sky-rocket, n.
[sky n.1]
1. A rocket which ascends high into the sky before exploding. Also fig.
| 1688 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) I. 454 There are various reports how the late fire..began: some say by carelessnesse; others, by a sky rocket falling amongst hay. 1690 Dryden Prol. to ‘Mistakes’ 15 He's no high Flyer—he makes no sky Rockets, His Squibbs are only levell'd at your Pockets. 1702 Lond. Gaz. No. 3805/8 The Ships..made a very Glorious Show at Night,..some firing several Sky-Rockets. 1765 R. Jones Fireworks iv. 136 Six sky rockets, fixed on one stick, and fired together, make a grand and beautiful appearance. 1834 Marryat P. Simple (1863) 79 At last I obtained a grumbling assent to my going on shore, and off I went like a sky-rocket. 1846 Greener Sci. Gunnery 230 The composition in a sky-rocket, which is required to burn on a graduated scale. 1862 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. III. 108, I should be back like a returned sky-rocket. |
| attrib. 1893 Advance (Chicago) 3 Aug., Such successors seldom report in such sky-rocket style after about six months. |
2. transf. An enthusiastic cheer, raised
esp. by college students;
= sis-boom-bah.
U.S. slang.| 1867 Ball Players' Chron. (N.Y.) 25 July 2/2 After cheers had been interchanged, and the Nationals had let off a ‘sky rocket’—namely a sort of finish to three cheers, with a ‘hiss—boom—ah!’—an adjournment was had to the clubhouse. 1894 R. H. Davis Eng. Cousins 120 An American misses the rah-rahs, and the skyrocket cries. 1947 G. S. Perry Cities of Amer. 222 He is such a stimulating lecturer that many of his classes are preceded by a ‘skyrocket’: a Wisconsin yell reserved for its heroes. |
3. Rhyming slang for ‘pocket’.
Cf. sky n.1 8.
| 1879 Macmillan's Mag. Oct. 502/1 A slavey piped the spoons sticking out of my skyrocket (pocket), so I got smugged. 1898 [see outer colloq. var. out of prep. phr.]. 1936 J. Curtis Gilt Kid ix. 98 There's no sense in hanging around in the West End with a cane and Christ knows what else in my sky-rocket. 1962 F. Norman Guntz i. 8 He put the letter in an envelope and..handed it to me. I took it and stuffed it in my sky rocket. 1973 ‘B. Mather’ Snowline xv. 180 Ten trouble-free runs..and you're back in England with five thousand quid in your skyrocket. |
Hence
sky-rockety a.| 1890 Voice (N. York) 23 Jan., I began to ask myself questions about this sky-rockety assemblage of words. 1896 Godey's Mag. April 348/2 That the sudden and sky-rockety increase last year was unnatural is generally admitted. |