rod
/ɹɑd/
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.14 in modern English
Meaning
noun
A stick, pole, or bundle of switches or twigs (such as a birch), used for personal defense or to administer corporal punishment by whipping.
noun
An implement resembling and/or supplanting a rod (particularly a cane) that is used for corporal punishment, and metonymically called the rod, regardless of its actual shape and composition.
noun
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.
noun
A unit of length equal to 1 pole, a perch, ¹⁄₄ chain, 5+¹⁄₂ yards, 16+¹⁄₂ feet, or exactly 5.0292 meters (these being all equivalent).
Archaic
noun
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, 5+¹⁄₂ yards.
Example Sentences
- "The circus strong man proved his strength by bending an iron rod, and then straightening it."
- "Which makes the concept known as Rods From God the ultimate form of kinetic weaponry. This theoretical weapon would drop telephone pole sized rods of dense tungsten from a satellite in orbit. Picking up speed with each passing second, the rod would then penetrate the ground and generate an explosion akin to a small nuclear weapon using nothing but gravity for its propulsion."
- "When I hooked a snake and not a fish, I got so scared I dropped my rod in the water."
- "So was I brought up: they tell mee, that in all my youth, I never felt rod [translating verges] but twice, and that very lightly."
- "The judge imposed on the thief a sentence of fifteen strokes with the rod."
- "I notched a rod and used it to measure the length of rope to cut."
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɹɑd/
- British English: /ɹɒd/