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rod
1[ rod ]
noun
- a stick, wand, staff, or the like, of wood, metal, or other material.
- a straight, slender shoot or stem of any woody plant, whether still growing or cut from the plant.
- (in plastering or mortaring) a straightedge moved along screeds to even the plaster between them.
- a stick used for measuring.
- Archaic. a unit of linear measure, 5.5 yards or 16.5 feet (5.029 meters); linear perch or pole.
- Archaic. a unit of square measure, 30.25 square yards (25.29 sq. m); square perch or pole.
- a stick, or a bundle of sticks or switches bound together, used as an instrument of punishment.
- punishment or discipline:
Not one to spare the rod, I sent him to bed without dinner.
- a wand, staff, or scepter carried as a symbol of office, authority, power, etc.
- authority, sway, or rule, especially when tyrannical.
- a slender bar or tube for draping towels over, suspending a shower curtain, etc.
- Bible. a branch of a family; tribe.
- a pattern, drawn on wood in full size, of one section of a piece of furniture.
- Slang.
- a pistol or revolver.
- Vulgar. the penis.
- Anatomy. one of the rodlike cells in the retina of the eye, sensitive to low intensities of light. Compare cone ( def 5 ).
- Bacteriology. a rod-shaped microorganism.
- Also called leveling rod, Surveying. a light pole, conspicuously marked with graduations, held upright and read through a surveying instrument in leveling or stadia surveying.
- Metallurgy. round metal stock for drawing and cutting into slender bars.
verb (used with object)
- to furnish or equip with a rod or rods, especially lightning rods.
- to even (plaster or mortar) with a rod.
- Metallurgy. to reinforce (the core of a mold) with metal rods.
rod
/ rɒd /
noun
- a slim cylinder of metal, wood, etc; stick or shaft
- a switch or bundle of switches used to administer corporal punishment
- any of various staffs of insignia or office
- power, esp of a tyrannical kind
a dictator's iron rod
- a straight slender shoot, stem, or cane of a woody plant
- See fishing rodSee fishing rod
- Also calledpoleperch
- a unit of length equal to 5 1 2 yards
- a unit of square measure equal to 30 1 4 square yards
- a straight narrow board marked with the dimensions of a piece of joinery, as the spacing of steps on a staircase
- See shafta metal shaft that transmits power in axial reciprocating motion Compare shaft
piston rod, con(necting) rod
- See staffsurveying another name (esp US) for staff 1
- See coneAlso calledretinal rod any of the elongated cylindrical cells in the retina of the eye, containing the visual purple (rhodopsin), which are sensitive to dim light but not to colour Compare cone
- any rod-shaped bacterium
- See penisa slang word for penis
- See pistolslang name for pistol
- See hot rodshort for hot rod
rod
/ rŏd /
- One of the rod-shaped cells in the retina of the eye of many vertebrate animals. Rods are more sensitive to light than cones and are responsible for the ability to see in dim light. However, rods are insensitive to red wavelengths of light and do not contribute greatly to the perception of color.
- Compare cone
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Derived Forms
- ˈrodˌlike, adjective
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Other Words From
- rodless adjective
- rodlike adjective
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Word History and Origins
Origin of rod1
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Word History and Origins
Origin of rod1
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Idioms and Phrases
see hot rod ; spare the rod .Discover More
Example Sentences
Adjust the resistance of these ankle weights by adding or removing the iron rods, which total between three to five pounds.
One of the darkest incidents of last year’s protests took place on July 21, when dozens of thugs armed with sticks and metal rods launched an indiscriminate attack on civilians at the suburban subway station of Yuen Long.
Since then, Shapery has cited his partnership with Doug Manchester, a political lightning rod and donor to the mayor, as a major obstacle.
The retina’s rod cells aren’t part of the cone coloring system.
They are so sensitive that a rod cell can detect a single photon of light — the smallest possible particle.
So I asked the driver to honk the horn, which he does, and Rod looks over.
And of course, Rod, being Rod, goes for it a hundred percent; his mouth drops open and he says, ‘What?’
Rod Stewart and Diane Sawyer This is just highly entertaining.
Creator Rod Serling was compelled by the need “not to just entertain but to enlighten.”
The painting is of a human heart set inside a wind-up music box that has a metal rod poking out of the pulmonary artery.
And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root.
A connecting rod worked a balance-beam, which worked the air-pump, feed-pump, and plug-rod for moving the valves.
A piece of iron sticking out from the cross-head carried the plug-rod for working the gear-handles.
Thereafter we were buffeted like chips in the swirling maw of a whirlpool; we fought our way rod by rod.
This is a minute, slender rod, which lies within and between the pus-corpuscles (Fig. 125), and is negative to Gram's stain.
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About This Word
What else does rod mean?
Rod can refer to a stick, handgun, car, parts of the eye, and even, well, the penis, among many other things. ROD can additionally serve as an acronym for the slang expression ride or die.
Where does rod come from?
Rod is evidenced in Old English when it meant, well, “rod” or “pole.” Over the centuries, rod took on many senses, such as a tool for corporal punishment and a unit of measurement.
We find the word rod used for “penis” in the late 16th century. Rod crept up to the eyes–as in an eyeball’s rods and cones–by 1866.
Rod was recorded in the sense of “gun” by the 1900s and “gunman” by the 1930s. The 1950s saw rod extended to the pistons of cars, as can be found in a hot rod car.
ROD is sometimes used as an acronym for ride or die, an expression of loyalty that was popularized by hip-hop.
How is rod used in real life?
Rod is widespread in the English language, referring to all sorts of pole-like items, from fishing rods to carbon rods. Of course, Rod is a short form of such names as Roderick, Rodney, and Rodriquez, such as Rod Stewart and A-Rod.
For as old as the slang term is, rod remains a colorful euphemism for “penis,” and you’ll occasionally see rod used for “gun” in criminal contexts.
ROD, for ride or die, can be seen as a hashtag #ROD on social media as a convenient proclamation of loyalty, no matter what, to one’s compadres.
It’s a different typa loyalty when yo best friends are yo siblings 💉 #ROD
— FINEFEUIAKI (@amzfine) December 24, 2018
everyone is still hella confused when i mention corn so let me come thru rq. this is corn, he's my ROD, my wingman, my sidekick, my baby pic.twitter.com/x7xLHSF549
— A T O K A D (@kashtwt) June 30, 2017
More examples of rod:
“Although this article focuses on how to replace strut rods on C2s and C3s, the procedure is similar for most other generation Corvettes. The parts options are also similar and include rubber polyurethane bushings and adjustable struts rods.”
—John Pfanstiehl, Hod Rod Network, December 2018
Note
This content is not meant to be a formal definition of this term. Rather, it is an informal summary that seeks to provide supplemental information and context important to know or keep in mind about the term’s history, meaning, and usage.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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