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  • roc
    roc
    noun
    a bird of enormous size and strength.
  • ROC
    ROC
    abbreviation
    Royal Observer Corps

roc

American  
[rok] / rɒk /

noun

Arabian Mythology.
  1. a bird of enormous size and strength.


ROC 1 British  

abbreviation

  1. Royal Observer Corps

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

roc 2 British  
/ rɒk /

noun

  1. (in Arabian legend) a bird of enormous size and power

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of roc

1570–80; < Arabic rukhkh, probably < Persian rukh; see rook 2

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

It depicts a conversation between two birds, one a giant roc that soars over the earth, with "the blue sky on its back," and the other a timid sparrow "scared stiff" in his bush.

From Time Magazine Archive

The name of the latest roc of transportation is Curtiss-Wright Corp.

From Time Magazine Archive

But certainly the Arabian roc, which carried off elephants for its nestlings as an eagle rapes a mouse, would shy from the monstrous thing U. S. engineers propose to build for $5,000,000.

From Time Magazine Archive

The roc replies angrily: Stop your windy nonsense!

From Time Magazine Archive

He too\ the mountain roc\ to carve into inking stones.

From "Where the Mountain Meets the Moon" by Grace Lin

Over the past decade, they have been known as OAR, then ROC and now AIN.

From The Wall Street Journal Feb. 6, 2026

How has Jay-Z’s partnership between ROC Nation and the NFL, which brought artists like Rihanna, Eminem, and The Weeknd to the halftime show, impacted its evolution—both positively and negatively?

From Salon Feb. 8, 2025

In 1991, the ROC proclaimed that the war with the People's Republic of China was over.

From BBC Oct. 14, 2024

ROC will receive bronze medals, although no athletes were in Paris to accept them because the ROC is suspended from participating in these Olympics.

From Los Angeles Times Aug. 7, 2024

Shoot, he’d be running the ROC before he was twenty-five.

From "Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray

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