rod – English noun declension

English noun forms of rod

Noun: rod
Singularrod
Pluralrods

Sample Sentences

  • The circus strong man proved his strength by bending an iron rod, and then straightening it.
  • Which makes the concept known as Rods From God the ultimate form of kinetic weaponry. This theoretical weapon would drop telephone pole sized rods of dense tungsten from a satellite in orbit.
  • Picking up speed with each passing second, the rod would then penetrate the ground and generate an explosion akin to a small nuclear weapon using nothing but gravity for its propulsion. [2025 May 12, Jeff Edwards, “Rods from God: Unleashing Orbital Kinetic Bombardment as a Theoretical Defense System”, in Mira Safety:]
  • When I hooked a snake and not a fish, I got so scared I dropped my rod in the water.
  • So was I brought up: they tell mee, that in all my youth, I never felt rod [translating verges] but twice, and that very lightly. [1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 8, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:]
  • The judge imposed on the thief a sentence of fifteen strokes with the rod.
  • I notched a rod and used it to measure the length of rope to cut.
  • ‘And this thicket, so full of a natural art, was in the immediate vicinity, within a few rods, of the dwelling of Madame Deluc, whose boys were in the habit of closely examining the shrubberies about them in search of the bark of the sassafras.’ [1842, Edgar Allan Poe, The Mystery of Marie Rogêt:]
  • In one of the villages I saw the next summer a cow tethered by a rope six rods long[…]. [1865, Henry David Thoreau, Cape Cod:]
  • A few rods farther led him past the old black Presbyterian church, with its square tower, embowered in a stately grove; past the Catholic church, with its many crosses, and a painted wooden figure of St. James in a recess beneath the gable; and past the old Jefferson House, once the leading hotel of the town, in front of which political meetings had been held, and political speeches made, and political hard cider drunk, in the days of "Tippecanoe and Tyler too." [1900, Charles W[addell] Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC:]
  • the valley is forty to sixty rods wide [1924, Edward A. Ross, “Pocketed Americans”, in World Drift, New York; London: The Century Co., published 1928, page 68:]
  • The house had a small yard of about six rods in size.
  • The engine threw a rod, and then went to pieces before our eyes, springs and coils shooting in all directions.
  • The rods are more sensitive than the cones, but do not discern color.
  • He applied a gram positive stain, looking for rods indicative of Listeria.
  • One of them strode to his side and ran experienced fingers through his clothes. "No rod," he reported, "where's the jewelry?" [1916 August 26, The Electrical Experimenter, New York, page 249, column 1:]
  • [I'm gonna][…]throw some vaseline right in the crack a your ass, then I'm gonna shove my rod in your open hole and try to pacify your ornery soul. [2004, Bruce Jackson, Get Your Ass in the Water and Swim Like Me:]
  • These cylindrical rods fly through the air at incredible speeds and can only be picked up by high-speed cameras. [2000, Jack Barranger, Paul Tice, Mysteries Explored: The Search for Human Origins, Ufos, and Religious Beginnings, Book Three, p.37:]
  • During one such broadcast in 1997, the esteemed radio host bellowed, “I got a fax earlier today from MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) in Arizona and they said what you think are rods are actually insects!” [2009, Barry Conrad, An Unknown Encounter: A True Account of the San Pedro Haunting, Dorrance Publishing, pages 129–130:]
  • He tells of a home video showing a rod flying into the open mouth of a girl singing at a wedding. [2010, Deena West Budd, The Weiser Field Guide to Cryptozoology: Werewolves, Dragons, Skyfish, Lizard Men, and Other Fascinating Creatures Real and Mysterious, Weiser Books, page 15:]
  • In the early days troubles were experienced with oscillation from the rod drive and with the transformers, but were overcome later, and these machines performed useful service until superseded by more modern locomotives less costly in maintenance. [1960 December, Cecil J. Allen, “Operating a mountain main line: the Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, page 743:]

Etymology

1. Etymology tree
2. Old English *rodd
3. Middle English rodde
4. English rod
5. 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”). See: Middle English Nouns 'rodde', Old Norse Nouns 'rudda', English Nouns 'rid'.

Verbs referencing "rod"

German Nouns Rute, Norwegian Bokmål Nouns råde, Norwegian Nynorsk Nouns råde.