rock

rock

synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples & translations of rock in English

English Online Dictionary. What means rock‎? What does rock mean?

English

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ɹɒk/
  • (General American) enPR: rŏk, IPA(key): /ɹɑk/
  • (General Australian) IPA(key): /ɹɔk/
  • Homophones: roc, rawk
  • Rhymes: -ɒk

Etymology 1

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 roque, (compare Modern French roc, roche, rocher), from Medieval Latin rocca (attested 767), of uncertain origin, sometimes said to be of Celtic (in particular, perhaps Gaulish) origin (compare Breton roc'h). Related also to Middle Low German rocke (“rock ledge”). One suggestion is that it derives from Vulgar Latin *rupica, from rupes (compare rupico).

Noun

rock (countable and uncountable, plural rocks)

  1. A formation of minerals, specifically:
    1. (uncountable) The naturally occurring aggregate of solid mineral matter that constitutes a significant part of the earth's crust.
    2. A mass of stone projecting out of the ground or water.
    3. (chiefly UK, Ireland) A boulder or large stone; or (US, Canada) a smaller stone; a pebble.
    4. (geology) Any natural material with a distinctive composition of minerals.
    5. (slang) A precious stone or gem, especially a diamond.
  2. A large hill or island having no vegetation.
  3. (figuratively) Something that is strong, stable, and dependable; a person who provides security or support to another.
    • 1991, Robert Harling and Andrew Bergman, Soapdish, Paramount Pictures,
      Celeste Talbert: She is my rock, my right hand.
  4. A lump or cube of ice.
  5. (British, uncountable) A type of confectionery made from sugar in the shape of a stick, traditionally having some text running through its length.
  6. (US, slang) A crystallized lump of crack cocaine.
    Synonyms: crack rock, candy
  7. (US, slang) An unintelligent person, especially one who repeats mistakes.
  8. (South Africa, slang, derogatory) An Afrikaner.
  9. (US poker slang) An extremely conservative player who is willing to play only the very strongest hands.
  10. Any of several fish:
    1. The striped bass.
    2. The huss or rock salmon.
      We ordered rock and chips to take away.
  11. (US, basketball, slang) A basketball.
  12. (US, baseball, slang) A mistake.
  13. (curling) Synonym of stone.
  14. (rock paper scissors) A closed hand (a handshape resembling a rock), that beats scissors and loses to paper. It beats lizard and loses to Spock in rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock.
  15. (informal, cricket) A cricket ball, especially a new one that has not been softened by use
  16. (CB radio slang) A crystal used to control the radio frequency.
Synonyms
  • (natural mineral aggregate): stone
  • (projecting mass of rock): cliff
  • (boulder or large stone): boulder, pebble, stone
  • (something strong, stable, and dependable): foundation, support
  • (precious stone or gem): gem, diamond
  • (lump of ice): ice, ice cube
  • (crystallized lump of crack cocaine): crack
  • (Afrikaner): Afrikaner
  • bedrock
Hyponyms
  • (geology): country rock, ingenious rock
Derived terms
Translations

References

Etymology 2

From Middle English rokken, from Old English roccian, from Proto-West Germanic *rokkōn, from Proto-Germanic *rukkōną, from Proto-Germanic *rukkōną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃ruknéh₂ti, from *h₃rewk-, *h₃runk-.

See also obsolete Dutch rokken, Middle High German rocken (“to drag, jerk”), Modern German rücken (“to move, shift”), Icelandic rukka (“to yank”); also Latin runcāre (“to weed”), Latvian rũķēt (“to toss, dig”).

Verb

rock (third-person singular simple present rocks, present participle rocking, simple past and past participle rocked)

  1. (transitive and intransitive) To move gently back and forth.
  2. (transitive) To cause to shake or sway violently.
  3. (intransitive) To sway or tilt violently back and forth.
  4. (transitive and intransitive, of ore etc.) To be washed and panned in a cradle or in a rocker.
  5. (transitive) To disturb the emotional equilibrium of; to distress; to greatly impact (most often positively).
  6. (intransitive) To do well or to be operating at high efficiency.
  7. (intransitive, stative) To be cool.
  8. (slang, ambitransitive, euphemistic) To make love to or have sex (with).
  9. (intransitive) To sway one's body as a stim.
Synonyms
  • (move gently back and forth): waver; see also Thesaurus:sway
  • (cause to shake violently): agitate, trouble
  • (sway violently back and forth): judder; see also Thesaurus:shake
  • (do well): cook with gas, flourish
  • (be good): rules
  • (have sex with): go to bed with, hit, sleep with; see also Thesaurus:copulate with
Derived terms
Translations

Noun

rock (plural rocks)

  1. An act of rocking; a rocking motion; a sway.
Translations

  • Etymology 3

    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 originating in the 1950s, notably more swing-oriented style.

    Noun

    rock (uncountable)

    2. (music) A style of music characterized by basic drum-beat, generally 4/4 riffs, based on (usually electric) guitar, bass guitar, drums, keyboards (often), and vocals.
    Hyponyms
    Derived terms
    Translations

    Verb

    rock (third-person singular simple present rocks, present participle rocking, simple past and past participle rocked)

    1. (intransitive) To play, perform, or enjoy rock music, especially with a lot of skill or energy.
    2. (intransitive, slang) To be very favourable or skilful; excel; be fantastic.
      Synonyms: bang, rule; see also Thesaurus:excel
      Antonyms: stink, suck
    3. (transitive) To thrill or excite, especially with rock music.
    4. (intransitive) To have people dancing and enjoying rock music.
    5. (transitive) To do something with excitement yet skillfully.
    7. (transitive) To wear (a piece of clothing, outfit etc.) successfully or with style; to carry off (a particular look, style).
      Synonym: sport
    Related terms
    • ready to rock
    • rock and roll
    Translations

    Etymology 4

    From Middle English rok, rocke, rokke, perhaps from Middle Dutch rocke (whence Dutch rokken), 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”).

    Noun

    rock (countable and uncountable, plural rocks)

    1. (countable) Distaff.
    2. (uncountable) The flax or wool on a distaff.
    Translations

    Etymology 5

    Noun

    rock (plural rocks)

    1. Archaic form of roc (mythical bird)

    Anagrams

    • Cork, Kroc, cork

    Catalan

    Etymology

    Borrowed from English rock.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈrɔk]

    Noun

    rock m (uncountable)

    1. rock, rock music

    Further reading

    • “rock”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], 2007 April
    • “rock”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
    • “rock” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.

    Czech

    Etymology

    Borrowed from English rock.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): [ˈrok]

    Noun

    rock m inan

    1. rock (style of music)

    Declension

    Derived terms

    Dutch

    Etymology

    Unadapted borrowing from English rock. Doublet of rots.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /rɔk/
    • Rhymes: -ɔk

    Noun

    rock m (uncountable)

    1. rock (style of music)

    Derived terms

    Finnish

    Etymology

    Unadapted borrowing from English rock.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ˈrok/, [ˈro̞k]
    • Rhymes: -ok
    • Syllabification(key): rock
    • Hyphenation(key): rock

    Noun

    rock

    1. rock (style of music)

    Declension

    Synonyms

    • rock-musiikki
    • rokki

    Derived terms

    Further reading

    • “rock”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎[4] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-03

    French

    Etymology

    Borrowed from English rock.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ʁɔk/

    Noun

    rock m (uncountable)

    1. rock (style of music)

    Derived terms

    • (n.) rockeur m / rockeuse f
    • (v.) rocker

    Further reading

    • “rock”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

    Hungarian

    Etymology

    From English rock.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): [ˈrokː]
    • Hyphenation: rock

    Noun

    rock (plural rockok)

    1. (music) rock (style of music)
      Synonym: rockzene

    Declension

    Derived terms

    • rockos

    Related terms

    Italian

    Etymology

    Unadapted borrowing from English rock.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ˈrɔk/
    • Rhymes: -ɔk
    • Hyphenation: ròck

    Noun

    rock m (uncountable)

    1. rock (style of music)

    Further reading

    • rock in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

    Polish

    Etymology

    Unadapted borrowing from English rock.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ˈrɔk/
    • Rhymes: -ɔk
    • Syllabification: rock
    • Homophones: rok, Rok

    Noun

    rock m inan

    1. rock (style of music)

    Declension

    Derived terms

    Related terms

    Further reading

    • rock in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
    • rock in Polish dictionaries at PWN

    Portuguese

    Alternative forms

    • roque

    Etymology

    Unadapted borrowing from English rock.

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    rock m (uncountable)

    1. rock (style of music)
      Synonym: rock and roll

    Derived terms

    Romanian

    Etymology

    Unadapted borrowing from English rock.

    Noun

    rock n (plural rockuri)

    1. rock

    Declension

    Spanish

    Etymology

    Unadapted borrowing from English rock.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ˈrok/ [ˈrok]
    • Rhymes: -ok
    • Syllabification: rock

    Noun

    rock m (plural rocks)

    1. rock (music style)

    Usage notes

    According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

    Derived terms

    • roquero m, roquera f
    • rockero m, rockera f
    • rockear
    • rockódromo m
    • rock pesado

    Related terms

    Further reading

    • “rock”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

    Swedish

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /¹rɔk/, [¹rɔkː]
    • Rhymes: -ɔk

    Etymology 1

    From Old Swedish rokker, from Middle Low German rock, from Old Saxon rok, from Proto-West Germanic *(h)rokk, from Proto-Germanic *rukkaz.

    Noun

    rock c

    1. a coat, an overcoat
    Declension
    Synonyms
    • kappa
    • päls
    • trenchcoat
    • ulster
    Related terms

    Etymology 2

    Borrowed from English rock.

    Noun

    rock c (uncountable)

    1. (music, uncountable) rock, rock and roll
    Declension
    Derived terms
    • könsrock
    • punkrock
    • rockband
    • rockmusik
    • rockring
    See also
    • rock'n'roll

    References

    • rock in Svensk ordbok (SO)
    • rock in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
    • rock in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
    • rock in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)

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    Related Words

    rocky

    rocks

    rocket

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    This article based on an article on Wiktionary. The list of authors can be seen in the page history there. The original work has been modified. This article is distributed under the terms of this license.