rocket
UK /ˈɹɒk.ɪt/ · US /ˈɹɑk.ɪt/ noun, verb
Forms rockets rocketing rocketed
- noun 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.
- noun A blunt lance head used in jousting.
- noun A long vehicle or craft propelled by a rocket engine; a missile or rocket-propelled spacecraft.
- noun An engine operating similarly to the pyrotechnic, generating thrust by the expulsion of hot gases; a rocket engine.
- noun Something that travels high in the air or with great speed; especially (sport), a hard shot.
- noun (UK slang, originally military) A severe reprimand; a telling-off.
- noun (slang) An ace (the playing card).
- noun (Scotland, slang) A stupid or crazy person.
- verb (ambitransitive) To accelerate swiftly and powerfully.
- verb To fly vertically.
- verb To rise or soar rapidly.
- verb To experience sudden fame, popularity, or success. “After spending years in obscurity, the band finally rocketed last week.”
- verb To carry something in a rocket.
- verb To attack something with rockets.
- noun (uncountable) A leaf vegetable of species Eruca sativa or Eruca vesicaria.
- noun (countable) Any plant of the genus Eruca.
- noun Rocket larkspur (Consolida regalis, syn. Delphinium consolida).
Synonyms
skyrocket arugula rocket salad eruca projectile rocket engine roquette garden rocket Eruca sativa Eruca vesicaria sativa
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”).
Borrowed from French roquette, from Italian ruchetta, diminutive of ruca, from Latin eruca. Cognate to arugula, rucola, eruca, roquette.
Webster’s 1913
- noun An artificial firework consisting of a cylindrical case of paper or metal filled with a composition of combustible ingredients, as niter, charcoal, and sulphur, and fastened to a guiding stick. The rocket is projected through the air by the force arising from the expansion of the gases liberated by combustion of the composition.
- noun A blunt lance head used in the joust. Congreve rocket, a powerful form of rocket for use in war, invented by Sir William Congreve. It may be used either in the field or for bombardment; in the former case, it is armed with shells or case shot; in the latter, with a combustible material inclosed in a metallic case, which is inextinguishable when kindled, and scatters its fire on every side.
- verb To rise straight up; said of birds; usually in the present participle or as an adjective. [Eng.]
Etymology [F. roquette (cf. Sp. ruqueta, It ruchetta), fr. L. eruca.]
Etymology [It. rocchetta, fr. rocca a distaff, of German origin. Named from the resemblance in shape to a distaff. See Rock a distaff.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “rocket”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details