rocker English · revision 1879

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=14th century}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈɹɒk.ə(ɹ)/ ''(UK)''; /ˈɹɑ.kɚ/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed [[af|en|rock|-er]],^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002) from [[enm|rokker]], [[m|enm|rokkere|t=one who rocks a cradle]],^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(Webster's Third 1961) from [[m|enm|rokken|t=to rock]] and [[m|enm|-ere|t=-er]].^(MWU 2024)^(Webster's Third 1961) The rock-music senses are from ''rock'' in its musical sense.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A nurse or attendant who rocks a child's cradle (14th century).^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the person who rocks a cradle, the word passed to the things that rock.^(OED 1989)^(HTOED) In Scots the plural meant a cradle (1566).^(OED 1989)^(HTOED) From the 1760s it named one of the curved pieces fixed under a cradle or chair so that it can rock;^(MW Collegiate)^(HTOED) since 1836, first in the United States, a rocking chair itself.^(HTOED)^(Etymonline) Many devices that rock were later called rockers: a cradle for washing gold-bearing gravel, a skate with a curved blade, a mezzotint engraver's toothed tool, and parts of machines and engines.^(HTOED)^(SOED 2002)^(AHD) The slang ''off one's rocker'', crazy, is recorded from 1897;^(OED 1989)^(GDoS)^(Etymonline) Etymonline notes an earlier baseball phrase ''get off one's rocker'', get busy (1895).^(Etymonline) In American military insignia the curved stripe under a sergeant's chevrons has been a rocker since 1944.^(Dalzell 2013)^(HTOED) With rock and roll came the senses of a rock song (1947) and a performer or fan of rock music (1958 in the Historical Thesaurus, 1963 in the OED),^(HTOED)^(OED 1989) and in 1960s Britain the Rockers, leather-jacketed motorcyclists who were rivals of the Mods.^(Etymonline)^(GDoS)^(Chambers 2008)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 14th century – one who rocks a cradle.^(OED 1989)^(MWU 2024)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1566 – a cradle (Scots, plural).^(OED 1989)^(HTOED)

+ * 1760 – a curved support for rocking.^(MW Collegiate)^(HTOED)

+ * 1820 – an ice skate with a curved blade.^(HTOED)

+ * 1836 – a rocking chair (originally US).^(HTOED)

+ * 1897 – ''off one's rocker''.^(OED 1989)^(GDoS)

+ * 1944 – a stripe in military insignia.^(HTOED)^(Dalzell 2013)

+ * 1947 – a rock song.^(HTOED)

+ * 1963 – a fan of rock music; a Rocker as opposed to a Mod.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Either of the two curved pieces on which a [[cradle]] or [[rocking chair]] rocks.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A rocking chair or [[rocking horse]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Chambers 2008)

+ # A cradle used for washing [[ore]] or gold-bearing gravel.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # A small curved, toothed tool used to roughen the plate in [[mezzotint]] engraving.^(AHD)^(RHWU)

+ # An ice [[skate]] with a curved blade.^(AHD)^(RHWU)

+ # A curved stripe under the [[chevron]]s on a non-commissioned officer's insignia.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Dalzell 2013)

+ # Any of various devices that work with a rocking motion, such as a rocker arm in an engine.^(MW Collegiate)^(SOED 2002)

+ # A [[rock and roll|alt=rock]] performer, song or fan; in Britain, a member of a 1960s youth group of leather-clad motorcyclists, rivals of the [[mod]]s.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Chambers 2008)^(GDoS)

+ # ''(archaic)'' A person who rocks a cradle.^(MWU 2024)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[punk rocker]]

+ * [[rocker arm]]

+ * [[rocker panel]]

+ * [[platform rocker]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[rock]]

+ * [[rocking chair]]

+ * [[cradle]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Off one's rocker'' (slang) means crazy.^(MW Collegiate)^(GDoS)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}