▪ I. roche, n.1 Now dial.
(rəʊtʃ)
Forms: 3– roche (4 rooche), 4–7 roch, 5–6, 9 dial. rotch(e, 7 roach.
[a. OF. roche, rocche (mod.F. roche), var. of rocque, roke rock n.1 Hence also MDu. roche, rotche, rotse (Du. and Fris. rots).]
1. A rock or cliff; a rocky height.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 256 Til ihesus was..biried in ðe roche cold. c 1290 St. Agatha 124 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 197 Strong fuyr..barnde þe hard roche of ston ase þei it Col were. a 1300 Cursor M. 6390 Moyses on þe roche kan stand, & smat it wit þis forsaid wand. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 1108 By hilles & roches swyþe horrible on hur cors þay wente. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) ii. 6 Vnder þe roche of mount Caluarie. 1470–85 Malory Arthur i. xxv. 73 Within that lake is a roche. 1515 Scottish Field 634 in Chetham Misc. (1856), All rang with that rowte, roches and other. 1589 Golden Mirr. (Chetham Soc.) 12, I durst not well approch,..But closly kept me vnderneath a roch. 1631 R. Brathwait Whimzies, Jealous Neighbour 115 His earth-reverting body..is to be buried in some cell, roach, or vault. [c 1700 Kennett in MS. Lansd. 1033 fol. 326 Several of the mountains in Staffordsh. are called Roches, bearing no grass, but running in bare ridges like stone walls.] |
| fig. a 1300 Cursor M. 9975 Þat roche þat es polist sa slight, es maiden maria hert ful right. 1340 Ayenb. 142 Þe ilke roche is Iesu crist him-zelf. |
| attrib. 1549 Compl. Scotl. vi. 38 The depe hou cauernis of cleuchis & rotche craggis ansuert vitht ane hie not. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 331 The wild Goats called Roch-goats, haue their hornes turning backeward. |
† b. A huge mass of stone; a boulder. Obs.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 4165 Anon riȝt he hom ssende Mid gleyue oþer mid roches, & vewe aliue he let. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 12171 Grete roches at þem he cast, & þer schipes to-rof & brast. a 1585 Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae 82, I saw an river rin..With tumbling and rumbling, Amang the rochis round. |
2. In north and north-midland dial. use, applied to various kinds of rock, stone, or geological strata. Also attrib. Cf. roach n.2 4.
| 1803 J. Plymley Agric. Shropsh. 53 Rotch, dark-grey hard rock. 1820 Wilbraham Gloss. Cheshire, Roche, refuse stone. 1831 J. Hodgson in Raine Mem. (1858) II. 217 Perpendicular fissures too are formed in the roche. Ibid. 218 The roche pebbles are glazed. 1841 Hartshorne Salop. Antiq. Gloss., Roche, 1. The strata above a marshy deposit; 2. Earth mingled with stone; 3. Any strata which is superincumbent to the one about to be worked. 1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal-mining, Rotche or Roche (South Staff.), a softish and moderately friable sandstone. |
† 3. ? Alum or borax. (So F. roche.) Obs.
| 1494 in Cov. Corpus Christi Plays 88 It. paid for a strawen hate, ob; a leffe of roche clere, j d. 1510 in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) II. 199 Item to Paule Smyth for certen coloures as..mastyke vernysch yelowe moty orpment roch vermylyon vergres. |
▪ II. roche, n.2
see roche moutonnée.
▪ III. † roche, n.3 Obs.—1
A kind of wine.
Perhaps for Rochel Rochelle, but Roche is a common place-name in France, and sugar de Roche is freq. mentioned in the Durham Account Rolls along with that from Morocco and Cyprus.
| a 1400 Sir Degrevant 1414 (Linc. MS.), Ever scho drewe thame the wyne, Bathe the Roche and the Ryne. |
▪ IV. roche, v.1
(rəʊtʃ)
Also 7, 9 roach.
[f. roche n.1 Cf. roche alum.]
† 1. trans. To make hard like a rock. Obs.—1
| 1582 Stanyhurst æneis, etc. (Arb.) 136 Thee winters coldnesse thee riuer hardlye roching. |
2. † a. intr. To form crystals. Obs.
| 1631 [see roching vbl. n.]. 1673 Ray Trav. (1738) 403 When burnt it is turned into a white calx, which naturally roches into parellelipipedums of the figure of a lozenge. |
b. trans. To recrystallize (alum) in lead-lined casks after previous dissolution by water or steam.
| 1678 Phil. Trans. XII. 1056 After which it [alum] is Roached, as followeth. Being washed, it is put into another Pan with a quantity of Water, where it melts and boils a little. Then is it scooped into a great Cask, where it commonly stands ten days, and is then fit to take down for the Market. 1853 Ure Dict. Arts I. 58 The rough alum thus made is sometimes purified by a subsequent recrystallization, after which it is ‘roched’ for the market,—a process intended merely to give it the ordinary commercial aspect. |
▪ V. † roche, v.2 Obs.—1
[? var. of ruche rich v.2]
trans. To tug or tear (asunder).
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 12511 The sea..cut down þere sailes, Ropis al-to rochit, rent vp the hacches. |
▪ VI. roche
obs. form of roach n.1; obs. var. rook n.2; var. rotch Obs.; obs. f. rough a.