rod

Where “rod” sits in English frequency

Definition

1. 1
   A straight, round stick, shaft, bar, cane, or staff.
2. 2
   A longitudinal pole used for forming part of a framework such as an awning or tent.
3. 3
   A long slender usually tapering pole used for angling; fishing rod.
4. 4
   A stick, pole, or bundle of switches or twigs (such as a birch), used for personal defense or to administer corporal punishment by whipping.
5. 5
   An implement resembling and/or supplanting a rod (particularly a cane) that is used for corporal punishment, and metonymically called the rod, regardless of its actual shape and composition.
6. 6
   A stick used to measure distance, by using its established length or task-specific temporary marks along its length, or by dint of specific graduated marks.
7. 7
   A unit of length equal to 1 pole, a perch, ¹⁄₄ chain, 5+¹⁄₂ yards, 16+¹⁄₂ feet, or exactly 5.0292 meters (these being all equivalent).
8. 8
   An implement held vertically and viewed through an optical surveying instrument such as a transit, used to measure distance in land surveying and construction layout; an engineer's rod, surveyor's rod, surveying rod, leveling rod, ranging rod. The modern (US) engineer's or surveyor's rod commonly is eight or ten feet long and often designed to extend higher. In former times a surveyor's rod often was a single wooden pole or composed of multiple sectioned and socketed pieces, and besides serving as a sighting target was used to measure distance on the ground horizontally, hence for convenience was of one rod or pole in length, that is, 5+¹⁄₂ yards.
9. 9
   A unit of area equal to a square rod, 30+¹⁄₄ square yards or ¹⁄₁₆₀ acre.
10. 10
    A straight bar that unites moving parts of a machine, for holding parts together as a connecting rod or for transferring power as a driveshaft.
11. 11
    A rod cell: a rod-shaped cell in the eye that is sensitive to light.
12. 12
    Any of a number of long, slender microorganisms.
13. 13
    A stirring rod: a glass rod, typically about 6 inches to 1 foot long and ¹⁄₈ to ¹⁄₄ inch in diameter that can be used to stir liquids in flasks or beakers.
14. 14
    A pistol; a gun.
15. 15
    The penis.
16. 16
    A hot rod, an automobile or other passenger motor vehicle modified to run faster and often with exterior cosmetic alterations, especially one based originally on a pre-1940s model or (currently) denoting any older vehicle thus modified.
17. 17
    A rod-shaped object that appears in photographs or videos traveling at high speed, not seen by the person recording the event, often associated with extraterrestrial entities.
18. 18
    A Cuisenaire rod.
19. 19
    A coupling rod or connecting rod, which links the driving wheels of a steam locomotive, and some diesel shunters and early electric locomotives.
20. 20
    A drain rod, being a set of segmented rods with interlocking connectors designed to remain attached even under rotation in use.

Etymology

From Middle English rodde, from Old English *rodd or *rodde (attested in dative plural roddum (“rod, pole”)), of uncertain origin, but probably from Proto-Germanic *rudd- (“stick, club”), from Proto-Indo-European *rewdʰ- (“to clear land”). Compare Old Norse rudda (“club”). For the root, compare English rid. Presumably unrelated to Proto-Germanic *rōdō (“rod, pole”).

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