rocker
nounUK /ˈɹɒk.ə(ɹ)/ · US /ˈɹɑ.kɚ/
Etymology From Middle English rokker, rockere, rokkere, equivalent to rock + -er.
17 senses
- 1A curved piece of wood attached to the bottom of a…
- 2A rocking chair.
- 3The lengthwise curvature of a surfboard. (More rocker is…
- 4The breve below as in ḫ.
- 5Someone passionate about rock music.
- 6A musician who plays rock music.
- 7A rock music song.
- 8One who rocks something.
- 9A member of a British subculture of the 1960s, opposed…
- 10Any implement or machine working with a rocking motion…
- 11A tool with small teeth that roughens a metal plate to…
- 12A rocking horse.
- 13A rocker board.
- 14A skate with a curved blade, somewhat resembling in…
- 15A kind of electrical switch with a spring-loaded actuator.
- 16A rock shaft.
- 17A curved line accompanying the chevrons that denote…
A curved piece of wood attached to the bottom of a rocking chair or cradle that enables it to rock back and forth.
- The cradle-rockers had done hard duty for so many years, under the weight of so many children, on that flagstone floor, that they were worn nearly flat, in consequence of which a huge jerk accompanied each swing of the cot, flinging the baby from side to side like a weaver's shuttle, as Mrs Durbeyfield, excited by her song, trod the rocker with all the spring that was left in her after a long day's seething in the suds.1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, volume 1, London: James R. Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., page 30:
- "By Jove, old boy," said Cripps, assisting the curate up, "should have warned you about that chair - the infernal rockers are sawn off short, you know."1913, Norman Lindsay, A Curate in Bohemia, Sydney: N.S.W. Bookstall Co., published 1932, page 14:
A rocking chair.
- A few days before he turned 80 He was sittin' out back in a rocker2021, “Buy Dirt”, in Buy Dirt, performed by Jordan Davis:
Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports, Surfing The lengthwise curvature of a surfboard. (More rocker is a more curved board.)
- All modern surfboards share a similar rocker design — Bruce Jones https://web.archive.org/web/20051212041317/http://www.brucejones.com/longboar.htm
The breve below as in ḫ.
- Like the editors of other Elamite texts, I omit the diacritic rocker from h in Elamite and from H in logograms in Elamite texts. I retain the rocker in ḫ and Ḫ in Sumerian and Akkadian.1984, Matthew Wolfgang Stolper, Texts from Tall-i Malyan Elamite Administrative Texts (1972–1974) (Occasional Publications of the Babylonian Fund; 6), University of Pennsylvania Press, →ISBN, page XVII:
- Although the exact sound value of s remains uncertain, and there is only one such sibiliant in Hittite, it is traditionally transliterated with a so-called haček: š. This should not be taken, however, as evidence that it was a palatal sound (as sh in show). The same is true for the traditional “rocker” under the laryngeal ḫ: there is no other h-sign, and the diacritic is not strictly necessary.2011, Theo van den Hout, The Elements of Hittite, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 13:
1 more example
- Semitistic transliteration systems […] a number of features are common to most of them: […] ḫ (“h” with a “rocker,” conventionally called “hooked h”) for the voiceless velar/uvular fricative, IPA [x]/[χ], […]2019, John Huehnergard, “Proto-Semitic”, in John Huehnergard, Na'ama Pat-El, editors, The Semitic Languages, 2nd edition, Routledge, →ISBN, page 15:
Someone passionate about rock music.
A musician who plays rock music.
Informal A rock music song.
- "Girls & Boys" is […] also a tart, sneering rocker, full of ingenious musical gestures […]September 2010, Pitchfork Media, The Top 200 Tracks of the 1990s https://web.archive.org/web/20110218044518/http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/7852-the-top-200-tracks-of-the-1990s-50-21/3
One who rocks something.
- It was I Sir (ſaid the Rocker) who had the honour (ſome thirty years ſince) to attend on your Highneſs in your Infancie, […]1660, Thomas Fuller, “Trusting maketh one Trusty”, in Mixt Contemplations in Better Times, London: […] R[oger] D[aniel] for Iohn Williams, […], →OCLC, page [75]:
UK A member of a British subculture of the 1960s, opposed to the mods, who dressed in black leather and were interested in 1950s music.
Any implement or machine working with a rocking motion, such as a trough mounted on rockers for separating gold dust from gravel, etc., by agitation in water.
A tool with small teeth that roughens a metal plate to produce tonality in mezzotints.
A rocking horse.
A rocker board.
A skate with a curved blade, somewhat resembling in shape the rocker of a cradle.
A kind of electrical switch with a spring-loaded actuator.
Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences A rock shaft.
Government, Military, Politics, War A curved line accompanying the chevrons that denote rank, qualifying the rank with a grade.
- Cadet Sergeant First Class: 3 Chevrons and 2 rockers. Cadet Master Sergeant: 3 Chevrons and 3 rockers. Cadet First Sergeant: 3 Chevrons, 3 rockers with a diamond inset.2000, Mark Collantes, The Academy, page 66:
- Derived terms
- acoustic rocker, alt-rocker, antirocker, anti-rocker, cock rocker, deathrocker, folk-rocker, glam rocker, gyrorocker, hard rocker, off one's rocker, platform rocker, punk rocker, rocker arm, rockered, rockerish, rocker panel, rockers reggae, rocker switch, root-rocker, spring rocker, stoner rocker, surf rocker, tri-rocker