Rob-the-ruffian, subs. phr. (venery).—The female pudendum: see Monosyllable.
Rob-thief, subs. phr. (old).—See
quot.
d. 1655. Adams, Works, i. 195. Now he plays rob-thief, and steals from himself.
Roby Douglas, subs. phr. (nautical).—The
breech: see Monocular-eyeglass.
Rochester-portion, subs. phr.
(old).—'Two torn Smocks, and
what Nature gave.'—B. E. (c.
1696); Grose (1785).
Rock, subs. (common).—Generic
for hard eatables:— (1) = a
cheese made from skim-milk,
and said to be 'used in making
pins to fasten gates' (Hampshire);
(2) a kind of hard sweetmeat; (3)
school bread as distinguished
from 'baker's-bread' (Derby
School); (4) a hard kind of soap:
see quot. 18..; &c., &c.
1857. Kingsley, Two Years Ago, xv. Promising them rock and bull's-eyes.
1885. W. L. Carpenter, Soap and Candles, 254. Calcium stearate and oleate are formed. . . . These . . . when mixed together constitute an insoluble soap, technically called rock.
1888. Harper's Mag., lxxvi. 625. Pieces of peppermint rock . . . prized by youthful gourmands.
5. (common).—A rock pigeon.
1885. Field, 4 Ap. Being a bit slow in firing, a fast rock escaped him.
6. (American).—In pl. = money. Hence pocketful of rocks = flush; on the rocks = stranded (q.v.).
1846. Pickings from the New Orleans Picayune. Spare my feelings, Squire, and don't ask me to tell any more. Here I am in town without a rock in my pocket, and without a skirt to my coat, or crown to my hat.
1847. Robb, Squatter Life, 165. You know if I had a pocket full of rocks you should share them.
7. (American).—A pebble; a stone (at Winchester = a medium-sized stone): as verb. = to throw stones.
18 [?]. Jonesborough (Tenn.) Whig [Bartlett]. They commenced rocking the Clay Club House in June, on more occasions than one, and on one occasion threw a rock in at the window.
1848. Georgia Scenes, 193. S came home in a mighty bad way, with a cold and a cough; so I put a hot rock to his feet, &c.
1872. O. W. Holmes, Poet at Breakf. Table, xii. The boys would follow . . . crying, 'Rock him !' . . . He's got a long-tailed coat on.
1893. Bret Harte, Soc. on the Stanislaus. Nor should the individual . . . Reply by heaving rocks at him.
8. (common).—A cause of difficulty, defeat, or annoyance: as an over-trump at cards, an obstacle suddenly placed in one's way, and so forth.
1601. Shakspeare, Henry VIII., i. 1, 113. Lo, where comes that rock, That I advise your shunning. [Enter Cardinal Wolsey.]
d. 1654. Selden, Table Talk. 57. Every Church govern'd itself, or else we must fall upon that old foolish Rock, that St. Peter and his Successours govern'd all.
The Rock, subs. phr. (common).—Gibraltar.
To do by rock of eye and rule of thumb, verb. phr. (tailors').—To substitute guess-*work for exact measurement.
See Bedrock, Rocker.
Rocker (or rokker), verb.
(tramps': originally Gypsy).—1.
To understand; (2) to speak.
1876. Hindley, Cheap Jack, 231. Can you rocker Romany, Can you patter flash?
