rod

[rod] /rɒd/
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, stadia 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), rodded, rodding.
21.
to furnish or equip with a rod or rods, especially lightning rods.
22.
to even (plaster or mortar) with a rod.
23.
Metallurgy. to reinforce (the core of a mold) with metal rods.
Origin
before 1150; Middle English rodd, late Old English; akin to Old Norse rudda club
Related forms
rodless, adjective
rodlike, adjective

Rod

[rod] /rɒd/
noun
1.
a male given name, form of Roderick or Rodney.
Examples from the web for rod
  • The rod was to work when a beam of light was bounced off its end.
  • As a result, he has become a lightning rod for all criticism of the government.
  • The fishing spider needs neither rod nor reel to lure in tadpoles, fish, or frogs.
  • Each color rod represents a different length, and they are used to help elementary students master simple addition and fractions.
  • The pointed rod will push through the center of the cherry, and the pit will shoot out the bottom.
  • The standard kit includes a the rod and reel set, a couple of weights and a couple baskets to hold your bait.
  • Perhaps more than any other top campus administrator, the chief diversity officer is a lightning rod for criticism.
  • One end of the top casing will have an opening for the curtain rod.
  • There is no other universal measuring rod out there.
  • We waved a shirt on the fishing rod about, and after about one and a half hours a lobster boat spotted us and picked us up.
British Dictionary definitions for rod

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 called pole, perch
  1. a unit of length equal to 51/2 yards
  2. a unit of square measure equal to 301/4 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: piston rod, con(necting) rod Compare shaft (sense 5)
10.
(surveying) another name (esp US) for staff1 (sense 8)
11.
Also called retinal 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 (sense 5)
12.
any rod-shaped bacterium
13.
a slang word for penis
14.
(US) slang name for pistol (sense 1)
15.
short for hot rod
Derived Forms
rodlike, adjective
Word Origin
Old English rodd; related to Old Norse rudda club, Norwegian rudda, rydda twig
Word Origin and History for 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.

rod in Medicine

rod (rŏd)
n.

  1. A straight slender cylindrical formation.

  2. A rod cell.

  3. An elongated bacterium; a bacillus.

rod in Science
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.
Slang definitions & phrases for rod

rod

noun
  1. A pistol: Here's a rod, blow your brains out (1903+ Underworld)
  2. A car, esp a specially prepared car; hot rod: A restless youth buys a broken-down rod (1940s+ Hot rodders)
  3. The penis; shaft (1902+)
Related Terms

have a rod on


Idioms and Phrases with rod

rod

see: