rocket

[rok-it]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR rocket ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

any of various simple or complex tubelike devices containing combustibles that on being ignited liberate gases whose action propels the tube through the air: used for pyrotechnic effect, signaling, carrying a lifeline, hurling explosives at an enemy, putting a space vehicle into orbit, etc.

a space capsule or vehicle put into orbit by such devices.

rocket engine.

verb (used with object)

to move or transport by means of a rocket.

to attack with rockets.

verb (used without object)

to move like a rocket.

(of game birds) to fly straight up rapidly when flushed.

Origin of rocket

1605–15; < Italian rocchetta, diminutive of rocca distaff (with reference to its shape) < Gothic *rukka

Related formsrock·et·like, adjective

rocket

[rok-it]

noun

any of various plants belonging to the genus Hesperis, of the mustard family, and related genera.Compare dame's rocket.

Also called rocket salad, roquette. the arugula plant, used in salads.

a noxious weed, Barbarea vulgaris, of the U.S., having lobed leaves and clusters of small, yellow flowers.

Origin of rocket

1520–30; < French roquette < Italian ruchetta ≪ Latin ērūca kind of herb

Richard

[ri-shahrd; French ree-shar]

noun

Mau·rice [maw-rees; French moh-rees] /mɔˈris; French moʊˈris/, Rocket, 1921–2000, Canadian hockey player.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for rocket

weapon, missile, spacecraft, booster, firework, torpedo, spaceship, sail, escalate, rise, ascend, zoom, lift, skyrocket, climb, grow, soar, ICBM, tower

Examples from the Web for rocket

Contemporary Examples of rocket

The questions going through my mind are: How on earth are there Kalashnikovs and rocket launchers in the heart of Paris?
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Our Duty Is to Keep Charlie Hebdo Alive
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
January 8, 2015
These people that work for the BOP are not rocket scientists.
How a ‘Real Housewife’ Survives Prison: ‘I Don’t See [Teresa Giudice] Having a Cakewalk Here’
Michael Howard
January 6, 2015
Her brothers formed a group to rescue people after a rocket attack.
Drawing on the Memories of Syrian Women
Masha Hamilton
November 26, 2014
It is adopting technology—in rocket propulsion, composite construction, and aerodynamic refinements—already in use elsewhere.
Can Anyone Make Space Safe for Civilians?
Clive Irving
November 4, 2014
That would require the rocket to run for 55 to 60 seconds without a glitch.
Can Anyone Make Space Safe for Civilians?
Clive Irving
November 4, 2014

Historical Examples of rocket

Think of our world as it looks from the rocket that is heading toward Mars.
United States Presidents' Inaugural Speeches
Various
Suppose we could put a rocket on the Moon and bring it back?
The Big Tomorrow
Paul Lohrman
That must be it—I was piloting a rocket and cracked up somewhere on Mars.
Flamedown
Horace Brown Fyfe
And he must take her in, now that he had lost his own rocket!
Salvage in Space
John Stewart Williamson
It had, then, last been used to enter the rocket, not to leave it.
Salvage in Space
John Stewart Williamson

British Dictionary definitions for rocket

rocket

noun

a self-propelling device, esp a cylinder containing a mixture of solid explosives, used as a firework, distress signal, line carrier, etc

any vehicle propelled by a rocket engine, esp one used to carry a warhead, spacecraft, etc
(as modifier)rocket propulsion; rocket launcher

British and NZ informal a severe reprimand (esp in the phrase get a rocket)

verb -ets, -eting or -eted

(tr) to propel (a missile, spacecraft, etc) by means of a rocket

(intr ; foll by off, away , etc) to move off at high speed

(intr) to rise rapidlyhe rocketed to the top

Word Origin for rocket

C17: from Old French roquette, from Italian rochetto a little distaff, from rocca distaff, of Germanic origin

rocket

noun

Also called: arugula a Mediterranean plant, Eruca sativa, having yellowish-white flowers and leaves used as a salad: family Brassicaceae (crucifers)

any of several plants of the related genus Sisymbrium, esp S. irio (London rocket), which grow on waste ground and have pale yellow flowers

yellow rocket any of several yellow-flowered plants of the related genus Barbarea, esp B. vulgaris

sea rocket any of several plants of the related genus Cakile, esp C. maritima, which grow along the seashores of Europe and North America and have mauve, pink, or white flowers

dame's rocket another name for dame's violet

Word Origin for rocket

C16: from French roquette, from Italian rochetta, from Latin ērūca a caterpillar, hairy plant

Richard

noun

Sir Cliff, real name Harry Rodger Webb . born 1940, British pop singer. Film musicals include The Young Ones (1961) and Summer Holiday (1962)

Maurice, known as Rocket . (1921–2000); Canadian ice hockey player

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

Word Origin and History for rocket

n.1

garden plant of the cabbage family, c.1500, from Middle French roquette (16c.), from Italian rochetta, diminutive of ruca "a kind of cabbage," from Latin eruca "colewort," perhaps so called for its downy stems and related to ericus "hedgehog," also "a beam set with spikes," from PIE *ghers- "to bristle" (see horror).

n.2

type of self-propelling projectile, 1610s, from Italian rocchetto "a rocket," literally "a bobbin," diminutive of rocca "a distaff," so called because of cylindrical shape. The Italian word probably is from a Germanic source (cf. Old High German rocko "distaff," Old Norse rokkr), from Proto-Germanic *rukkon-, from PIE root *rug- "fabric, spun yarn."

Originally "fireworks rocket," meaning "device propelled by a rocket engine" first recorded 1919; rocket-ship in the modern sense first attested February 1927 ("Popular Science"); earlier as a type of naval warship firing projectiles. Rocket science in the figurative sense of "difficult, complex process or topic" is attested by 1985. Rocket scientist is from 1952.

That such a feat is considered within the range of possibility is evidenced by the activities of scientists in Europe as well as in America. Two of them, Prof. Herman Oberth and Dr. Franz Hoeff, of Vienna, are constructing a five-ton rocket ship in which they hope to reach the moon in two days. ["Popular Science," Feb. 1927]

"to spring like a rocket," 1860, from rocket (n.2). Earlier "to attack with rockets" (1799). Related: Rocketed; rocketing.

Richard

masc. proper name, Middle English Rycharde, from Old French Richard, from Old High German Ricohard "strong in rule," from Proto-Germanic *rik- "ruler" (see rich) + *harthu "hard," from PIE *kar-o- (see hard). "One of the most popular names introduced by the Normans. Usually Latinized as Ricardus, the common form was Ricard, whence the pet form Rick, etc." ["Dictionary of English Surnames"]

rocket in Science

rocket

[rŏk′ĭt]

A vehicle or device propelled by one or more rocket engines, especially such a vehicle designed to travel through space.