Robulina 
Eobulina (ro-bu-H'na), . [NL. (D'Orbigny, 
1826, as a genus of supposed cephalopoda), < L. 
robur, strength, + a dim. -ina, the reg. term, 
with this author for his genera of microscopic 
cephalopods.] A genus of foraminifers. Also 
called Lampas. 
Robur Carol! (ro'ber kar'o-H). [NL., Charles's 
Oak (see def.): L. robur, oak; ML. Curoli, gen. 
of Carolus, Charles: see car/.] A now ob- 
solete constellation, introduced by Halley in 
1677, between Argo and Centaurus, to repre- 
sent the royal oak in which Charles II. was hid- 
den after the battle of Worcester. 
robust (ro-busf), a. [<OF. (and P.) robuste = 
Sp. Pg. It. robusto, < L. robustus, strong, < 
robur, OL. robus (robor-), hardness, strength, 
a hard wood, oak, au oak-tree ; = Skt. rabltas, 
violence, force, < / rabh, seize.] 1. Having 
or indicating great strength; strong; lusty; 
sinewy; muscular; sound; vigorous: as, a 
robust body ; robust youth ; robust health. 
A robust boisterous Rogue knocked him down. 
Howett, Letters, I. ill. >. 
Survey the warlike horse ! didst thou invest 
With thunder his robust distended chest? 
Young, Paraphrase of Job. 
I said, "How is Mr. Murdstone?" She replied, "My 
brother is robust, I am obliged to you." 
Dickens, David Copperfield, xxvi. 
One can only respect a robust faith of this sort. 
Saturday Ren., May, 1874, p. 674. 
2. Violent; rough; rude. 
Romp-loving miss 
Is haul'd about, in gallantry robust. 
Thomson, Autumn, 1. 529. 
3. Requiring vigor or strength: as, robust 
employment. Imp. I>ict. 4. In zool., stout; 
thick: as, a robust joint; ro&utantennse.=8yn. 
1. Strong, Robust, Lusty, Sturdy, Stalwart, Stout, hale, 
hearty, brawny, mighty, powerful. Strong is the generic 
term among these, and is the most widely used in figu- 
rative applications. By derivation it means having the 
power of exerting great muscular force. Robust suggests 
an oaken strength, hence compactness, toughness, sound- 
ness of constitution, blooming health, and good size if 
not largeness of frame. Lusty characterizes the kind of 
strength that one enjoys possessing, abounding health, 
strength, vitality, and spirits. Sturdy suggests compact- 
ness and solidity even more than robust does ; it ex- 
presses a well-knit strength that is hard to shake or re- 
si.-it, standing strongly upon its feet. Stalwart suggests 
tidiness or largeness with great strength or sturdiness. 
Stout is little different from strong ; it sometimes means 
strong to do or to support burdens : as, a stout defender ; a 
stout porter carrying a heavy trunk. 
robustious (ro-bus'tyus), a. [Formerly also 
robusteous, robitstuous ; < L. robusteus, oaken 
(robustus, oaken, strong): see robust.] Ro- 
bust; rough; violent; rude. [Obsolete or ar- 
chaic.] 
Violent and robustumis seas. 
Heywood, Jupiter and lo (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, 
[VI. 268). 
These redundant locks, 
Robustious to no purpose, clustering down. 
Vain monument of strength. Milton, S. A. , 1. 669. 
Fob ! you are so robustious, you had like to put out my 
eye; I assure you, if you blind me, you must lead me. 
Sttrtft, Polite Conversation, i. 
rqbustiously (ro-bus'tyus-li), adv. In a robus- 
tious manner. [Obsolete or archaic.] 
The multitude commend writers as they do fencers or 
wrestlers ; who if they come in robustiously, and put for 
it with a deal of violence, are received for the braver fel- 
lows. B. Jonson, Discoveries. 
robustiousness (ro-bus'tyus-nes), . Vigor; 
muscular size and strength. [Obsolete or 
archaic.] 
That robustiousness^ of body, and puissance of person, 
which is the only fruit of strength. 
Sir E. Sandys, State of Religion, sig. S. 2. 
robustly (ro-bust'li), adv. In a robust man- 
ner; with great strength ; muscularly. 
robustness (ro-bust'nes), n. The quality of 
being robust; strength; vigor, or the condi- 
tion of the body when it has full firm flesh and 
sound health. 
roc 1 (rok), n. [Also rock, rok, rue, ruck, rukh; = 
G. roc = Sw. roc, rok = Dan. rok = It. ruch, roeh i 
(Florio), < Ar. Pers. rukh, a roe. Cf. root 2 .] 
A fabulous bird of prey of monstrous size, fa- 
mous in Arabian mythology, and corresponding 
to the Persian simurg. There is no certain basis of 
fact upon which the myth of the roc rests. The most 
colossal birds of which we have any knowledge are the 
dinornithic moas of New Zealand and the Madagascar 
Kpyornithic elephant-birds. The largest known rapacious 
bird (the roc figures as a bird of prey) is the Harpagornis, 
which may have been able to kill a moa, though certainly 
not to fly away with one. The most plausible speculation 
bases the roc on the ^pyornis. See the quotation. 
On the 27th of January, 1851, Isidore Oeoffroy Saint- 
Hilaire read before the Parisian Academy of Sciences a 
paper, in which he described two enormous eggs and part 
of the metatarsus of a bird which he called ^ 
5204 
maximus. . . . This brought again to mind the old story 
of the famous Venetian traveller, Marco Polo, who located 
the me or roc, the giant bird of the Arabian tales, upon 
Madagascar, aud related that the great Khan of the Tar- 
tars, having heard of the bird, sent messengers to Mada- 
gascar, who brought back a feather nine spans long, and 
two palms in circumference. Stand. Nat. Uist., IV. 47. 
Roc's egg, something marvelous or prodigious, having no 
foundation in fact ; a mare's nest 
rOC 2 t, " A Middle English form of root 1 . 
rocaille(ro-kaly'), . [F., rockwork, formerly 
also rochdille, < roche, a rock: see roach 2 .] The 
scroll ornament of the eighteenth century, and 
especially of the epoch of Louis XV., combin- 
ing forms apparently based on those of water- 
worn rocks and those of shells or deduced from 
them. See rococo. 
rocambole (rok'am-bol), . [Also rokambole, 
and formerly also rocambole; < F. rocambole, < 
G. rockenbollen, roggenbollen (so called because it 
grows among rye), < rocken, roggen, rye, + bolle, 
a bulb: see rye and SoW 1 .] A plant of the onion 
kind, Allium Scorodoprastim, native through the 
middle latitudes of Europe, and there somewhat 
cultivated. Its uses resemble those of garlic and the 
shallot, like which, also, It has a compound bulb com- 
posed of bulblets or cloves. 
Insipid Uste, old friend, to them who Paris know, 
Where rocombote, shallot, and the rank garlic grow. 
W. King, Art of Cookery, 1. 338. 
Roccella (rok-sel'a), . [NL. (A. P. de Can- 
dolle, 1805), an accom. form (based on ML. 
rocca, roca, a rock) of It. orcella, F. orseille, etc., 
orchil: see orchil, archil.] A genus of parmeli- 
aceous lichens of the tribe Vsneei. The thallus 
is fruticulose or finally pendulous, alike on both sides, and 
cartilaginous-coriaceous ; the medullary layer is loosely 
cottony. The species are few and closely related, grow- 
ing especially in the warmer maritime regions of the earth, 
and furnishing the famous archil or orchil of dyers. R. 
tinctoria and R. fucijormis, the best-known species, are 
the chief sources of the dye. See cut under archil ; see 
also canary-moss, cape-weed, dyer's-moss, flat-orchil, litmus, 
Mauritius-weed. 
roccellic (rok-sel'ik), a. [< Roccella + -ic] Re- 
lated to orderived from Roccella. Roccellic acid, 
r i T":;"' 'i- a crystalline acid which occurs uncombined 
in Roccella tinctoria. 
roccellin (rok-sel'in), . [< rocceU(ic) + -in 2 .] 
A coal-tar color : same as orseillin. 
roccelline (rok-sel'in), a. [< Roccella + -in* 1 .] 
In hot., of or pertaining to the genus Roccella. 
Roccus (rok'us), n. [NL. (8. L. Mitchell, 1814), 
< ML. rocca, E. rock: see rock 1 .] A genus of 
serranoid fishes. It contains R. lineatus, the common 
rockfish or striped-bass of the United States, and R. chry- 
sops, the white-bass. Both are well-known game-fish, of 
some economic importance. See cut under bass. 
roche 1 !, A Middle English form of roach 1 . 
roche 2 , . and r. See roach 2 . 
Rochea (ro'ke-a), n. [NL. (A. P. de Candolle, 
1799), named after Francois Laroehe, who wrote 
on the genera Ixia and Gladiolus.] A genus of 
plants of the order Crassulacex. It i> characterized 
by a salver-shaped corolla with its tube much longer than 
the small five-cleft calyx, the five stamens united to the 
petals, and five free carpels, attenuated into elongated 
and exserted converging styles. The 4 species are na- 
tives of South Africa, and are fleshy undershrubs, bearing 
thick opposite leaves with united bases. The flowers are 
showy and rather large, white, yellow, scarlet, or rose- 
colored, and clustered in dense cymes. For these and the 
singular leaves the species are somewhat cultivated as 
house-plants. R. coccinea, with scarlet flowers, has the 
name of coral, and R. falcata is sometimes called ice-plant. 
Rochelle powder (ro-shel' pou'der). [< La 
Rochelle, a city in France, T powder.] Same 
as Seidlitz pmcder, or compound effervescing pow- 
der (which see, under powder). 
Rochelle salt. See salfi. 
roches moutonn6es (rosh mo-to-na'). [F.: 
roche, rock (see roach 2 , rock 1 )', moutonnee, fern. 
of moutonne, rounded like the back of a sheep: 
see mutton.] Scattered knobs of rock rounded 
and smoothed by glacial action: fancifully so 
called from their resemblance, as seen rising 
here and there or in groups above a surface, to 
a flock of sheep lying down: sometimes Eng- 
lished as "sheep-backs." 
The surface of rock, instead of being jagged, rugged, 
or worn into rugged defiles, is even and rounded, often 
dome-shaped or spheroidal. . . . Such surfaces were called 
Roches Moutonnfes by De Saussure. 
J. D. Forbes, Travels in the Alps, p. 53. 
rochet 1 (roch'et), . [Also dial, rocket; < ME. 
rochet, rochette, also roket, rokette, < OF. rochet, 
roquet, a frock, a prelate's rochet, F. dial. 
rochet, a blouse, mantle, = Sp. Pg. roquete = 
It. rocchetto, roccetto (ML. rochetiim), a rochet, 
dim. of ML, roccus, rocus, < OHG. roch, MHG. 
roc (rock), G. rock = MLG. D. rok = OFries. 
rokk = AS. roc, rocc = Icel. rokkr, a frock, coat ; 
cf. Ir. rocan, a mantle, cloak, Gael, rochall, a 
coverlet.] 1. Originally, a short cloak worn 
by men of all degrees, also by women (in 
rock 
this case frequently a white linen outer gar- 
ment). 
A Roket full rent & Ragget aboue, 
Cast ouer his corse. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1352.1. 
A womman wel more fetys is 
In roket than in cote, ywis. 
Rom. of the Rose, 1. 1242. 
Superior vestis mulierum, Anglice a rochet. 
MS. Bibl. Rey., 12 B. 1. f. 12. (Halliu<ell.) 
2. Ecclcs., a close-fitting vestment of linen or 
lawn, worn by bishops and some others. It 
reaches to the knees or lower, and has close sleeves ex- 
tending to the wrists, or is sleeveless. The rochet is a 
variety of the alb or surplice, the latter differing from 
both alb and rochet by the fullness of its sleeves. In the 
Roman Catholic Church the rochet is worn by bishops 
and abbots, usually under a manteletta. and, as a choir 
vestment, by some canons. In the Anglican Church the 
rochet is worn under the chimere these vestments con- 
stituting the distinctive episcopal habit as ordinarily worn 
in church and in Parliament and Convocation. The lawn 
sleeves are now made very full, and attached to the chi- 
mere, not to the rochet. 
And an Arm men seyn is ther 
Of seint Thomas the holy Marter, . . . 
And a Rochet that is good, 
Al be-spreint with his blod. 
Stations of Rome (ed. Furnivall), 1. 501. 
The Elected Bishop, vested with his Rochet, shall be pre- 
sented . . . unto the Presiding Bishop. 
Book of Common Prayer [American], Consecration of 
[Bishops. 
3f. Hence, a bishop: also used attributively. 
They would strain us out a certain figurative prelate, by 
wringing the collective allegory of those seven angels into 
seven single rochets. Milton, Church-Government, i. 5. 
4. A mantelet worn by the peers of England 
during ceremonies. 
rochet 11 (roch'et), n. [< F. rowjet, a gurnard.] 
A kind of fish, the roach or piper gurnard. 
The whiting, known to nil, a general wholesome dish. 
The gurnet, rochet, roayd, and mullet, dainty fish. 
Drayton. 
Slit thy nose, 
Like a raw rochet! B. Jonson,\olpoae, iii. 8. 
Rochets, whitings, or such common fish. W. Browne. 
roching-cask (roch'ing-kask), . A tank lined 
with lead, used for crystallizing alum. 
rock 1 (rok), H. [< ME. rocke, rokke, < AS. "race, 
(in ntdn-rocc, 'stone-rock') = OF. roc, m. (= It. 
rocco, m.), roke, usually assibilated roche() ME. 
roche, E. obs. roach 2 , q. v.), F. roche, f., = Pr. 
roca, rocha = Sp. roca = Pg. roca, roclia = It. 
rocca, roccia, < ML. roca, rocca, a rock; prob. of 
Celtic origin: Ir. Gael, roc = Bret, roch, a rock. 
According to Diez, prob.< LL. "rupica, or rupea, 
< L. rapes, a rock. ] 1 . The mass of mineral mat- 
ter of which the earth, so far as accessible to ob- 
servation, is made up; amass, fragment, or piece 
of that crust, if too large to be designated as a 
stone, and if spoken of in a general way with- 
out special designation of its nature. When there 
is such special designation, the term stone is more gener- 
ally adopted, as in building-stone, pavinij- stone, limestone, 
freestone ; or the special designation of the material itself 
may be used without qualification, as granite., slate, marble, 
etc. The unconsolidated stony materials which form a 
considerable part of the superficial crust, or that which 
is at or near the surface, such as sand, gravel, and clay, 
are not commonly designated as rock or rocks; the geolo- 
gist, however, includes under the term rock, for the pur- 
pose of general description, all the consolidated materials 
forming the crust, as well as the fragmental or detrital 
beds which have been derived from it. Rocks are ordi- 
narily composed of two or more mineral species, but some 
rocks are made up almost entirely of one species : thus, 
granite Is essentially an aggregate of quartz, feldspar, aud 
mica, while marble usually consists chiefly of carbonate 
of lime, and sandstone and quartzite chiefly of quartz. 
The number of varieties of rock, according to the classifi- 
cation and description of lithclogists, is very great. The 
number of names popularly in use for rocks is small : 
granite, porphyry, lava, sandstone or freestone, limestone, 
marble, and slate are terms under one or the other of 
which by far the largest part of the rocks are commonly 
classed. (See these words.) More than 600 distinct spe- 
cies of minerals have been described, but a very small 
number of them occur as essential constituents of rocks : 
of these, quartz, the feldspars, the micas, the minerals of 
the augite and hornblende group, talc, chlorite, olivin, 
and carbonate of lime, with which often more or less of 
carbonate of magnesia is associated, form the great bulk 
of the rocks. But there are several other minerals which 
are quite commonly found as accessory constituents, and 
sometimes in masses large enough to be worthy of the 
designation of rock : such are garnet, epidote, various 
oxids of iron, pyrites, apatite, andalusite, leucite, tourma- 
lin, and a few others. Some mineral substances occur in 
masses of great extent and thickness, but do not play the 
part of rock-forming minerals : such are salt, gypsum, and 
the varieties of coal. Rocks are variously classed by geolo- 
gists. The most general subdivision of them is into igne- 
ous and aqueous: the former are divided into plutonic and 
volcanic, according as they have been formed under con- 
ditions of depth and pressure, like granite, or have been 
poured out upon the surface in the manner of lava. The 
aqueous rocks are also designated as sedimentary, fossilif- 
erous, or stratified. The sedimentary rocks in general are 
believed to be made up of material resulting from the de- 
cay and abrasion of igneous masses, since almost all geolo- 
gists admit that the crust of the earth has cooled from a 
state of fusion. Part of the stratified deposits, however, 
