rockwork 
rock 4. Roek-fac'etl or quarry-faced masonry. 
See qitnrnj-fnceil (with cut). 
rock-wren (rok'ren), . 1. A wren of the <,"- 
nus Nalpiiictes, as .S". obsohtus : so called from 
its habit of frequenting rocks. The species named 
is common in the western parts of the United States ; it is 
of active, restless habits, and has a loud song. The eggs 
Rock-wren (Salpinrtts ohsoletus'}. 
are from five to eight in number, crystal-white sparsely 
dotted with reddish-brown. The bird is 5j Inches long, 
and of varied blended brownish colors, the most conspic- 
uous markings being black and white dots on the brown- 
ish-gray of the upper parts. It is a near relative of the 
canon-wren and cactus-wren. 
2. The barking-bird of South America, Hylac- 
tes tarni. The name is also given to other 
members of the family Pteroptochidte. See cut 
under Scytalopus. 
rocky 1 (rok'i), a. [< rock* + -#!.] 1. Full of 
rocks ; abounding in rocks : as, a rocky moun- 
tain. 
Listening to the doubling roar, 
Surging on the rocky shore. 
Burns, How can my poor heart be glad? 
2. Consisting of rock or rocks. 
Betwixt these rocky pillars Gabriel sat. 
Milton, P. L., iv. 549. 
3. Resembling a rock; hence, hard; stony; 
obdurate ; insusceptible of impression ; hard as 
a rock : as, a rocky bosom. 
A rocky heart, killing with cruelty. 
Maxsinger, Virgin-Martyr, ii. 3. 
rocky 2 (rok'i), a. [< rocK* + -#l.] Disposed 
to rock or reel; hence, giddy; tipsy; dizzy. 
[Slang, prov. Eng. and U. S.] 
Rocky Mountain bluebird, locust. See Hue- 
bird, locust^. 
Kocky Mountain garrot. clangulu or Bucc- 
phala iglandica, otherwise called Barrow's 
goldeneye. See garrot 1 . 
Rocky Mountain goat. See goat, and cut un- 
der Hanloceros. 
Rocky Mountain pika. Lagomys princeps, the 
little chief hare. 
Rocky Mountain rat. The pack-rat. See 
Neotoma and raft. 
Rocky Mountain sheep. See sheep, and cut 
under bighorn. 
rococo (ro-ko'ko), . [< F. rococo, appar. a 
made word, based perhaps, as usually explain- 
ed, on rocaille, rockwork (on account of the 
5209 
rockwork which figures in the style), < r/iclit- 
(ML. roca), a rock: see rock 1 ."] A variety of 
ornament originating in the Louis-Quatorze 
style and continuing with constantly increas- 
ing inorganic exaggeration and extravagance- 
throughout the artistic degeneracy of the Louis- 
Quinze. It is generally a meaningless, though often a 
very rich, assemblage of fantastic scrolls and crimped con- 
ventional shell-work, wrought into irregular and inde- 
scribable forms, without individuality and without ex- 
pression apart from its usually costly material and sur- 
roundings. The style has a certain interest from its use 
in a great number of sumptuous European residences, and 
from its intimate association with a social life of great 
outward refinement and splendor. Much of the painting, 
engraving, porcelain-work, etc., of the time has, too, a real 
decorative charm, though not of a very high order in art. 
Hence rococo is used attributively in contempt to note 
anything feebly pretentious and tasteless in art or litera- 
ture. Compare baroque. 
The jumble called rococo is, in general, detestable. A 
parrot seems to have invented the word ; and the thing is 
worthy of his tawdriness and his incoherence. 
Leigh Hunt, Old Court Suburbs, iv. 
ROCOCO embroidery, ornamental needlework and other 
fancy work of different sorts, the application of the term 
varying at different times. Especially (o) A kind of China- 
ribbon embroidery. (&) A kind of Roman work. 
rocou (ro'ko), w. [F. rooou, roucon, arnotto; of 
Braz. origin. ] Same as arnotto, 2. 
rocta (rok'tii), w. [ML.: see rote 3 .] A medie- 
val musical instrument, much used by the min- 
strels and troubadours of the thirteenth cen- 
tury. It was somewhat like the modern violin. 
O. Shipley. 
rod 1 (rod), 11. [< ME. rod, rodde (with short 
vowel; orig. with long vowel, rod, rode, > E. 
rood), < AS. rod, a rod, pole, also a measure 
of land, a cross, the (holy) rood, a crucifix, = 
OS. roda, rttoda, a cross, = OFries. rode, a gal- 
lows, = D. roede, a rod, measuring-pole, perch, 
= MLG. rode, rude, LG. rode, roodc = OHG. 
ruota, MHG. ruote, G. ruthe, rule, a rod, pole, 
a rod of land, = Icel. rdtJia, a rood, crucifix 
(ML. roda) ; perhaps akin to L. rudis, a rod, 
staff, radius, staff, spoke, ray (see radius, ray 1 ), 
Skt. / rudh, Zend \/ rud, grow. Doublet of 
rood.~\ 1 . A shoot or slender stem of any 
woody plant, more especially when cut off and 
stripped of leaves or twigs ; a wand; a straight 
slender stick ; a cane; also, anything of similar 
form : as, a brass rod. 
Ye relyques yt Titus caryed to Rome that is to say, the 
.x. commaundemente, Aarons rodde, Moyses rod, avessell 
of gold full of manna. 
Sir R. Guylforde, Pylgrymage, p. 45. 
WT walkin' rod intill his hand, 
He walked the castle roun'. 
Heir of Linne (Child's Ballads, VIII. 74). 
There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, 
and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. Isa. xi. 1. 
Specifically (a) An instrument of punishment or cor- 
rection ; a single switch or stick, or a bundle of switches ; 
hence, chastisement. 
M. Peter, as one somewhat seuere of nature, said plain- 
lie that the Rodde onelie was the sworde that must keepe 
the Schole in obedience. Ascham, The Scholemaster, p. 18. 
Thrice was I beaten with rods. 2 Cor. xi. 25. 
A light to guide, a rod 
To check the erring, and reprove. 
Wordsworth, Ode to Duty. 
(6) The badge of office of certain officials who are in a sense 
guardians or controllers of others, or ushers, marshals, 
and the like. The use of rods of certain colors gives names 
to their bearers : as, in England, black-rod, green-rod, etc. 
See black-rod. 
About this Time John Duke of Lancaster was created 
Duke of Aquitain, receiving at the King's Hands the Hod 
and the Cap, as Investitures of that Duchy. 
Baker, Chronicles, p. 146. 
(e) A scepter ; hence, figuratively, authority ; sway. 
She had all the royal makings of a queen ; 
As holy oil, Edward Confessor's crown, 
The rod, and bird of peace, and all such emblems 
Laid nobly on her. Shak., Hen. VIII., iv. 1. 89. 
Hands that the rod of empire might have sway'd. 
tiray, Elegy. 
(d) An enchanter's wand, or a wand possessing the power 
of enchantment. 
Ye should have snatch'd his wand, 
And bound him fast ; without his rod reversed, 
And backward mutters of dissevering power, 
We cannot free the Lady. Milton, Comus, 1. 816. 
(e) A long, light, tapering, elastic pole used in angling, to 
which the line is attached, now usually made in adjustable 
sections or joints, and fitted with guides and a reel. There 
are eight woods commonly used for rods, of which four 
are solid (greenheart, hickory, ash, and willow) and four 
are hollow (East Indian bamboo, Carolina and West In- 
dian cane, white cane, and jungle-cane). Rods have also 
been made of hard rubber and of steel. Jointed rods are 
made in three or four pieces, of which the largest and 
heaviest is the butt, and the slenderest is the tip. The 
Joints are fitted with metal rings or ferrules, and with 
small rings called guides to receive the line. The reel is 
stepped into the butt, near its end, or otherwise suitably 
attached, as by a reel-plate. The special makes of rods are 
very numerous, and their names almost equally so. Be- 
sides being named and classed according to the material 
apping plates fastened by 
Eneyc. Brit., XVI. 458. 
rod 
of which they are composed, as bamboo rod, etc., they are 
commonly identified with the name of the flsh for which 
they are specially designed : as, uultnon-rod, trout-rod, bass- 
rod, etc. All rods are, however, divisibleinto three classes, 
according to their make and purpose. These are (1) the 
fill-rod, which is long, slender, tapering, tough, and highly 
elastic ; (2) the troUing-rml, which is comparatively short, 
stout, and stiff ; and (3) the bait-rod, which is a mean be- 
tween the other two. Fly-rods are most used, with artifi- 
cial flies. Split-bamboo rods are now manufactured for 
all kinds of angling. See fly-rod, and cut under reel. (/) 
An instrument for measuring. 
2. In merit., any bar slender in proportion to 
its length, particularly such a bar used as a 
brace or a tie between parts for connecting 
them, or for strengthening a connection be- 
tween them. The term is used in a very indefinite 
manner, depending entirely upon individual judgment or 
caprice. What some would call a rod would by others 
be called a bar. 
The rod in the shaft, known as the main rod or spear 
rod, is usually made of strong balks of timber butted to- 
gether and connected by strap 
3. Specifically, in a steam-engine, the pitman 
which connects the cross-head with the crank : 
also and more generally called connecting-rod. 
The connection is made at the cross-head to 
the cross-head pin, and at the crank to the 
crank-wrist. See cut under steam-engine. 4. 
A measure of length equal to oi yards, or l&J 
feet. (Also called pole and perch.) A square rod 
is the usual measure of brickwork, and is equal 
to 272J square feet. 5. A shoot or branch of 
a family ; a tribe or race. 
Remember thy congregation, which thou hast pur- 
chased of old ; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou 
hast redeemed. Ps. Ixxiv. 2. 
6. In anat., one of numerous slender rod-like 
orbacillary structures which collectively form, 
together with similar but conical bodies called 
cones, one of the layers of which the retina of 
the eye is composed, called the layer of rods 
and cones, essential to the function of vision. 
See cut under retina. 7. In entotn., specifical- 
ly, any differentiation of the anterior end of a 
retinal cell of the eye, which may unite to form 
a rhabdom. See rhabdomere Bait-rod, a fishing- 
rod used with natural bait. Binding-rod, a tie-rod. 
Boning-rod. See boning. Cortian rods. Same as rods 
ofCorti. Crystalline rods. See crystalline. Divining 
rod. See divimny-rod. Lengthening rod, an exten- 
sion-rod fitted with screws at the ends and used as a long 
shank for an auger or a drill in deep boring, as for a tube- 
well. Meckelian rod, in embryol., the cartilaginous 
basis of the mandibular or first postoral visceral arch 
of the embryo of most vertebrates, about the greater 
distal section of which the ossification of the lower jaw- 
bone takes place, the proximal end being converted into 
the malleus of a mammal, the quadrate bone of a bird 
or reptile, or the corresponding bones of lower verte- 
brates. See cut under palatoquadrate. Also called Meek- 
el's cartilage. Napier's rods (or bones), a contrivance, 
commonly attributed to John Napier (1550-1617), but in 
fact described in the Arithmetic of Oronce Finee (1532), 
for facilitating large calculations in multiplication or di- 
vision for those who do not perfectly know the multipli- 
cation table. It consists of a number of rods made of bone, 
ivory, horn, wood, pasteboard, or other convenient ma- 
terial, the face of 
each of which is (lid fULfiL 1 
divided into nine 
equal parts in the 
form of little 
squares, and each 
part, with the ex- 
ception of the top 
compartment, sub- 
divided by a dex- 
ter diagonal line 
into two triangles. 
These nine little 
squares contain 
the successive 
multiples of the 
number in the 
" 
-" 
" 
'" 
g 
I 
Napier's Bones ( 
first, the figures in the tens' place being separated by the 
diagonal line from that in the units' place. A sufficient 
number of rods must be provided for each of the headings 
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 0, 1, 8, 9, BO that by placing the proper rods 
side by side any number may be seen at the top, while the 
several multiples occupy, in order, the eight lower com- 
partments; when the multiple consists of two figures these 
are placed one on each side of the diagonal line. There is 
also a rod called the index-rod, the squares on which are 
not subdivided into triangles. To multiply, for example, 
the number 6789 by 56: Place four of the rods together, 
so that the top numbers form the multiplicand ; then 
look on the index-rod for 6, the first number of the mul- 
tiplier, and on the corresponding compartments of the 
four rods the following disposition of figures will be found 
ranged in the two lines formed by the triangles of each 
square 6284 
3445 
These added together make 40734 
Against 5, on the index-rod, the figures are. 0505 
3344 
The products when added give the sum 
required 3801S4 
Division is performed in an analogous manner. Xapier's 
rods are still made, though they are of little use. 
Parallel rod, in loftmiotives having more than one pair 
