rocket

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

English

Pronunciation

• (UK)
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɒk.ɪt/
• (US)
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɑk.ɪt/
• • (weak vowel merger) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɑ.kət/
• Rhymes: -ɒkɪt

Etymology 1

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”).

Noun

rocket (plural rockets)

1. A projectile.
   1. 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. [from 16th c.]
   2. A blunt lance head used in jousting.
   3. A long vehicle or craft propelled by a rocket engine; a missile or rocket-propelled spacecraft. [from 20th c.]
   4. An engine operating similarly to the pyrotechnic, generating thrust by the expulsion of hot gases; a rocket engine. [from 20th c.]
2. (figurative) Figurative uses.
   1. Something that travels high in the air and/or with great speed; especially (sport), a hard shot. [from 20th c.]
   2. (UK slang, originally military) A severe reprimand; a telling-off. [from 20th c.]
   3. (slang) An ace (the playing card).
   4. (Scotland, slang) A stupid or crazy person.
   5. (South East England, slang) A very physically attractive woman.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• ICBM

References

• Watkins, Calvert (2000). The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots 2nd edn., p. 72, s.v. ruk-. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, →ISBN.
• Weisenberg, Michael (2000). The Official Dictionary of Poker. MGI/Mike Caro University. →ISBN.
• “rocket”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

Verb

rocket (third-person singular simple present rockets, present participle rocketing, simple past and past participle rocketed)

1. (ambitransitive) To accelerate swiftly and powerfully.
2. To fly vertically.
3. To rise or soar rapidly.
4. To experience sudden fame, popularity, or success.

5. To carry something in a rocket.
6. To attack something with rockets.

Translations

Etymology 2

Borrowed from French roquette, from Italian ruchetta, diminutive of ruca, from Latin eruca. Cognate to arugula, rucola, eruca, roquette.

Noun

rocket (uncountable)

2. A leaf vegetable of species Eruca sativa or Eruca vesicaria.

   Synonyms: arugula (especially US), rocket salad, eruca

4. Rocket larkspur (Consolida regalis, syn. Delphinium consolida).

Derived terms

Translations

French

Pronunciation

Noun

rocket m (plural rockets)

1. rocket (weapon)

Further reading

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