rod

¹

[ rod ]

noun

1. a stick, wand, staff, or the like, of wood, metal, or other material.
2. a straight, slender shoot or stem of any woody plant, whether still growing or cut from the plant.
3. fishing rod.
4. (in plastering or mortaring) a straightedge moved along screeds to even the plaster between them.
5. a stick used for measuring.
6. Archaic. a unit of linear measure, 5.5 yards or 16.5 feet (5.029 meters); linear perch or pole.
7. Archaic. a unit of square measure, 30.25 square yards (25.29 sq. m); square perch or pole.
8. a stick, or a bundle of sticks or switches bound together, used as an instrument of punishment.
9. punishment or discipline:

   Not one to spare the rod, I sent him to bed without dinner.

10. a wand, staff, or scepter carried as a symbol of office, authority, power, etc.
11. authority, sway, or rule, especially when tyrannical.
12. lightning rod.
13. a slender bar or tube for draping towels over, suspending a shower curtain, etc.
14. Bible. a branch of a family; tribe.
15. a pattern, drawn on wood in full size, of one section of a piece of furniture.
16. Slang.
    1. a pistol or revolver.
    2. Vulgar. the penis.
17. Anatomy. one of the rodlike cells in the retina of the eye, sensitive to low intensities of light. Compare cone ( def 5 ).
18. Bacteriology. a rod-shaped microorganism.
19. 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.
20. Metallurgy. round metal stock for drawing and cutting into slender bars.

verb (used with object)

, rod·ded, rod·ding.

1. to furnish or equip with a rod or rods, especially lightning rods.
2. to even (plaster or mortar) with a rod.
3. Metallurgy. to reinforce (the core of a mold) with metal rods.

Rod

²

[ rod ]

noun

1. a male given name, form of Roderick or Rodney.

rod

/ rɒd /

noun

1. a slim cylinder of metal, wood, etc; stick or shaft
2. a switch or bundle of switches used to administer corporal punishment
3. any of various staffs of insignia or office
4. power, esp of a tyrannical kind

   a dictator's iron rod

5. a straight slender shoot, stem, or cane of a woody plant
6. See fishing rod
7. Also calledpoleperch
   1. a unit of length equal to 5 1 2 yards
   2. a unit of square measure equal to 30 1 4 square yards
8. a straight narrow board marked with the dimensions of a piece of joinery, as the spacing of steps on a staircase
9. a metal shaft that transmits power in axial reciprocating motion Compare shaft

   piston rod, con(necting) rod

10. surveying another name (esp US) for staff 1
11. Also 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
12. any rod-shaped bacterium
13. a slang word for penis
14. slang name for pistol
15. short for hot rod

rod

/ rŏd /

1. 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.
2. Compare cone

Derived Forms

• ˈrodˌlike, adjective

Other Words From

• rodless adjective
• rodlike adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of rod¹

before 1150; Middle English rodd, late Old English; akin to Old Norse rudda club

Word History and Origins

Origin of rod¹

Old English rodd ; related to Old Norse rudda club, Norwegian rudda, rydda twig

Idioms and Phrases

see hot rod ; spare the rod .

Example Sentences

The raceway is hosting the National Hot Rod Assn. finals from Thursday through Sunday.

From Los Angeles Times

When these whales were caught, the metal rod was returned, and the whale's size, sex, length and location where it was caught was noted.

From Science Daily

The film’s organizing narrative swings back and forth from machinations at the U.N., where Khrushchev’s shoe-gavel taunts accompanied an emerging Afro-Asian bloc, to the violent chessboard that was newly independent Congo and the brief, espionage-ridden tenure of its first prime minister, Patrice Lumumba, the lightning rod of African independence.

From Los Angeles Times

Trump became infuriated with Sessions after he recused himself from overseeing the Russia probe, and his top deputy, Rod Rosenstein, appointed former FBI director Robert Mueller as a special counsel to oversee the investigation with independence.

From Los Angeles Times

The pain is worst in her thigh, where she had a metal rod inserted after cancer rotted her femur.

From BBC

Related Words

• baton
• cane
• cylinder
• ingot
• shaft
• slab
• stick