rocky
pronunciation
How to pronounce rocky in British English:
UK [ˈrɒki]
How to pronounce rocky in American English:
US [ˈrɑki]
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- Adjective:
- abounding in rocks or stones
- liable to rock
- full of hardship or trials
Word Origin
- rocky (adj.)
- "full of rocks," c. 1400, from rock (n.1) + -y (2); "unsteady," 1737, from rock (v.1). Meaning "difficult, hard" is recorded from 1873, and may represent a bit of both. The Rocky Mountains so called by 1802, translating French Montagnes Rocheuses, first applied to the Canadian Rockies. "The name is not directly self-descriptive but is an approximate translation of the name of the former Native American people here known as the Assiniboin .... The mountains are in fact not noticeably rocky" [Room]. Bright notes that "These Indians were called /assiniipwaan/, lit. 'stone Sioux', by their Cree (Algonkian) neighbors".
Example
- 1. Powerful wind scoured the rough , rocky desert landscape in front of the mountain .
- 2. The astronomers were stunned to find a rocky planet so near a star , he said .
- 3. Scientists have also discovered a section of rocky sea floor in the region -- unusual in an area dominated by a soft and silty coastline .
- 4. Along iwate 's rocky coast , four commercial ports once offered hope , but these have been squeezed by bigger ports to the north and south .
- 5. Finding out just how common exoplanets are-particularly the rocky , earth-like sort-will be the task of two space-based telescopes to be launched within the next couple of years .