Meaning and Origin
What does the name Rocket mean? Keep reading to find the user submitted meanings, dictionary definitions, and more.
User Submitted Origins
Etymology: F. roquettecf. Sp. ruqueta, It ruchetta), fr. L. eruca
- An artificial firework consisting of a cylindrical case of paper or metal filled with a composition of combustible ingredients, as niter, charcoal, and sulphur, and fastened to a guiding stick. The rocket is projected through the air by the force arising from the expansion of the gases liberated by combustion of the composition. Rockets are used as projectiles for various purposes, for signals, and also for pyrotechnic display.
- A blunt lance head used in the joust.
- any flying device propelled by the reactive force of hot gases expelled in the direction opposite its motion. The fuel used to generate the expelled gases in rockets may be solid or liquid; rockets propelled by liquid fuels typically have a combustible fuel (such as hydrogen or kerosene) which is combined inside the rocket engine with an oxidizer, such as liquid oxygen. Single liquid fuels (called monopropellants) are also known. Since rocket engines do not depend on a surrounding fluid medium to generate their thrust, as do airplanes with propellers or jet engines, they may be used for propulsion in the vacuum of space.
Etymology: It. rocchetta, fr. rocca a distaff, of German origin. Named from the resemblance in shape to a distaff. See Rock a distaff
- A jet engine containing its own propellant and driven by reaction propulsion
- Any vehicle self-propelled by a rocket engine
- Sends a firework display high into the sky
- Propels bright light high in the sky, or used to propel a lifesaving line or harpoon
- Erect European annual often grown as a salad crop to be harvested when young and tender
- Propel with a rocket
- Shoot up abruptly, like a rocket ("prices skyrocketed")
From Italian rocchetta, from Old Italian rochetto (“rocket”, literally “a bobbin”), diminutive of rocca (“a distaff”), from Lombardic rocko, rukka (“spinning wheel”), from Proto-Germanic *rukkô (“a distaff, a staff with flax fibres tied loosely to it, used in spinning thread”). Cognate with Old High German rocco, rocko, roccho, rocho ("a distaff"; > German Rocken (“a distaff”)), Swedish rock (“a distaff”), Icelandic rokkur (“a distaff”), Middle English rocke (“a distaff”). More at rock⁴.
- A rocket engine.
- (military) A non-guided missile propelled by a rocket engine.
- A vehicle propelled by a rocket engine.
- A rocket propelled firework, a skyrocket
- (slang) An ace (the playing card).
- (military slang) An angry communication (such as a letter or telegram) to a subordinate.
- A blunt lance head used in jousting.
- (figuratively) Something that shoots high in the air.
- (Scotland, slang) A stupid or crazy person.
Borrowed from French roquette, from Italian ruchetta, diminutive of ruca, from Latin eruca. Cognate to arugula.
- The leaf vegetable Eruca sativa or Eruca vesicaria.
- rocket larkspur (Consolida regalis)