rock 
have been formed through the agency of life, as in the 
case of the limestones, most of which have been secreted 
from an aqueous solution by viuious organisms, and of 
-coal, which is the result of a peculiar kind of decay of 
vegetable matter. Some rocks have been formed by the 
simple evaporation of a solution : for instance, rock-salt. 
The sedimentary rocks are classified for lithological de- 
scription according to the nature and texture of the ma- 
terials of which they are made up : they are arranged in 
the chronological order of their deposition according to 
the nature of the fossils which they contain. Sedimentary 
rocks have frequently been greatly changed in character 
by metamorphosis, by which they have been rendered 
crystalline, and sometimes made so closely to resemble 
igneous rocks that their true character can only with the 
greatest difficulty be made out. 
Whan ye ban maad the coost so dene 
Of rokkcg that ther nys no stoon ysene. 
Chaucer, Franklin's Tale, 1. 15772. 
A ruck may be denned as a mass of mineral matter, com- 
posed of one, more usually of several, kinds of minerals, 
having, as a rule, no definite external form, and liable to 
vary considerably in chemical composition. 
A. Geikie, Encyc. Brit., X. 229. 
2. A stone of any size, even a pebble. [Vul- 
gar, U. S.] 
I put a hot rock to his feet, and made him a large bowl 
o' catmint tea. Georgia Scenes, p. 193. 
Now I hold it is not decent for a scientific gent 
To say another is an ass, at least, to all intent; 
Nor should the individual who happens to be meant 
Reply by heaving rocks at him to any great extent. 
Bret liarte, The Society upon the Stanislaus. 
3. A mass of stone forming an eminence or a 
cliff. 
And he [Samson] went down and dwelt in the top of the 
rock Etam. Judges XT. 8. 
When he sees afar 
His country's weather-bleached and battered rocks 
From the green wave emerging. Cowper, Task, v. 834. 
4. Hence, in Scrip., figuratively, foundation; 
strength; asylum; means of safety; defense. 
The Lord is my rock. 2 Sam. xxii. 2. 
5. A cause or source of peril or disaster: from 
the wrecking of vessels on rocks : as, this was 
the rock on which he split. 
Lo, where comes that rock 
That I advise your shunning. 
(Enter Cardinal Wolsey.) 
Shak., Hen. VIII., i. 1. 113. 
Either we must say every Church govern 'd itself, or else 
we must fall upon that old foolish Rock, that St. Peter and 
his Successours govern'd all. Seldeu, Table-Talk, p. 67. 
6. A kind of hard sweetmeat, variously fla- 
vored. 
Around a revolving dial were arranged various-sized 
pieces of peppermint rock, closely resembling putty, but 
prized by youthful gourmands. 
Harper's Mag., LXXVI. 625. 
7. Same as rockfisli, 1 (a). [Southern U. S.] 
8. The rock-dove, Columba livia, more fully 
called blue-rock. 9. A kind of soap. See the 
quotation. 
The action of lime upon the constituents of tallow de- 
composes them, glycerin being set at liberty, while cal- 
cium stearate and oleate are formed. . . . These salts, 
. . . when mixed together, constitute an insoluble soap, 
technically called rock. 
W. L. Carpenter, Soap and Candles, p. 254. 
10. Apiece of money : commonly in the plural : 
as, a pocketful of rocks. [Slang, U. S.] 
Here I am in town without a rock in my pocket. 
New Orleans Picayune. (Bartlett.) 
11. A very hard kind of cheese, made from 
skimmed milk, used in Hampshire, England. 
Halliwell Acidic (or acid) rock. See acidic. So- 
llan, aqueous, argillaceous rocks. See the adjec- 
tives. Aerial rocks. Same as seolian rocks. Band of 
rock. See band% and blackband. Blue, clay, COlts- 
foot, conglomerate rock. See the qualifying words. 
Cock of the rock. See cocki. Country rock. See 
country, 8, and country-rock. Denuded rocks. See de- 
mfed. Detrital rock. See detrital. Dressedrocks, 
ice- worn bosses of rock, usually called roches mouUmnf.es 
or sheep-back rocks. Dudley rock. See Dudley limestone, 
under limestone. Farewell rock. See farewell. Gib- 
raltar rock, rock-candy. Intrusive rocks. See in- 
trusive. Kellaways rocks, in geul.. the lower of the two 
zones into which the Oxfordian is divided, the latter being 
a division of the Middle or Oxford Oolite. The Oxfordian is 
the lowest division of the Upper Jura or White Jura of the 
Continental geologists. The name Kellawayi is frequently 
spelled Kelloitay. It is a locality in Wiltshire, England. 
Littoral rocks. Heelittoral. Ludlow rocks in geol., a 
portion of the Upper Silurian rocks, 2,000 feet in thickness. 
It is composed of three groups, the lower Ludlow rock or 
mudstone, the Aymestry limestone, and the upper Lud- 
low rock. They have their name from Ludlow in Shrop- 
shire, England, where they are characteristically devel- 
oped. Metamorphic rocks. See metammphism. On 
the rocks, quite out of funds ; in great want of money. 
[Slang. ] Rock-drilling machine, a power-drill for bor- 
ing rock or mineral substances. It operates either by per- 
cussion or by rotation. The usual motive power, in (.'on- 
fined situations, is compressed air. --Rock ice-cream 
Same AS granite, 2. Rock-onion. Same as ciliol, 2, and 
stone-leek (see leek). Rocks of mechanical origin. See 
mechanical. = Syn. It is an error to use rock for a stone so 
small that a man can handle it : only a fabulous person or 
a demi god can lift a rock. 
5205 
When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw, 
The line too labours, and the words move slow. 
Pope, Essay on Criticism, 1. 870. 
The Douglas rent an earth-fast stone 
From its deep bed, then heaved it high, 
And sent the fragment through the sky. 
Scott, L. of the L., v. 23. 
rock 1 (rok), v. t. [< rocki, n. Cf. OF. rocker, 
stone, < rocJie, a stone, rock.] To throw stones 
at; stone. [U. S.] 
It used to be said that if an unknown landsman showed 
himself in the streets [of Marblehead, Massachusetts] the 
boys would follow after him, crying, "Rock him ! Hock 
him ! He 's got a long-tailed coat on ! " 
0. W. Holmes, Poet at the Breakfast Table, xii. 
rock' 2 (rok), v. [< ME. rokken, also roggen (cf. 
OF. rocquer), < AS. *roccian (in a gloss) = Dan. 
rokke = Sw. freq. rockera, shake, rock ; cf . OHG. 
rucchen, MHG. rucken, rilcken, G. riieken, pull, 
= Dan. rykke = Sw. rycka, pull, = Icel. rykkja, 
pull roughly and hastily ; from the noun, OHG. 
rue (gen. ruech-), MHG. rue (gen. ruck-), G. ruck, 
a pull, jolt, jerk, = Sw. ryck = Dan. ryk, a pull.] 
1. trans. 1. To move backward and forward, 
as a body supported below (especially on a 
single point, a narrow line, or a curved base) ; 
cause to sway upon a support: as, to rock a 
cradle; to rock a chair; sometimes, to cause to 
reel or totter. 
The cradel at hir beddes feet is set, 
To rokken. Chaucer, Eeeve's Tale, 1. 237. 
The god whose earthquakes rock the solid ground. 
Pope, Iliad, xiii. 68. 
2. To move backward and forward in a cradle, 
chair, etc. 
High in his hall, rocked in a chair of state, 
The king with his tempestuous council sate. 
Dryden, tr. of Ovid's Epistles, xi. 
3. To lull; quiet, as if by rocking in a cradle. 
Sleep rock thy brain. Shak., Hamlet, iii. 2. 237. 
Blow, Ignorance ; O thou, whose idle knee 
Rocks earth into a lethargy. 
Quarlee, Emblems, i. 14. 
4. In engraving, to abrade the surface of, as a 
copper or steel plate, preparatory to scraping a 
mezzotinto. See cradle, .,4(e). 5f. To cleanse 
by rocking or shaking about in sand. 
His other harnays, that holdely watz keped, 
Hot he his paunce, & his platez piked ful clene, 
The ryngez rokked vof the roust, of his riche bruny ; 
And al watz fresch as vpon fyrst. 
Sir Qawayne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.), 1. 2018. 
6. To affect by rocking in a manner indicated 
by a connected word or words: as, to rock one 
into a headache; the earthquake rocked down 
the houses. 
Tyl Resoun hadde reuthe on me and rokked me aslepe. 
Piers Plowman (B), xv. 11. 
II. intrans. To move backward and forward; 
be moved backward and forward ; reel. 
How her hand, in my hand being lock'd, 
Forced it to tremble with her loyal fear ! 
Which struck her sad, and then it faster rock'd. 
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 262. 
During the whole dialogue, Jonas had been rocking on 
his chair. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, xliv. 
The blind wall rocks, and on the trees 
The dead leaf trembles to the bells. 
Tennyson, In Memoriam, Conclusion. 
Rocking bob. Same as balance-bob. Rocking Stone, 
a large block of stone poised so nicely upon its point that 
a moderate force applied to it causes it to rock or oscillate. 
Such stones are most common in regions of granite, and 
especially where it has a marked cuboidal jointing. The 
quadrangular masses resulting from the weathering of 
this granite assume spherical forms, since the edges and 
angles waste away more rapidly than the sides, and a 
rocking stone is not infrequently the result. There are 
several rocking stones in the granite region of Devonshire 
and Cornwall, where they are known as loggans, loggan- 
stones, or loggan-rocks. The best-known of these is near 
Castle Treryn, St. Levan ; it is about 17 feet long, and 
weighs about 65 tons. "There are seven loggan-rocks in 
the parish of Zennor. " Woodward, Geol. of Eng. and Wales 
(2d ed.), p. 606. 
The same cause affects granitic cliffs, rounding the sur- 
faces formed by the "joints," and often leaving detached 
blocks on the brow of the cliff ; and they also give rise to 
the Hocking Stones common in granite districts. 
Prestu-ich, Geol., I. 56. 
= Syn. 1 and 2. Rock, Shake, Suing, Roll. Shake ex- 
presses a quicker, more sudden, and less uniform motion 
than the others : as, to shake a tree or a carpet ; his knees 
shook. Rock expresses the slow and regular motion to 
and fro of a body supported below as a cradle upon 
rockers, or a rocking stone or at the sides. Swinq ex- 
presses the regular and generally slow motion to and fro, 
or around and around, of a body supported or held at one 
end, generally above : as, the sirinying of a pendulum, a 
censer, a sword. Roll is sometimes used of an irregular 
motion to and fro, suggesting the rolling over of a round 
log : as, a rolling walk ; the rolling of a ship in the trough 
of the sea. The figurative uses of these words are akin 
to their literal meanings: a ship rocks when the wind is 
steady on the aft quarter ; it strings about its anchor with 
the change of the tide ; it shakes with each blow from a 
heavy wave. 
rock-bound 
rock- (rok), H. [< rock'*, r.] The act of rock- 
ing ; specifically, a step in fancy dancing. 
rock a (rok), 11. [< ME. rokkc, rockc, rok, < AS. 
*roceu (not recorded) = MD. rock, D. rok, rok- 
ken = OHG. rocco, roccho, rocho, MHG. rocke, G. 
rocken = Icel. rokkr = Sw. rock = Dan. rok, a dis- 
taff (cf. It. rocca = Sp. rucca = Pg. roca, a dis- 
taff; OF. racquet, rochet, F. rocket, a spinning- 
wheel ; < Teut.) ; root unknown.] A distaff 
used in hand-spinning ; the staff or frame about 
which the flax or wool is arranged from which 
the thread is drawn in spinning. 
Sad Clotho held the rccke, the whiles the thrid 
By griesly Lachesis was spun with paine. 
Spenser, F. Q., IV. ii. 48. 
Herself a snowy fleece doth wear, 
And these her rock and spindle bear. 
B. Jonson, Masque of Hymen. 
Rock Monday, the Monday after Twelfth Day : so called 
because spinning, interrupted by the Christmas sports, 
was then resumed. Also called Plow Monday. 
rock* (rok), n. [Perhaps a dial. var. of rough.] 
A young hedgehog. HalliizeU. [Prov. Eng.] 
rock 5 , n. See rot*, 
rockahomoniet, [Amer. Ind.] Same as 
hominy. 
Sometimes also in their travels each man takes with him 
a pint or quart of rockahomonie that is, the finest Indian 
corn parched and beaten to powder. 
Beverley, Virginia, iii. \ 19. 
rock-alum (rok'al'um), . 1. Same as alum- 
stone. 2. The solid residue obtained from pot- 
ash crystals on their liquefaction by heat and 
subsequent cooling. Spans' Enci/c. Manuf., p. 
326. 3. A factitious article made by coloring 
small crystalline fragments of alum with Vene- 
tian red. 
rock-alyssum (rok'a-lis"um), . SeeAlysmm. 
rockaway (rok'a-wa), n. A four-wheeled plea- 
sure-carriage with two or three seats (each for 
two persons) and a standing top. It is a dis- 
tinctly American type of vehicle. 
rock-badger (rok'baj"er), . 1. Parry's ground- 
squirrel, SpermopMlus parryi, of northwestern 
North America. 2. See Hyrax, i. 
rock-barnacle (rok'bar'na-kl), n. A sessile cir- 
riped which adheres to rocks, as any species of 
Balanus proper: not specific. 
rock-basin (rok'ba"sn), n. In phys. geog., a 
basin or hollow in a rock. Such cavities are com- 
mon on the exposed surface of the rocks in various coun- 
tries, and they are most frequently met with in granitic 
regions, especially in Cornwall and Devonshire, where 
they have been worn out by atmospheric erosion, assisted 
by the tendency to a concentric structure which granite 
frequently exhibits. These rock-basins have been, and 
still are by some, ascribed to the Druids. On the Scilly 
Islands such cavities are common ; some are called devil's 
kettles and devil's punch-bowls, and one group is known as 
the Kettle and Pang. There are multitudes of them, of all 
dimensions, in the Sierra Nevada, but few have received 
names. See iettfel, 4 (6). 
rock-bass (rok'bas), M. 1. Acentrarchoidfish, 
Ambloplites rupestris; the redeye or goggle- 
Rock-bass or Redeye (Ambloplitts rufts/ris). 
eye. It is found from the Great Lake region to Louisiana, 
attains a length of a foot, and is of an olive-green color 
with brassy tints and much dark mottling. 
2. The striped-bass. See Roccus, and cut un- 
der bass 1 . 3. A serranoid fish, Serramis or 
Paralabrax elathratun ; the cabrilla: found off 
the coast of California, attaining a length of 18 
inches. 
rock-beauty (rok'bu"ti), n. A plant of the 
Pyrenees and Alps, Draba (Petrocallis) Pyrena- 
ica, forming dense cushions 2 or 3 inches high, 
with pale-lilac sweet-scented flowers in early 
spring. With care it can be cultivated on rock- 
work. 
rock-bird (rok 'berd),. 1. A bird of the genus 
Rupicola or subfamily Rupicolinee; a cock of 
the rock. See cut under Rupicola. 2. The 
rock-snipe. 
rock-blackbird (rok'blak"berd), . Same as 
rock-ouzel. [Local, Eng.] 
rock-borer (rok'b6r"er), n. A bivalve mollusk 
of the family Petricolidte. 
rock-bound (rok'bound), a. Hemmed in by 
rocks. 
