▪ I. rocker1
(ˈrɒkə(r))
Also 5–6 rokker(e, 6 rok(k)ar.
[f. rock v.1 + -er1.]
1. a. A nurse or attendant charged with the duty of rocking a child in the cradle. Now arch. or Obs. Also generally, one who rocks a cradle.
| 14.. Lat. Eng. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 576 Crepundarius, a rokkere. Ibid. 577 Cunabulator,..a rokkere. 1491 Hen. VII in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. I. 170 Agnes Butler and Emlyn Hobbes rokkers of oure said son. 1539 in Nichols Lit. Rem. Edw. VI (Roxb.) I. p. xxviii, The lady Maistres, the Nurice, the Rocker, and such as be appointed contynually to be in the Prince's grace privie chambre. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. III. 1130/2 Midwiues, rockers, nurses, with the cradle and all were prepared and in a readinesse. 1660 Fuller Mixt Contempl. (1841) 261 It happened that an aged rocker, which waited on him, took the steel boots from his legs. 1678 Vaughan Thalia Rediv., Nativity 229 No rockers waited on thy birth, No cradles stirred, nor songs of mirth. 1707 tr. Wks. C'tess D'Anois (1715) 481 Her Nurse, her Foster-Sister, her Dresser, and Rocker. 1762 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 98 Attendants on..the prince of Wales... Wet nurse,..Dry nurse,..Necessary women,..Rockers. 1813 Ibid. 35 She was originally engaged as a rocker to the princesses. 1876 Smiles Sc. Natur. i, Sometimes he was set to rock the cradle. But on his mother's arrival at home, she found the rocker had disappeared. |
| fig. 1804 Spirit Public Jrnls. VIII. 166 The cradle of science; to which cradle..some of our own countrymen have had the honour to be appointed rockers. |
b. One who sends others to sleep.
| 1762 Foote Orators i. (1780) 29 The astonishing abilities of the Rockers, (for by that appellation I choose to distinguish this order of Orators). |
c. A popular song that rocks (see
rock v.
1 5 c and 7 a); a rock song.
| 1954 Billboard 6 Nov. 52/4 The deep-voiced chanter hands the rocker a good performance... The boys bow on the label with a so-so reading of a new rocker here. 1970 New Yorker 12 Dec. 187/1 ‘One More Weekend’, a honky-tonk rocker..is about getting away. 1974 Guardian 22 Mar. 14/5 ‘Raised on Robbery’ is a successful all-out rocker (with witty but still bleak lyrics). 1977 Sounds 1 Jan. 4/2 The songs they write alternate between brittle rockers, melodramatic movies and clever pop songs. |
d. One who performs, dances to, or enjoys rock music (see
rock n.3 2 b);
spec. a teenager or young adult of a type characterized by liking rock and roll, typically wearing long hair and a leather jacket, and riding a motor-cycle (
freq. contrasted with
mod n.3). Also
transf.| 1963 [see mod n.3 and a.]. 1963 Economist 28 Dec. 1332/2 Teenagers want..motor bikes and leather jackets to show that they are ‘rockers’. 1964 Spectator 17 Apr. 503/1 Brighton cancelled its proposed ‘beat festival’ next month on hearing that the Mods and Rockers were coming in force. 1965 New Statesman 19 Nov. 801/1 A couple of literary Rockers rang up anonymously: ‘We'll bomb the gallery if [Ezra] Pound turns up.’ 1966 C. Mackenzie Paper Lives iv. 54, I cannot think that Romeo and Juliet is made more accessible to the imagination of young people by making the Capulets what I believe are called Mods and the Montagues what I believe are called Rockers. 1972 Listener 10 Aug. 187/2 Chuck Berry is the rocker's rocker and the real man. 1973 J. Wainwright Pride of Pigs 82 He was..a nineteen-year-old who had once identified himself as a greaser and, before that, as a Rocker, but who now led a provincial chapter of Hell's Angels. 1977 Time 3 Jan. 56/2 The debuting Barbra brings a hostile rocker audience to their feet with the wonder of her funkiness. |
2. † a. pl. A cradle.
Sc. Obs.| 1566 in Hay Fleming Mary Q. of Scots (1897) 499 Fyftein elne of blew plading for to mak ane cannabie to the rokaris. Ibid. 500 Linnyng..to be schetis to the rokaris. |
b. One of the pieces of wood with a convex under-surface fixed to each end of a cradle, to the legs of a chair, or any other thing, in order to enable it to rock.
For some technical uses see Knight
Dict. Mech.| 1787 M. Cutler in Life, etc. (1888) I. 269 He also showed us..his great arm chair, with rockers. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §80 In some degree rounding, like the Rockers of a cradle. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. i. i, The very basket that you slept in:..the very rockers that I put it upon to make a cradle of it. 1883 Harper's Mag. Mar. 577/2 His child should not have its brains addled on a pair of rockers. 1892 Photogr. Ann. II. 478 A light frame on rockers, upon which the developing dish rests. |
c. off one's rocker, crazy.
slang.| 1897 Daily News 29 June 3/5 When asked if he had swallowed the liniment, he said, ‘Yes, I was off my rocker’. 1923 Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves viii. 78 The Duke is off his rocker. 1932 E. Waugh Black Mischief v. 195 It's going to be awkward for us if the Emperor goes off his rocker. 1943 ‘C. Dickson’ She died a Lady vii. 58 We're wondering if there was anybody who cared enough about Mrs. Wainright to go off his rocker and kill both of 'em when she fell for somebody else. 1953 ‘M. Innes’ Christmas at Candleshoe xxi. 221 ‘His behaviour is certainly very aberrant. Would it, one wonders, be occasioned by a sudden abnegation of the ratiocinative faculty?’ ‘Off his rocker—eh?’ 1961 [see flip n.2 5]. 1976 T. Sharpe Wilt xiv. 144 ‘To put the record straight, what I said was that some of them were...’ ‘Off their rockers?’ suggested the reporter. |
3. † a. The device by which a smith's bellows is worked.
Obs.| 1677 Moxon Mech. Exer. i. 2 At the ear of the upper Bellows-board is fastned a Rope..which reaches up to the Rocker, and is fastned..to the farther end of the Handle. |
b. (See
quot. 1837.)
| 1794 W. Felton Carriages (1801) I. 10 The bottom boards are confined thereto, by the assistance of a rocker, which is firmly fixed in the inside. 1837 W. B. Adams Carriages 221 The rocker or false bottom beneath the bottom framing, intended to give greater height, scarcely shows at all in perspective. 1877 Thrupp Hist. Coaches 136 At one time the fashion of the day is for deep quarters, deep rockers, and very shallow panels. 1880 Coach Builders' Jrnl. II. 134/1 After the inside bottom edge has been boxed out for the footboard, and the recess boxed out on the outside to show a sham rocker. |
4. Something which rocks or is rocked after the manner of a cradle; in various special senses:
a. A rocking-horse.
nonce-use.
| 1846 Dickens Cricket on Hearth ii, Horses..of every breed; from the spotted barrel on four pegs..to the thoroughbred rocker on his highest mettle. |
b. orig. U.S. A rocking-chair.
| 1852 in Mrs. Stowe Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin (1853) 136/1 Will be sold,..Hairseat Chairs, Sofas and Rockers. 1855 S. Robinson Jrnl. 18 Nov. in Kansas (1856) viii. 98 [He was] seated in the nice large rocker drawn up before [the fire]. 1857 Olmsted Journ. Texas 49 She sat down in the rocker at one end of the table. 1895 Sarah M. H. Gardner Quaker Idyls i, The half dozen rockers and lounging chairs. 1905 Delineator May 829/1 The Windsor rockers are not so common as the side chairs. 1911 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 30 Apr. 4/5 (Advt.), Bedroom suites in white enamel..rockers, in white enamel to match. 1978 Lancashire Life Apr. 42/3 Ah sit theer i' mi rocker, Just startin' to nod off. |
c. A gold-miner's cradle;
= cradle n. 14.
| 1830 Boston Transcript 15 Dec. 2/3 The surface mines, which are of very inferior importance, require no other labour than that necessary in washing the earth in rockers, or large inclined troughs with mercury. 1833 H. Barnard Let. 18 Apr. in Maryland Hist. Mag. (1918) XIII. 346 The top soil is removed—then the gravel is washed, by being thrown into what is called a rocker, or cradle, which is in fact a little more than a large cradle. 1852 [see Long Tom 2]. 1858 Times 1 Dec. 9/3 The only mode of ‘washing’ here, is with the rocker, an inefficient, laborious, and slow, implement. 1882 U.S. Rep. Prec. Met. 196 A great extent of ground has been worked along Salmon River, principally by rockers and other primitive appliances. |
d. A scientific instrument illustrating the effect of heat in producing vibration.
| 1863 Tyndall Heat iv. §113 (1870) 99 He determined the best form to be given to the ‘rocker’, as the vibrating mass is now called, and throughout Europe this instrument is known as Trevelyan's Instrument. 1882 J. Maier tr. Hospitalier's Electr. 170 The armatures of the two electro⁓magnets were placed at the two extremities of a rocker. |
e. Engraving.
= cradle n. 13.
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 1430/1 The instruments used are the cradle or rocker, scraper, burnisher, roulettes. 1885 Harper's Mag. Jan. 233/2 A ‘rocker’ or ‘cradle’ with which to lay the ground. |
f. A tanning vat in which hides are rocked to and fro on a pivoted frame. Freq.
attrib.| 1885 C. T. Davis Manuf. Leather xviii. 353 Another form of handler in use is known as the rocker handler, and it consists of a frame constructed of wood, and hung by pivots in the centre of the top of the vat so as to give a dipping movement of 7 or 8 in. to each end of the frame. 1897 Ibid (ed. 2) xxiv. 382 The hides are next suspended in ‘rockers’... They remain in the ‘rockers’ from seven to ten days. 1969 T. C. Thorstensen Pract. Leather Technol. v. 69 The hides are tied and hung in rocker racks and tanned by the vegetable tanning process. Prior to vegetable tanning, the hides in the lime condition are put in rockers containing deliming and bating materials. |
g. A rock-shaft, rocker arm, or any similar rocking device forming part of a mechanism;
esp. (
a) a device for controlling the positions of brushes in a dynamo, and (
b) a rocker arm in an internal-combustion engine.
| 1888 S. P. Thompson Dynamo-Electric Machinery (ed. 3) iii. 63 The rockers which support the brush-holders should admit of sufficient angular displacement being given to the brushes. 1893 R. Grimshaw Locomotive Catechism 178 Lengthen the rocker, so as to lower the entire motion. 1915 G. A. Burls Aero Engines vi. 108 When the ‘plus’ part of the cam comes into contact with the roller the upper end of the rocker U is pushed upwards and the lower-end depressed, thus opening the valve. 1921 Motor Electr. Manual iii. 50 A magneto that has been standing out of use..is very liable to have a sticking rocker. 1928 Evening News 18 Aug. 1/3 Gallop then had to go into the pits with rocker trouble. 1935 T. E. Lawrence Lett. (1938) 855 The front rocker ran dry... So we pulled down the rocker assembly, and found more bits of Harry M's. string in the rocker-fulcrum pipe! 1961 Carbon Brushes & Electr. Machines xiv. 221 The correct location of the brush rocker is usually indicated by the machine constructor by a pair of marks, one on the rocker and one on the frame of the machine. 1970 K. Ball Fiat 600, 600D Autobk. i. 9/1 The design is conventional, incorporating..overhead valves operated by pushrods through rockers. 1975 F. Porges Design of Electr. Services for Buildings i. 3 The switch opens when the bottom of the rocker is pressed and shuts when the top is pressed. |
5. Chiefly
U.S. a. A keel having a marked upward curve; a curve on a keel; a boat, etc., having a keel of this type.
| 1876 Encycl. Brit. IV. 812/2 Other canoes are built chiefly for sailing, and these carry ‘drop keels’, ‘rockers’, and heavy ballast. a 1890 Tribune Bk. of Sports 251 (Cent.), When a fast sloop of the straight-keel type came out, the rockers were beaten. 1895 Outing XXVI. 382/1 Two thirds of the keel is almost flat, with a very slight rocker at the heel and a more pronounced curve under the fore-foot. |
b. A skate with a curving sole.
| 1854 B. F. Taylor Jan. & June ii. 155 The boys sha'n't skate? Who grudges them the ‘rockers’? 1869 Vandervell & Witham Figure-Skating iii. 81 The American and Canadian ‘rockers’..are much too highly curved. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2192/2 A machine for grinding skates, straight-edged or rockers. |
c. Ice-skating.
= rocking turn s.v. rocking vbl. n.1 3.
| 1892, 1902 [see counter n.4 6]. 1936 Sun (Baltimore) 15 Feb. 13/2 There are 72 different school figures the skater must learn... Counters, rockers, brackets, loops, threes. 1973 Times 7 Feb. 15/8 He looked ill at ease on the first figure, the forward outside rocker. |
d. ‘One of the curved stripes under the three chevrons that indicate the grade of a sergeant (as in the
U.S. Army and Marine Corps)’ (Webster 1961). Also
transf., any similar badge bearing a slogan or device.
| 1944 Yank 6 Oct. 15/1 ‘Woddya want, fellah?’ said the sergeant. He was thin for a top kick and his blouse was much too big. The bottom rocker reached down to his elbow. 1948 Christian Sci. Monitor (Mag. Sect.) 6 Nov. 8/1 Sergeant second class—three stripes, two ‘rockers’—has been changed to sergeant first class. 1967 E. E. Kerrigan Amer. Badges & Insignia i. 27 Next come first, second, and third grade sergeants, which were separated into both line and staff grades. The arcs, or ‘rockers’, indicated line grade, and straight lines below indicated grade. 1971 J. Mandelkau Buttons vii. 81 The patch consisted of the top rocker—three inches wide, red on white—Hell's Angels. The bottom rocker said, England and between them I carried the small death's head. 1976 New Yorker 15 Mar. 102/2 Wetsel, a staff sergeant (E-6) with three stripes and one rocker, arrived in the company. |
e. The upward curve on a surfboard.
| 1963 Surfing Yearbk. 43/1 Rocker, the slight upward slope in a surfboard. 1968 W. Warwick Surfriding in N.Z. 3/2 The nose, was rounded with a slight uplift or rocker. 1970 Studies in Eng. (Univ. of Cape Town) I. 27 Less familiar words include rocker, or banana, which indicates the curvature of the surfboard along its length. |
6. attrib. and
Comb. (in senses 2 b, 4, and 5), as
rocker bearing,
rocker box,
rocker-cam,
rocker gear,
rocker pump,
rocker-shaft,
rocker sieve,
rocker-sleeve,
rocker tailing,
rocker type;
rocker-less adj.;
rocker arm, a rocking lever in an engine;
esp. one in an internal-combustion engine which serves to work a valve and is operated by a push-rod from the camshaft;
rocker(-bottom) foot Med., a foot with the sole curved downwards;
rocker panel, in a motor vehicle, a panel forming part of the bodywork below the level of the passenger door;
rocker switch, an electrical switch having a mechanism incorporating a spring-loaded rocker.
| 1860 Clark & Colburn Rec. Pract. Locomotive Engine 67/1 The block..is carried upon the upper end of an arm, attached to, and vibrating upon the lower end of the *rocker-arm. 1874 Railroad Gaz. 9 May 170/2 This block is attached to the lower rocker-arm by a pin, c, which works freely in the block. 1928 Evening News 18 Aug. 1/3 Baron d'Erlanger's Lagonda broke a valve rocker arm, and had to retire. 1970 K. Ball Fiat 600, 600D Autobk. i. 12/2 Take off cylinder head cover, rocker arm and shaft assembly. |
| 1930 Engineering 30 May 696/3 The Aintree end [of the bridge] was treated..by means of four 100-ton jacks, and fixed *rocker bearings weighing 5 tons each were placed in position. 1975 New Yorker 17 Feb. 26/2 He [sc. a robot] has rocker bearings for hands, shock absorbers for forearms,..hubcaps for shoulders. |
| 1950 Jrnl. Bone & Joint Surg. XXXIIa. 344 Sonnenburg saw 688 cases of congenital club-foot, 42 cases of flat-foot, and 15 cases of congenital convex pes valgus or ‘*rocker-bottom’ foot... In two of the cases club-foot was present originally; due to mistreatment, rocker-foot developed. 1956 Clin. Orthopaedics VIII. 94/2 If applied properly to give pressure under the cuboid, the packed felt will prevent the disastrous deformity of rocker foot. 1977 N. E. Shaw in Bone & Joint Dis. (Brit. Med. Assoc.) 114 (caption) Calcaneus is in equinus and is tucked up behind ankle joint. Rocker-bottom deformity has developed. |
| 1892 J. G. A. Meyer Mod. Locomotive Constr. 199 The lifting-shaft bearing and *rocker-box..are bolted to the front splice. 1965 Motor 17 July 3/2 Condensation in the rocker box of his B.M.C. 1100. |
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *Rocker-cam, a vibrating cam. |
| 1902 F. J. A. Matthews Electr. Motor Installations iii. 51 No *rocker-gear is fitted to the machine, so that it is impossible..to alter the position of the brushes. 1950 Newton & Steeds Motor Vehicle (ed. 4) vi. 118 (caption) Rocker gear of refined design for overhead camshaft. |
| 1922 D. H. Lawrence Aaron's Rod i. 9 A baby was cooing in a *rocker-less wicker cradle. |
| 1921 C. W. Terry Pract. Motor Body Building xxxviii. 255 A standard pattern taxi-cab with recessed *rocker panels at the back. 1952 T. A. Wohlfeil et al. Automobile Body Reconditioning vii. 88/1 Rocker panels are boxlike sections consisting of inner and outer panels welded to the edge of the floor pan. 1978 N.Y. Times 29 Mar. a25/4 (Advt.), Porsche '77... Sport wheel, fogs, alloys, rocker panel. |
| 1892 Daily News 11 July 12/5 *Rocker pumps, pair of 8in. lift pumps. |
| 1842 R. & G. L. Schuyler in Q. Papers Engin. (1844) I. iv. 2 The valves..are of our own contrivance, and peculiar to this ship; they are worked by a separate eccentric and *rocker shaft, which is set as to follow the motion of the steam valve. 1939 Automobile Engineer XXIX. 300/2 Rubber gland packing effectively seals the rocker shaft against leakage. 1950 Engineering 4 Aug. 104/1 A number of parts such as valves and valve gear..rocker shaft components, and bearings, are interchangeable with the six- and eight-cylinder engines. |
| 1869 Overland Monthly III. 301/2 The united crash of pebbles on hundreds of quickly agitated *rocker sieves, sounded in his ear like the roar of a cotton factory. 1884 Bull. U.S. Nat. Museum No. 27. 575 Cradle or Rocker Sieve, for washing the contents of the dredges. |
| 1890 Cent. Dict., *Rocker-sleeve, a part of the breech-action of a magazine-gun. |
| 1964 Electr. Engineer's Ref. Bk. (ed. 11) xxx. 79 (heading) *Rocker switch. 1971 Daily Tel. 24 Nov. 11/4 The facia has been tidied up and rocker switches provided. 1975 F. Porges Design of Electr. Services for Buildings i. 3 The advantages of the rocker switch are that it is easier to operate and that it is almost impossible to hold half open, even deliberately. |
| 1906 C. de L. Canfield Diary of Forty-Niner ii. 18 Worked out the claim and before I moved the Tom, tried some of the *rocker tailings. |
| 1899 Westm. Gaz. 28 Sept. 3/3 A bulb fin keel of the *rocker type. |
▪ II. ˈrocker2 [f. rock n.1 + -er1.] = rockier.
| 1862 [see rockier]. 1895 P. H. Emerson Birds Norf. Broadland 239 The Stock-Dove, miscalled the ‘blue rocker’, is a smaller bird than the old ‘ring-dow’. |
▪ III. ˈrocker3 Sc. rare—1.
[f. rock n.2] One who takes part in a rocking.
| 1818 Edinb. Mag. Aug. 153 He was esteemed the most acceptable rocker, whose memory was most plentifully stored with such thrilling narratives. |