Rock, n.
 1. A large concreted mass of stony material; a large fixed stone or crag. See Stone.
 Come one, come all! this rock shall fly
 From its firm base as soon as I.   --Sir W. Scott.
 2. Geol. Any natural deposit forming a part of the earth's crust, whether consolidated or not, including sand, earth, clay, etc., when in natural beds.
 3. That which resembles a rock in firmness; a defense; a support; a refuge.
    The Lord is my rock, and my fortress.   --2 Sam. xxii. 2.
 4. Fig.: Anything which causes a disaster or wreck resembling the wreck of a vessel upon a rock.
 5. Zool. The striped bass. See under Bass.
 Note: ☞ This word is frequently used in the formation of self-explaining compounds; as, rock-bound, rock-built, rock-ribbed, rock-roofed, and the like.
 Rock alum. [Probably so called by confusion with F. roche a rock.] Same as Roche alum.
 Rock barnacle Zool., a barnacle (Balanus balanoides) very abundant on rocks washed by tides.
 Rock bass. Zool. (a) The stripped bass. See under Bass. (b) The goggle-eye. (c) The cabrilla. Other species are also locally called rock bass.
 Rock builder Zool., any species of animal whose remains contribute to the formation of rocks, especially the corals and Foraminifera.
 Rock butter Min., native alum mixed with clay and oxide of iron, usually in soft masses of a yellowish white color, occuring in cavities and fissures in argillaceous slate.
 Rock candy, a form of candy consisting of crystals of pure sugar which are very hard, whence the name.
 Rock cavy. Zool. See Moco.
 Rock cod Zool. (a) A small, often reddish or brown, variety of the cod found about rocks andledges. (b) A California rockfish.
 Rock cook. Zool. (a) A European wrasse (Centrolabrus exoletus). (b) A rockling.
 Rock cork Min., a variety of asbestus the fibers of which are loosely interlaced. It resembles cork in its texture.
 Rock crab Zool., any one of several species of large crabs of the genus C, as the two species of the New England coast (Cancer irroratus and Cancer borealis). See Illust. under Cancer.
 Rock cress Bot., a name of several plants of the cress kind found on rocks, as Arabis petraea, Arabis lyrata, etc.
 Rock crystal Min., limpid quartz. See Quartz, and under Crystal.
 Rock dove Zool., the rock pigeon; -- called also rock doo.
 Rock drill, an implement for drilling holes in rock; esp., a machine impelled by steam or compressed air, for drilling holes for blasting, etc.
 Rock duck Zool., the harlequin duck.
 Rock eel. Zool. See Gunnel.
 Rock goat Zool., a wild goat, or ibex.
 Rock hopper Zool., a penguin of the genus Catarractes. See under Penguin.
 Rock kangaroo. Zool. See Kangaroo, and Petrogale.
 Rock lobster Zool., any one of several species of large spinose lobsters of the genera Panulirus and Palinurus. They have no large claws. Called also spiny lobster, and sea crayfish.
 Rock meal Min., a light powdery variety of calcite occuring as an efflorescence.
 Rock milk. Min. See Agaric mineral, under Agaric.
 Rock moss, a kind of lichen; the cudbear. See Cudbear.
 Rock oil. See Petroleum.
 Rock parrakeet Zool., a small Australian parrakeet (Euphema petrophila), which nests in holes among the rocks of high cliffs. Its general color is yellowish olive green; a frontal band and the outer edge of the wing quills are deep blue, and the central tail feathers bluish green.
 Rock pigeon Zool., the wild pigeon (Columba livia) Of Europe and Asia, from which the domestic pigeon was derived. See Illust. under Pigeon.
 Rock pipit. Zool. See the Note under Pipit.
 Rock plover. Zool. (a) The black-bellied, or whistling, plover. (b) The rock snipe.
 Rock ptarmigan Zool., an arctic American ptarmigan (Lagopus rupestris), which in winter is white, with the tail and lores black. In summer the males are grayish brown, coarsely vermiculated with black, and have black patches on the back.
 Rock rabbit Zool., the hyrax. See Cony, and Daman.
 Rock ruby Min., a fine reddish variety of garnet.
 Rock salt Min., cloride of sodium (common salt) occuring in rocklike masses in mines; mineral salt; salt dug from the earth. In the United States this name is sometimes given to salt in large crystals, formed by evaporation from sea water in large basins or cavities.
 Rock seal Zool., the harbor seal. See Seal.
 Rock shell Zool., any species of Murex, Purpura, and allied genera.
 Rock snake Zool., any one of several large pythons; as, the royal rock snake (Python regia) of Africa, and the rock snake of India (Python molurus).  The Australian rock snakes mostly belong to the allied genus Morelia.
 Rock snipe Zool., the purple sandpiper (Tringa maritima); -- called also rock bird, rock plover, winter snipe.
 Rock soap Min., a kind of clay having a smooth, greasy feel, and adhering to the tongue.
 Rock sparrow. Zool. (a) Any one of several species of Old World sparrows of the genus Petronia, as Petronia stulla, of Europe. (b) A North American sparrow (Pucaea ruficeps).
 Rock tar, petroleum.
 Rock thrush Zool., any Old World thrush of the genus Monticola, or Petrocossyphus; as, the European rock thrush (Monticola saxatilis), and the blue rock thrush of India (Monticola cyaneus), in which the male is blue throughout.
 Rock tripe Bot., a kind of lichen (Umbilicaria Dillenii) growing on rocks in the northen parts of America, and forming broad, flat, coriaceous, dark fuscous or blackish expansions. It has been used as food in cases of extremity.
 Rock trout Zool., any one of several species of marine food fishes of the genus Hexagrammus, family Chiradae, native of the North Pacific coasts; -- called also sea trout, boregat, bodieron, and starling.
 Rock warbler Zool., a small Australian singing bird (Origma rubricata) which frequents rocky ravines and water courses; -- called also cataract bird.
 Rock wren Zool., any one of several species of wrens of the genus Salpinctes, native of the arid plains of Lower California and Mexico.
 Snipe n.
 1. Zool. Any one of numerous species of limicoline game birds of the family Scolopacidae, having a long, slender, nearly straight beak.
 Note: ☞ The common, or whole, snipe (Gallinago cœlestis) and the great, or double, snipe (Gallinago major), are the most important European species. The Wilson's snipe (Gallinago delicata) (sometimes erroneously called English snipe) and the gray snipe, or dowitcher (Macrohamphus griseus), are well-known American species.
 2. A fool; a blockhead. [R.]
 Half snipe, the dunlin; the jacksnipe.
 Jack snipe. See Jacksnipe.
 Quail snipe. See under Quail.
 Robin snipe, the knot.
 Sea snipe. See in the Vocabulary.
 Shore snipe, any sandpiper.
 Snipe hawk, the marsh harrier. [Prov. Eng.]
 Stone snipe, the tattler.
 Summer snipe, the dunlin; the green and the common European sandpipers.
 Winter snipe. See Rock snipe, under Rock.
 Woodcock snipe, the great snipe.
 Win·ter n.
 1. The season of the year in which the sun shines most obliquely upon any region; the coldest season of the year.  “Of thirty winter he was old.”
 And after summer evermore succeeds
 Barren winter, with his wrathful nipping cold.   --Shak.
    Winter lingering chills the lap of May.   --Goldsmith.
 Note: ☞ North of the equator, winter is popularly taken to include the months of December, January, and February (see Season).  Astronomically, it may be considered to begin with the winter solstice, about December 21st, and to end with the vernal equinox, about March 21st.
 2. The period of decay, old age, death, or the like.
    Life's autumn past, I stand on winter's verge.   --Wordsworth.
 Winter apple, an apple that keeps well in winter, or that does not ripen until winter.
 Winter barley, a kind of barley that is sown in autumn.
 Winter berry Bot.,  the name of several American shrubs (Ilex verticillata, Ilex laevigata, etc.) of the Holly family, having bright red berries conspicuous in winter.
 Winter bloom. Bot. (a) A plant of the genus Azalea. (b) A plant of the genus Hamamelis (Hamamelis Viginica); witch-hazel; -- so called from its flowers appearing late in autumn, while the leaves are falling.
 Winter bud Zool., a statoblast.
 Winter cherry Bot., a plant (Physalis Alkekengi) of the Nightshade family, which has, a red berry inclosed in the inflated and persistent calyx.  See Alkekengi.
 Winter cough Med., a form of chronic bronchitis marked by a cough recurring each winter.
 Winter cress Bot., a yellow-flowered cruciferous plant (Barbarea vulgaris).
 Winter crop, a crop which will bear the winter, or which may be converted into fodder during the winter.
 Winter duck. Zool. (a) The pintail. (b) The old squaw.
 Winter egg Zool., an egg produced in the autumn by many invertebrates, and destined to survive the winter. Such eggs usually differ from the summer eggs in having a thicker shell, and often in being enveloped in a protective case. They sometimes develop in a manner different from that of the summer eggs.
 Winter fallow, ground that is fallowed in winter.
 Winter fat. Bot. Same as White sage, under White.
 Winter fever Med., pneumonia. [Colloq.]
 Winter flounder. Zool. See the Note under Flounder.
 Winter gull Zool., the common European gull; -- called also winter mew. [Prov. Eng.]
 Winter itch. Med. See Prarie itch, under Prairie.
 Winter lodge, or Winter lodgment. Bot. Same as Hibernaculum.
 Winter mew. Zool. Same as Winter gull, above. [Prov. Eng.]
 Winter moth Zool., any one of several species of geometrid moths which come forth in winter, as the European species (Cheimatobia brumata). These moths have rudimentary mouth organs, and eat no food in the imago state. The female of some of the species is wingless.
 Winter oil, oil prepared so as not to solidify in moderately cold weather.
 Winter pear, a kind of pear that keeps well in winter, or that does not ripen until winter.
 Winter quarters, the quarters of troops during the winter; a winter residence or station.
 Winter rye, a kind of rye that is sown in autumn.
 Winter shad Zool., the gizzard shad.
 Winter sheldrake Zool., the goosander. [Local, U. S.]
 Winter sleep Zool., hibernation.
 Winter snipe Zool., the dunlin.
 Winter solstice. Astron. See Solstice, 2.
 Winter teal Zool., the green-winged teal.
 Winter wagtail Zool., the gray wagtail (Motacilla melanope). [Prov. Eng.]
 Winter wheat, wheat sown in autumn, which lives during the winter, and ripens in the following summer.
 Winter wren Zool., a small American wren (Troglodytes hiemalis) closely resembling the common wren.