ROCK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Rock mean? 

• ROCK (noun)
  The noun ROCK has 7 senses:

1. a lump or mass of hard consolidated mineral matter

2. material consisting of the aggregate of minerals like those making up the Earth's crust

3. United States gynecologist and devout Catholic who conducted the first clinical trials of the oral contraceptive pill (1890-1984)

4. (figurative) someone who is strong and stable and dependable

5. hard bright-colored stick candy (typically flavored with peppermint)

6. a genre of popular music originating in the 1950s; a blend of black rhythm-and-blues with white country-and-western

7. pitching dangerously to one side

  Familiarity information: ROCK used as a noun is common.

• ROCK (verb)
  The verb ROCK has 2 senses:

1. move back and forth or sideways

2. cause to move back and forth

  Familiarity information: ROCK used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ROCK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A lump or mass of hard consolidated mineral matter

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

rock; stone

Context example:

he threw a rock at me

Hypernyms ("rock" is a kind of...):

natural object (an object occurring naturally; not made by man)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "rock"):

stepping stone (a stone in a marsh or shallow water that can be stepped on in crossing)

xenolith ((geology) a piece of rock of different origin from the igneous rock in which it is embedded)

whin; whinstone (any of various hard colored rocks (especially rocks consisting of chert or basalt))

wall rock (a rock immediately adjacent to a vein or fault)

tor (a prominent rock or pile of rocks on a hill)

sill ((geology) a flat (usually horizontal) mass of igneous rock between two layers of older sedimentary rock)

petrifaction (a rock created by petrifaction; an organic object infiltrated with mineral matter and preserved in its original form)

pebble (a small smooth rounded rock)

intrusion (rock produced by an intrusive process)

crystal; crystallization (a rock formed by the solidification of a substance; has regularly repeating internal structure; external plane faces)

clastic rock ((geology) a rock composed of broken pieces of older rocks)

outcrop; outcropping; rock outcrop (the part of a rock formation that appears above the surface of the surrounding land)

chondrite (a rock of meteoric origin containing chondrules)

calculus; concretion (a hard lump produced by the concretion of mineral salts; found in hollow organs or ducts of the body)

boulder; bowlder (a large smooth mass of rock detached from its place of origin)

bedrock (solid unweathered rock lying beneath surface deposits of soil)

achondrite (a stony meteor lacking chondrules)

Derivation:

rocky (abounding in rocks or stones)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Material consisting of the aggregate of minerals like those making up the Earth's crust

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

rock; stone

Context example:

stone is abundant in New England and there are many quarries

Hypernyms ("rock" is a kind of...):

material; stuff (the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object)

Meronyms (substance of "rock"):

mineral (solid homogeneous inorganic substances occurring in nature having a definite chemical composition)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "rock"):

dolomite (a kind of sedimentary rock resembling marble or limestone but rich in magnesium carbonate)

emery rock; emery stone (a mixture of emery dust and a binder; can be molded into grindstones)

conglomerate; pudding stone (a composite rock made up of particles of varying size)

fieldstone (stone that occurs naturally in fields; often used as building material)

greisen (a granitic rock composed of quartz and mica)

calc-tufa; tufa (a soft porous rock consisting of calcium carbonate deposited from springs rich in lime)

magma (molten rock in the earth's crust)

igneous rock (rock formed by the solidification of molten magma)

limestone (a sedimentary rock consisting mainly of calcium that was deposited by the remains of marine animals)

marble (a hard crystalline metamorphic rock that takes a high polish; used for sculpture and as building material)

matrix ((geology) a mass of fine-grained rock in which fossils, crystals, or gems are embedded)

sial (the granitelike rocks that form the outermost layer of the earth's crust; rich in silicon and aluminum)

claystone (fine-grained rock consisting of compacted clay particles)

aphanite (fine-grained homogeneous rock (such as basalt) containing minerals undetectable by the naked eye)

pumice; pumice stone (a light glass formed on the surface of some lavas; used as an abrasive)

shingling ((geology) sediment in which flat pebbles are uniformly tilted in the same direction)

caliche (nitrate-bearing rock or gravel of the sodium nitrate deposits of Chile and Peru)

crushed rock; gravel (rock fragments and pebbles)

metamorphic rock (rock altered by pressure and heat)

sima (rock that form the continuous lower layer of the earth's crust; rich in silicon and magnesium)

sedimentary rock (rock formed from consolidated clay sediments)

road metal (broken rock used for repairing or making roads)

quartzite (hard metamorphic rock consisting essentially of interlocking quartz crystals)

Sense 3

Meaning:

United States gynecologist and devout Catholic who conducted the first clinical trials of the oral contraceptive pill (1890-1984)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

John Rock; Rock

Instance hypernyms:

gynaecologist; gynecologist; woman's doctor (a specialist in gynecology)

Sense 4

Meaning:

(figurative) someone who is strong and stable and dependable

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Context example:

Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church

Hypernyms ("rock" is a kind of...):

good person (a person who is good to other people)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Hard bright-colored stick candy (typically flavored with peppermint)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Synonyms:

rock; rock candy

Hypernyms ("rock" is a kind of...):

candy; confect (a rich sweet made of flavored sugar and often combined with fruit or nuts)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A genre of popular music originating in the 1950s; a blend of black rhythm-and-blues with white country-and-western

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

rock; rock'n'roll; rock-and-roll; rock 'n' roll; rock and roll; rock music

Context example:

rock is a generic term for the range of styles that evolved out of rock'n'roll.

Hypernyms ("rock" is a kind of...):

popular music; popular music genre (any genre of music having wide appeal (but usually only for a short time))

Meronyms (parts of "rock"):

backbeat (a loud steady beat)

Domain member category:

backbeat (a loud steady beat)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "rock"):

art rock; progressive rock (a style of rock music that emerged in the 1970s; associated with attempts to combine rock with jazz and other forms; intended for listening and not dancing)

acid rock; psychedelic rock (a musical style that emerged in the 1960s; rock music inspired by or related to drug-induced experience)

punk; punk rock (rock music with deliberately offensive lyrics expressing anger and social alienation; in part a reaction against progressive rock)

heavy metal; heavy metal music (loud and harsh sounding rock music with a strong beat; lyrics usually involve violent or fantastic imagery)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Pitching dangerously to one side

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

careen; rock; sway; tilt

Hypernyms ("rock" is a kind of...):

lurch; pitch; pitching (abrupt up-and-down motion (as caused by a ship or other conveyance))

Derivation:

rock (move back and forth or sideways)

rock (cause to move back and forth)

rocky (causing or characterized by jolts and irregular movements)

• ROCK (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they rock    ... he / she / it rocks   
Past simple: rocked   
Past participle: rocked   
-ing form: rocking   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Move back and forth or sideways

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

rock; shake; sway

Context example:

She rocked back and forth on her feet

Hypernyms (to "rock" is one way to...):

move back and forth (move in one direction and then into the opposite direction)

Verb group:

rock; sway (cause to move back and forth)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "rock"):

roll (move, rock, or sway from side to side)

nutate (rock, sway, or nod; usually involuntarily)

swag (sway heavily or unsteadily)

totter (move without being stable, as if threatening to fall)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

rock (pitching dangerously to one side)

rocker (a chair mounted on rockers)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cause to move back and forth

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

rock; sway

Context example:

the wind swayed the trees gently

Hypernyms (to "rock" is one way to...):

displace; move (cause to move or shift into a new position or place, both in a concrete and in an abstract sense)

Verb group:

rock; shake; sway (move back and forth or sideways)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

rock (pitching dangerously to one side)

rocker (a curved support that permits the supported object to rock to and fro)

rocker (an attendant who rocks a child in a cradle)

 Context examples 

Zilla, on the other hand, rocked more rapidly, and for the first time, in sharp little yelps, voiced her pain.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

“We should be on the rocks first.”

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

At the same moment Dr. Van Helsing and I rose behind the rock and pointed our weapons at them.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Events of later date have floated from me to the shore where all forgotten things will reappear, but this stands like a high rock in the ocean.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

And with every rock he struck, he yelped.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Then he struck a rock, bounded off, and splashed into the water.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

What are young men to rocks and mountains?

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

It was a place fitted for such a work, being hardly more than a rock whose high sides were continually beaten upon by the waves.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

It is a powder that can be made into a pill or a shiny rock (called a crystal).

(Methamphetamine, NIH: National Institute on Drug Abuse)

I keep her under the white rock.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)