frock
/fɹɑk/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.88 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A dress, a piece of clothing, which consists of a skirt and a cover for the upper body.
noun
An outer garment worn by priests and other clericals; a habit.
noun
A sailor's jersey.
noun
An undress regimental coat.
verb
To grant to an officer the title and uniform of a rank he will soon be promoted to.
American usage; Transitive verb
noun
A frog.
Example Sentences
- "This was just what he had been afraid of. These blithering women who thought they could do a man's work. Why the hell couldn't they stay at home and mind their pots and pans and stick to their frocks and gossip and leave men's work to the men."
- "[…] Mrs. Parmly-Coles, in thus frocking her daughter, was no jealous cat but a pearl among mothers."
- "MajGen Richard G. Schulze […] was selected for two-star rank by members of the January selection board. He was frocked on 27 Jan and assigned new duties as CG, MCRD, San Diego."
Etymology
From Middle English frok, frokke, from Old French froc (“frock, a monk's gown or habit”), perhaps via Medieval Latin hrocus, roccus, rocus (“a coat”), from Frankish *hrokk (“skirt, dress, robe”), from Proto-Germanic *hrukkaz (“robe, jacket, skirt, tunic”), from Proto-Indo-European *kreḱ- (“to weave”). Cognate with Old High German hroch, roch (“skirt, dress, cowl”) – whence German Rock (“skirt, coat”) –, Saterland Frisian Rok (“skirt”), Dutch rok (“skirt, petticoat”), Old English rocc (“an overgarment, tunic, rochet”), Old Norse rokkr (“skirt, jacket”), whence Danish rok (“garment”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: frok, froc, *hrokk, *hrukkaz, *kreḱ-, frock
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /fɹɑk/
- British English: /fɹɒk/
Usage
- Transitive verb
- American usage