rocker

English

Etymology

From Middle English rokker, rockere, rokkere, equivalent to rock +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɒk.ə(ɹ)/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɑ.kɚ/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɔk.ə(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -ɒkə(ɹ)

Noun

rocker (plural rockers)

1. A curved piece of wood attached to the bottom of a rocking chair or cradle that enables it to rock back and forth.
   • 1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, volume 1, London: James R. Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., page 30:

     The cradle-rockers had done hard duty for so many years, under the weight of so many children, on that flagstone floor, that they were worn nearly flat, in consequence of which a huge jerk accompanied each swing of the cot, flinging the baby from side to side like a weaver's shuttle, as Mrs Durbeyfield, excited by her song, trod the rocker with all the spring that was left in her after a long day's seething in the suds.

2. A rocking chair.
   • 2021, “Buy Dirt”, in Buy Dirt, performed by Jordan Davis:

     A few days before he turned 80
     He was sittin' out back in a rocker

3. (surfing) The lengthwise curvature of a surfboard. (More rocker is a more curved board.)

   All modern surfboards share a similar rocker design — Bruce Jones

4. The breve below as in ḫ.
   • 1984, Matthew Wolfgang Stolper, Texts from Tall-i Malyan Elamite Administrative Texts (1972–1974) (Occasional Publications of the Babylonian Fund; 6), University of Pennsylvania Press, →ISBN, page XVII:

     Like the editors of other Elamite texts, I omit the diacritic rocker from h in Elamite and from H in logograms in Elamite texts. I retain the rocker in ḫ and Ḫ in Sumerian and Akkadian.

   • 2011, Theo van den Hout, The Elements of Hittite, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 13:

     Although the exact sound value of s remains uncertain, and there is only one such sibiliant in Hittite, it is traditionally transliterated with a so-called haček: š. This should not be taken, however, as evidence that it was a palatal sound (as sh in show). The same is true for the traditional “rocker” under the laryngeal ḫ: there is no other h-sign, and the diacritic is not strictly necessary.

   • 2019, John Huehnergard, “Proto-Semitic”, in Huehnergard, John and Na'ama Pat-El, editors, The Semitic Languages, 2nd edition, Routledge, →ISBN, page 15:

     Semitistic transliteration systems […] a number of features are common to most of them: […] ḫ (“h” with a “rocker,” conventionally called “hooked h”) for the voiceless velar/uvular fricative, IPA [x]/[χ], […]

5. Someone passionate about rock music.
6. A musician who plays rock music.
7. (informal) A rock music song.
   • September 2010, Pitchfork Media, The Top 200 Tracks of the 1990s

     "Girls & Boys" is also a tart, sneering rocker, full of ingenious musical gestures

8. One who rocks something.
   • 1660, Thomas Fuller, “Trusting maketh one Trusty”, in Mixt Contemplations in Better Times, London: R D for Iohn Williams, , →OCLC, page :

     It was I Sir (ſaid the Rocker) who had the honour (ſome thirty years ſince) to attend on your Highneſs in your Infancie, […]

9. (UK) A member of a British subculture of the 1960s, opposed to the mods, who dressed in black leather and were interested in 1950s music.
10. Any implement or machine working with a rocking motion, such as a trough mounted on rockers for separating gold dust from gravel, etc., by agitation in water.
11. A tool with small teeth that roughens a metal plate to produce tonality in mezzotints.
12. A rocking horse.
13. A rocker board.
14. A skate with a curved blade, somewhat resembling in shape the rocker of a cradle.
15. A kind of electrical switch with a spring-loaded actuator.
16. (engineering) A rock shaft.
17. (military) A curved line accompanying the chevrons that denote rank, qualifying the rank with a grade.
    • 2000, Mark Collantes, The Academy, page 66:

      Cadet Sergeant First Class: 3 Chevrons and 2 rockers. Cadet Master Sergeant: 3 Chevrons and 3 rockers. Cadet First Sergeant: 3 Chevrons, 3 rockers with a diamond inset.

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

• Corker, Croker, corker, croker, re-rock, recork, rerock

Danish

Noun

rocker c (singular definite rockeren, plural indefinite rockere)

1. An outlaw biker

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English rocker.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈrɔ.kər/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: roc‧ker
• Rhymes: -ɔkər

Noun

rocker m (plural rockers, diminutive rockertje n)

1. A rocker (rock musician or rock fan).
2. A rocker (rock song).

Related terms

• rockster

French

Etymology

From rock +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁɔ.ke/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

rocker

1. to rock (play or enjoy rock music)

Conjugation

Related terms

• rock
• rockeur m / rockeuse f

Further reading

• “rocker”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from English rocker.

Noun

rocker m (plural rockeri)

1. rock music musician or fan

Declension

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from English rocker.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈrokeɾ/
• Rhymes: -okeɾ

Noun

rocker m (plural rockeres)

1. (rare) rocker (rock musician)