• vi. 飞驰，飞快地移动；迅速增加
• n. 火箭
• vt. 用火箭运载

来自意大利语 rocchetto,纺纱轴，纺锤，烟花，火箭，来自 Proto-Germanic*rukkon,摇晃，纺 纱，来自 PIE*rug,纺纱，词源同 rock.-etto,小词后缀。比喻用法，因烟花，火箭形似纺锤体 而得名。

rocket

rocket: English has two words rocket. The older, and now less familiar, is the name of a plant of the cabbage family whose leaves are used in salads. It was inspired by the plant’s downy stems, for it goes back ultimately to Latin ērūca, which originally meant ‘hairy caterpillar’. This may have been related to ērīcius ‘hedgehog’, from which English gets caprice and urchin.

It passed into Italian as ruca, whose diminutive form ruchetta developed a variant rochetta – whence French roquette and finally English rocket [16]. Rocket ‘projectile’ [17] is ultimately an allusion to the shape of such objects. It comes via Old French roquette from Italian rocchetto, a diminutive form of rocca ‘spool’ – hence the application to the ‘cylindrical’ rocket. Rocca itself represents a borrowing from a prehistoric Germanic *rukkon, which also lies behind English ratchet.
=> caprice, urchin; ratchet

rocket (n.1)

garden plant of the cabbage family, c. 1500, from Middle French roquette (16c.), from Italian rochetta, diminutive of ruca "a kind of cabbage," from Latin eruca "colewort," perhaps so called for its downy stems and related to ericus "hedgehog," also "a beam set with spikes," from PIE *ghers- "to bristle" (see horror).

rocket (n.2)

type of self-propelling projectile, 1610s, from Italian rocchetto "a rocket," literally "a bobbin," diminutive of rocca "a distaff," so called because of cylindrical shape. The Italian word probably is from a Germanic source (compare Old High German rocko "distaff," Old Norse rokkr), from Proto-Germanic *rukkon-, from PIE root *rug- "fabric, spun yarn."

Originally "fireworks rocket," meaning "device propelled by a rocket engine" first recorded 1919; rocket-ship in the modern sense first attested February 1927 ("Popular Science"); earlier as a type of naval warship firing projectiles. Rocket science in the figurative sense of "difficult, complex process or topic" is attested by 1985. Rocket scientist is from 1952.

That such a feat is considered within the range of possibility is evidenced by the activities of scientists in Europe as well as in America. Two of them, Prof. Herman Oberth and Dr. Franz Hoeff, of Vienna, are constructing a five-ton rocket ship in which they hope to reach the moon in two days. ["Popular Science," Feb. 1927]

rocket (v.)

"to spring like a rocket," 1860, from rocket (n.2). Earlier "to attack with rockets" (1799). Related: Rocketed; rocketing.

1. A Delta II rocket was launched from Cape Canaveral early this morning.

今天一早，一枚“德尔塔”Ⅱ型火箭在卡纳维拉尔角发射升空。

来自柯林斯例句

2. The Ariane space-rocket project has had a shining success.

阿里安航天火箭项目取得了辉煌的成功。

来自柯林斯例句

3. First a house took a direct hit and then the rocket exploded.

先是一幢房子被直接击中，然后火箭弹就爆炸了。

来自柯林斯例句

4. Interviewing politicians may not be rocket science, but it does matter.

采访政治家可能并不是什么高难度的事，但的确很重要。

来自柯林斯例句

5. The rocket tumbled out of control shortly after lift-off.

发射后不久，火箭就失控坠落了。

来自柯林斯例句