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rocket1

Pronunciation: /ˈrɒkɪt/
Translate rocket | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of rocket

noun

  • 1a cylindrical projectile that can be propelled to a great height or distance by the combustion of its contents, used typically as a firework or signal.
  • (also rocket engine or rocket motor) an engine that operates by the combustion of its contents, providing thrust as in a jet engine but without depending on the intake of air for combustion.
  • an elongated rocket-propelled missile or spacecraft: [as modifier]:a rocket launcher
  • used to refer to a person or thing that moves very fast or to an action that is done with great force:she shot out of her chair like a rocket
  • 2 [in singular] British informal a severe reprimand: he got a rocket from the Director

verb (rockets, rocketing, rocketed)

  • 1 [no object] (of an amount, price, etc.) increase very rapidly and suddenly:sales of milk in supermarkets are rocketing (as adjective rocketing)rocketing prices
  • [with adverbial of direction] move very rapidly: [no object]:he rocketed to national stardom [with object]:she showed the kind of form that rocketed her to the semi-finals last year
  • 2 [with object] attack with rocket-propelled missiles:the city was rocketed and bombed from the air

Phrases

rise like a rocket (and fall like a stick)

rise suddenly and dramatically (and subsequently fall in a similar manner): the firm worries that, after rising like a rocket, exports could drop like the stick

Origin:

early 17th century: from French roquette, from Italian rocchetto, diminutive of rocca 'distaff (for spinning)', with reference to its cylindrical shape

rocket in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of rocket in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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