Meaning and Origin
What does the name Rod mean? Keep reading to find the user submitted meanings, dictionary definitions, and more.
Origin and Meaning of Rod
User Submitted Origins
English
70%
American
30%
International Interest
Also see international interest
Webster's Unabridged Dictionary
noun Rod
Senses
- A straight and slender stick; a wand; hence, any slender bar, as of wood or metal (applied to various purposes).
- An instrument of punishment or correction; figuratively, chastisement.
"He that spareth his rod hateth his son." [Prov. xiii. 24.] - A kind of sceptor, or badge of office; hence, figuratively, power; authority; tyranny; oppression.
"The rod, and bird of peace."
Shak. - A support for a fishing line; a fish pole.
Gay. - [Mach. & Structure]
A member used in tension, as for sustaining a suspended weight, or in tension and compression, as for transmitting reciprocating motion, etc.; a connecting bar. - An instrument for measuring.
- An instrument of punishment or correction; figuratively, chastisement.
- A measure of length containing sixteen and a half feet; -- called also perch, and pole.
Etymology: The same word as rood. See Rood
Other Dictionary Sources
- Any rod-shaped bacterium
- A gangster's pistol
- A long thin implement made of metal or wood
- A visual receptor cell that is sensitive to dim light
- A square rod of land
- A linear measure of 16.5 feet
Wiktionary
From Old English *rodd or *rodde (attested in dative plural roddum), of uncertain origin.
- A straight, round stick, shaft, bar, cane, or staff.
- The circus strong man proved his strength by bending an iron , and then straightening it.
- (fishing) A long slender usually tapering pole used for angling; fishing rod.
- When I hooked a snake and not a fish, I got so scared I dropped my in the water.
- A stick, pole, or bundle of switches or twigs (such as a birch), used for personal defense or to administer corporal punishment by whipping.
- An implement resembling and/or supplanting a rod (particularly a cane) that is used for corporal punishment, and metonymically called , regardless of its actual shape and composition.
- The judge imposed on the thief a sentence of fifteen strokes with .
- A stick used to measure distance, by using its established length or task-specific temporary marks along its length, or by dint of specific graduated marks.
- I notched a and used it to measure the length of rope to cut.
- (archaic) A unit of length equal to 1 pole, a perch, ¼ chain, 5½ yards, 16½ feet, or exactly 5.0292 meters (these being all equivalent).
- An implement held vertically and viewed through an optical surveying instrument such as a transit, used to measure distance in land surveying and construction layout; an engineer's rod, surveyor's rod, surveying rod, leveling rod, ranging rod. The modern (US) engineer's or surveyor's rod commonly is eight or ten feet long and often designed to extend higher. In former times a surveyor's rod often was a single wooden pole or composed of multiple sectioned and socketed pieces, and besides serving as a sighting target was used to measure distance on the ground horizontally, hence for convenience was of one rod or pole in length, that is, 5½ yards.
- (archaic) A unit of area equal to a square rod, 30¼ square yards or 1/160 acre.
- The house had a small yard of about six in size.
- A straight bar that unites moving parts of a machine, for holding parts together as a connecting rod or for transferring power as a drive-shaft.
- The engine threw a , and then went to pieces before our eyes, springs and coils shooting in all directions.
- (anatomy) Short for rod cell, a rod-shaped cell in the eye that is sensitive to light.
- The are more sensitive than the cones, but do not discern color.
- (biology) Any of a number of long, slender microorganisms.
- He applied a gram positive stain, looking for indicative of Listeria.
- (chemistry) : a glass rod, typically about 6 inches to 1 foot long and 1/8 to 1/4 inch in diameter that can be used to stir liquids in flasks or beakers.
- (slang) A pistol; a gun.
- (slang, vulgar) A penis.
- (slang) A hot rod, an automobile or other passenger motor vehicle modified to run faster and often with exterior cosmetic alterations, especially one based originally on a pre-1940s model or (currently) denoting any older vehicle thus modified.
- (ufology) A rod-shaped object that appears in photographs or videos traveling at high speed, not seen by the person recording the event, often associated with extraterrestrial entities.
- (mathematics) A Cuisenaire rod.
- (rail transport) A coupling rod or connecting rod, which links the driving wheels of a steam locomotive.
rod was also found in the following language(s): Breton, Czech, Danish, German Low German, Latvian, Lojban, Old English, Old Saxon, Polish, Romanian, Serbo-Croatian, and Welsh