rod
pronunciation
How to pronounce rod in British English:
UK [rɒd]
How to pronounce rod in American English:
US [rɑːd]
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- Noun:
- a linear measure of 16.5 feet
- a long thin implement made of metal or wood
- any rod-shaped bacterium
- a square rod of land
- visual receptor cell sensitive to dim light
- a gangster's pistol
Word Origin
- rod
- rod: [12] It seems likely that rod is related to English rood [OE]. In post-Anglo-Saxon times this has mainly been used for ‘cross of Christ’, and it now survives mainly in rood screen ‘altar screen’, but in the Old English period it was also used for ‘rod’. Where their Germanic ancestor, which also produced German rute ‘rod’ and Norwegian dialect rodda ‘stake’, came from is not clear. The use of rod for a unit of measurement dates from the mid 15th century.=> rood
- rod (n.)
- Old English rodd "a rod, pole," which is probably cognate with Old Norse rudda "club," from Proto-Germanic *rudd- "stick, club," from PIE *reudh- "to clear land." As a long, tapering elastic pole for fishing, from mid-15c. Figurative sense of "offshoot" (mid-15c.) led to Biblical meaning "scion, tribe." As an instrument of punishment, attested from mid-12c.; also used figuratively for "any sort of correction or punishment," but the basic notion is of beating someone with a stick. As a unit of measure (5½ yards or 16½ feet, also called perch or pole) first attested mid-15c., from the stick used to measure it off. As a measure of area, "a square perch," from late 15c., the usual measure in brickwork. Meaning "light-sensitive cell in a retina" is from 1866, so-called for its shape. Slang meaning "penis" is recorded from 1902; that of "gun, revolver" is from 1903.
Example
- 1. This tube is called a fuel rod .
- 2. In the years since , the junta has done its damnedest to turn her into a glass rod .
- 3. In the years since , the junta has done its best to turn her into a glass rod . It has yet to succeed .
- 4. The unidentified woman died saturday from severe internal injuries that her assailants caused with a metal rod during the attack on a bus december 16 .
- 5. South korean nuclear operators say the shingori-1 reactor , near the city of busan , was shut down early tuesday following a control rod malfunction .