rod Definition

rod
noun

1. A long slender stick or bar of wood, metal, etc.

Thesaurus: staff, pole, stick, bar, cane, shaft.
2. A stick or bundle of twigs used to beat people as a punishment.
3. A stick, wand or sceptre carried as a symbol of office or authority.

Thesaurus: staff, mace, sceptre, wand.
4. A fishing-rod.
5. In surveying: a unit of length equivalent to 5.5yd (5.03m).
6. anatomy.
In the retina of the vertebrate eye: one of over 100 million rod-shaped cells containing the light-sensitive pigment rhodopsin, concerned with the perception of light intensity and essential for vision in dim light. Compare cone noun 3.
7. A rod-shaped bacterium.
8. A metal bar that forms part of the framework under a railway carriage.
(N Amer)
9. slang
A pistol.
10. coarse, slang
A penis.
11. A pole² (noun 2).

verb

rodded, rodding
1. To push or force a rod through (a drain, etc) to clear it.

Derivative: rodless
adj

Derivative: rodlike
adj

Idiom: make a rod for one's own back

To create trouble for oneself.

Idiom: ride the rods

(S)
To travel illegally on a railway, on the rods under railway carriages.

Etymology: Anglo-Saxon rodd.