English Explanatory Dictionary

rocket

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A projectile.
  2. 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.
  3. A blunt lance head used in jousting.
  4. A long vehicle or craft propelled by a rocket engine; a missile or rocket-propelled spacecraft.
  5. An engine operating similarly to the pyrotechnic, generating thrust by the expulsion of hot gases; a rocket engine.
  6. Figurative uses.
  7. Something that travels high in the air or with great speed; especially (sport), a hard shot.
  8. A severe reprimand; a telling-off.
  9. An ace (the playing card).
  10. A stupid or crazy person.
  11. A very physically attractive woman.
verb
  1. 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.
noun
  1. A leaf vegetable of species Eruca sativa or Eruca vesicaria.
  2. Any plant of the genus Eruca.
  3. Rocket larkspur (Consolida regalis, syn. Delphinium consolida).

Pronunciation

/ˈɹɒk.ɪt/ /ˈɹɑk.ɪt/ en-us-rocket.ogg /ˈɹɑ.kət/

Word forms

rocket rockets rocketing rocketed

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”).

Synonyms

arugula rocket salad eruca

Related words

ICBM

Derived words

antimatter rocket antirocket 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 rocketborne rocket car rocket docket rocketeer rocket equation rocketer rocket festival rocket garden rocket jellyfish rocket jump rocket launcher rocketless rocketlike rocketman rocket motor rocket-pack rocket pack rocket plane rocket-plane rocketplane rocket pod rocket propellant 1 rocket propelled grenade rocket-propelled grenade rocketpunk
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