rod.
A straight, round stick, shaft, bar, cane, or staff.
Meaning & usage
A straight, round stick, shaft, bar, cane, or staff.
The circus strong man proved his strength by bending an iron rod, and then straightening it.
A longitudinal pole used for forming part of a framework such as an awning or tent.
A long slender usually tapering pole used for angling; fishing rod.
When I hooked a snake and not a fish, I got so scared I dropped my rod in the water.
A stick, pole, or bundle of switches or twigs (such as a birch), used for personal defense or to administer corporal punishment by whipping.
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.
The judge imposed on the thief a sentence of fifteen strokes with the rod.
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.
I notched a rod and used it to measure the length of rope to cut.
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).
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.
A unit of area equal to a square rod, 30+¹⁄₄ square yards or ¹⁄₁₆₀ acre.
The house had a small yard of about six rods in size.
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.
The engine threw a rod, and then went to pieces before our eyes, springs and coils shooting in all directions.
A rod cell: a rod-shaped cell in the eye that is sensitive to light.
The rods are more sensitive than the cones, but do not discern color.
Any of a number of long, slender microorganisms.
He applied a gram positive stain, looking for rods indicative of Listeria.
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.
A pistol; a gun.
The penis.
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.
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.
A Cuisenaire rod.
A coupling rod or connecting rod, which links the driving wheels of a steam locomotive, and some diesel shunters and early electric locomotives.
A drain rod, being a set of segmented rods with interlocking connectors designed to remain attached even under rotation in use.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Old English *rodd Middle English rodde English rod 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”).
To reinforce concrete with metal rods.
To furnish with rods, especially lightning rods.
To penetrate sexually.
To hot rod.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Old English *rodd Middle English rodde English rod 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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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.