Emily Dickinson Lexicon

ROBE, v.t.

1. To put on a robe; or to dress with magnificence; to array. – Pope. Thomson.
2. To dress; to invest, as with beauty or elegance; as, fields robed with green. Such was his power over the expression of his countenance, that he could in an instant shake off the sternness of winter, and robe it in the brightest smiles of spring. – Wirt.

ROB-ED, pp.

Dressed with a robe; arrayed with elegance.

ROB'ERS-MAN, or ROB'ERTS-MAN, n.

In the old statutes of England, a bold stout robber or night thief, said to be so called from Robinhood, a famous robber. Johnson.

ROB'ERT, or HERB-ROB'ERT, n.

A plant of the genus Geranium; stork's bill. – Fam. of Plants. Ainsworth.

ROB'ERT-INE, n.

One of an order of monks, so called from Robert Flower, the founder, A. D. 1187.

ROB'IN, n. [L. rubecula, from rubeo, to be red.]

1. A bird of the genus Motacilla, called also redbreast. This is the English application of the word.
2. In the United States, a bird with a red breast, a species of Turdus.

ROB-ING, ppr.

Dressing with a robe; arraying with elegance.

ROB'IN-GOOD-FEL-LOW, n.

An old domestic goblin. – Dering.

ROB'O-RANT, a. [L. roborans, roboro.]

Strengthening.

ROB'O-RANT, n.

A medicine that strengthens; but tonic is generally used.

ROB-O-RA'TION, n. [from L. roboro, from robur, strength.]

A strengthening. [Little used.] – Coles.

RO-BO'RE-OUS, a. [L. roboreus, from robur, strength, and an oak.]

Made of oak. Dict.

RO-BUST', a. [L. robustus, from robur, strength.]

1. Strong; lusty; sinewy; muscular; vigorous; forceful; as, a robust body; robust youth. It implies full flesh and sound health.
2. Sound; vigorous; as, robust health.
3. Violent; rough; rude. Romp loving miss / Is haul'd about in gallantry robust. – Thomson.
4. Requiring strength; as, robust employment. – Locke. Note. This is one of the words in which we observe a strong tendency in practice to accentuate the first syllable, as in access; and there are many situations of the word in which this is the preferable pronunciation. Robustious is extremely vulgar, and in the United States nearly obsolete.

RO-BUST'LY, adv.

With great strength; muscularly.

RO-BUST'NESS, n.

Strength; vigor, or the condition of the body when it has full firm flesh and sound health. – Arbuthnot.

ROC'AM-BOLE, or ROK'AM-BOLE, n. [from the French.]

A sort of wild garlic, the Allium ophioscorodon, growing naturally in Crete. Rocambole, wild, is Allium scorodoprasum, which grows in Denmark, &c.

RO-CEL'LIC-AC'ID, n. [RO-CEL'LIC AC'ID.]

An acid obtained from the Rocella tinctoria.

ROCHE-AL-UM, n. [Fr. roche, a rock. It ought to be written and called rock-alum.]

Rock-alum, a purer kind of alum. – Mortimer.

ROCHELLE-SALT, n. [Rochelle salt.]

Tartrate of potassa and soda.

ROCH'ET, n. [Fr. rochet; It. roccetto, rocchetto; Sax. rocc; G. rock; D. rok. This coincides in origin with frock.]

A surplice; the white upper garment of a priest worn while officiating. – Cleaveland.

ROCH'ET, n.

A fish, the roach, – which see.

ROCK, n.¹ [Fr. roc or roche; It. rocca, a rock, and a distaff; Sp. roca; Port. roca, rocha; Arm. roch; Basque, arroca. Dropping the first letter of crag, rock would seem to be the same word, and so named from breaking and the consequent roughness, corresponding with Gr. ῥαχια, as crag does with crack; Ar. خَرَقَ garaka, to burst, crack, tear, rake. So L. rupes, from the root of rumpo, to break or burst. If this is not the origin of rock, I know not to what root to assign it. See Class Rg, No. 34.]

1. A large mass of stony matter, usually compounded of two or more simple minerals, either bedded in the earth or resting on its surface. Sometimes rocks compose the principal part of huge mountains; sometimes huge rocks lie on the surface of the earth, in detached blocks or masses. Under this term, mineralogists class all mineral substances, coal, gypsum, salt, &c.
2. In Scripture, figuratively, defense; means of safety; protection; strength; asylum. The Lord is my rock. – 2 Sam. xxii.
3. Firmness; a firm or immovable foundation. – Ps. xxvii. Matth. vii. and xvi.
4. A species of vultur or condor. – Encyc.
5. A fabulous bird in the Eastern tales.

ROCK, n.² [Dan. rok; Sw. rock; D. rokken; G. rocken; It. rocca; Sp. rueca. The latter is rendered a distaff, a winding or twisting, and the fish of a mast or yard. The sense is probably a rack or frame.]

A distaff used in spinning; the staff or frame about which flax is arranged, from which the thread is drawn in spinning.

ROCK, v.i.

To be moved backward and forward; to reel. The rocking town / Supplants their footsteps. – Philips.

ROCK, v.t. [Dan. rokker, to move, stir, wag, rack, advance; G. rücken; Old Fr. rocquer or roquer; Sw. ragla, to reel; W. rhocian, to rock; rhoc, a shooting or moving different ways; Ar. رَجَّ ragga, to shake, to tremble, to agitate. This latter verb in Ch. and Syr. signifies to desire, to long for, that is, to reach or stretch, Gr. ορεγω; and it may be a different word.]

1. To move backward and forward, as a body resting on a foundation; as, to rock a cradle; to rock a chair; to rock a mountain. It differs from shake, as denoting a slower and more uniform motion, or larger movements. It differs from swing, which expresses a vibratory motion of something suspended. A rising earthquake rock'd the ground. – Dryden.
2. To move backward and forward in a cradle, chair, &c.; as, to rock a child to sleep. – Dryden.
3. To lull to quiet. Sleep rock thy brain. [Unusual.] – Shak.