.
examples: text: The Burmese nurse who'd gone with her was crying, for which she'd no doubt get a rocket from matron.
ref: 1973, Elizabeth Mavor, A Green Equinox, Virago, published 2023, page 93:
text: While Solborg and Lemaigre were dreaming of revolts, Donovan had learned of Solborg’s insubordination and meddling. He sent him a “rocket” ordering him out of North Africa and back to Lisbon at once.
ref: 1980, David Schoenbrun, Soldiers of the Night: The Story of the French Resistance, Dutton, →ISBN, page 203:
glosses: Figurative uses.
A severe reprimand; a telling-off.
glosses: Figurative uses.
An ace (the playing card).
examples: text: Why were the Luddites named efter Ned Ludd? A wee rocket. A wee fucken fairy bampot. A pure hooligan, smashing stuff up. A ned. Ned Ludd.
ref: 2014, Alistair Beaton, Rob Drummond, Morna Pearson, Contemporary Scottish Plays:
glosses: Figurative uses.
A stupid or crazy person.
glosses: Figurative uses.
A very physically attractive woman.
Derived terms: antimatter rocket
booster rocket
bottle rocket
chemical rocket
Congreve rocket
corn rocket
crotch rocket
fission rocket
fusion rocket
ghost rocket
hash rocket
hybrid rocket
life rocket
liquid rocket
moon rocket
multiple rocket launcher
nuclear-electric rocket
nuclear-pulse rocket
nuclear rocket
nuclear-thermal rocket
nuclear-thermoelectric rocket
off one's rocket
pion rocket
pocket rocket
polish one's rocket
red rocket
retrorocket
rice rocket
rockaire
rockair
rocket aircraft
rocket artillery
rocket belt
rocket booster
rocket car
rocket docket
rocketeer
rocket equation
rocket festival
rocket garden
rocket jump
rocket launcher
rocket motor
rocket-pack
rocket pack
rocket plane
rocket-plane
rocketplane
rocket pod
rocket propellant 1
rocket propelled grenade
rocket-propelled grenade
rocketry
rocket science
rocket scientist
rocket ship
rocket-ship
rocketship
rocket sled
rocket-sled
rocketsled
rocket sonde
rocket-sonde
rocketsonde
rocket stage
rocket surgeon
rocket surgery
rocket up
rockoon
sea rocket
skyrocket
sky-rocket
sky rocket
snot rocket
solid rocket
sounding rocket
space rocket
step rocket
stomp rocket
thermal rocket
wall-rocket
wall rocket
water rocket
yellow rocket
Related terms: ICBM