Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A chess piece that may move in a straight line over any number of empty squares in a rank or file.
- noun A Eurasian corvid (Corvus frugilegus) having black plumage with a patch of bare skin around the base of the bill, and nesting in colonies near the tops of trees.
- noun A swindler or cheat, especially at games.
- transitive verb To swindle; cheat.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Same as
ruck . - noun A kind of crow, Corvus frugilegus, abundant in Europe.
- noun The ruddy duck, Erismatura rubida.
- noun A cheat; a trickster or swindler; one who practises the “plucking of pigeons.” See
pigeon , 2. - noun A simpleton; a gull; one liable to be cheated.
- To caw or croak as a crow or raven.
- To cheat; defraud.
- To cheat; defraud by cheating.
- noun In chess, one of the four pieces placed on the corner squares of the board; a castle.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete Mist; fog. See
roke . - noun (Chess) One of the four pieces placed on the corner squares of the board; a castle.
- verb To cheat; to defraud by cheating.
- noun (Zoöl.) A European bird (
Corvus frugilegus ) resembling the crow, but smaller. It is black, with purple and violet reflections. The base of the beak and the region around it are covered with a rough, scabrous skin, which in old birds is whitish. It is gregarious in its habits. The name is also applied to related Asiatic species. - noun A trickish, rapacious fellow; a cheat; a sharper.
- intransitive verb obsolete To squat; to ruck.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun baseball, slang A
rookie . - noun A European
bird , Corvus frugilegus, of thecrow family. - noun A
swindler ; someone whobetrays . - noun UK a type of
firecracker used by farmers to scare birds of the same name. - verb transitive To
cheat or swindle. - noun chess A
piece shaped like a castletower , that can be moved only up, down, left or right (but notdiagonally ) or incastling . - noun rare A
castle or otherfortification . - noun An
Amish card game.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb deprive of by deceit
- noun common gregarious Old World bird about the size and color of the American crow
- noun (chess) the piece that can move any number of unoccupied squares in a direction parallel to the sides of the chessboard
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
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Examples
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I think the last white rook is behind the white king
EXTRALIFE – By Scott Johnson - Don’t play chess with this kid. 2008
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The word rook comes from the Persian rukh, which means chariot.
and now it's time for world news... jlundberg 2006
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Today, the name of the 'ruhkh' lives on in western chess as the "rook" - although the piece was converted to a tower or "castle" in western terminology; and in northern India and Pakistan many men are named after the 'shah ruhkh' including famous Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan.
Ancient Chariot Burial in China Jan 2008
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Today, the name of the 'ruhkh' lives on in western chess as the "rook" - although the piece was converted to a tower or "castle" in western terminology; and in northern India and Pakistan many men are named after the 'shah ruhkh' including famous Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan.
Archive 2008-12-01 Jan 2008
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There is the study that showed how a Eurasian corvid called a rook figured out that it could raise the level of water in a pitcher by adding rocks to it, just like in the ancient Aesop fable, so it could get a drink.
David Mizejewski: Corvids Are Oddly Intelligent David Mizejewski 2011
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There is the study that showed how a Eurasian corvid called a rook figured out that it could raise the level of water in a pitcher by adding rocks to it, just like in the ancient Aesop fable, so it could get a drink.
David Mizejewski: Corvids Are Oddly Intelligent David Mizejewski 2011
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Chimpy: Listen, I know in my heart your rook was a threat.
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Chimpy: Listen, your rook was a threat, so I removed him.
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Chimpy: Listen, I know in my heart your rook was a threat.
Archive 2004-05-01 2004
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Chimpy: Listen, your rook was a threat, so I removed him.
Archive 2004-05-01 2004
seanahan commented on the word rook
The chess piece is called a rook, not a castle.
February 21, 2007
vanishedone commented on the word rook
However, there is a move called castling, involving the rook.
November 30, 2007
treeseed commented on the word rook
Rook is a trick-taking game, usually played with a specialized deck of cards. Sometimes referred to as "Christian cards" or "missionary poker", Rook playing cards were introduced by Parker Brothers in 1906 to provide an alternative to standard playing cards for those in the Puritan tradition who considered the face cards in a regular deck inappropriate because of their association with gambling and cartomancy.
_Wikipedia
January 28, 2008
ofravens commented on the word rook
On the stiff twig up there
Hunches a wet black rook
Arranging and rearranging his feathers in the rain.
from "Black Rook in Rainy Weather," Sylvia Plath
March 26, 2008
dimã©lion commented on the word rook
"Like many other members of the Corvidae family, the rook features prominently in folklore. Traditionally, rooks are said to be able to forecast weather and to sense the approach of death. If a rookery — the colonial nesting area of rooks — were abandoned, it was said to bring bad fortune for the family that owned the land. Another folk-tale holds that rooks are responsible for escorting the souls of the virtuous dead to heaven. William Butler Yeats may be making reference to the latter tale in his poem The Cold Heaven."
-Wikipedia.
November 23, 2008
frogapplause commented on the word rook
a piercing on the antihelix of the ear.
May 22, 2009
winterstark commented on the word rook
A group of rooks is called "a parliament of rooks". Neil Gaiman explains why in his comic Sandman (#40):
"You'll get a field. Empty. Suddenly, the sky is black with birds, and they fall like a ragged black rain onto a field, covering it completely. Or almost completely... in the center of the field, there's an empty space. And in the middle of that space sits one lone rook. It caws, and calls, and caws some more. Then thousand little eyes stare at it, unflinching. Sometimes they call out, as if they're asking questions. It's like a parliament. It's like a trial. The lone rook continues to caw and the others wait. This can go on for hours. From dawn till near dusk.
Only one of two things could happen. Either the birds take wing as one, leaving the lone rook alone in the field...or, again as one, they fall on the bird, and peck it to death. Why? It's a mystery."
May 23, 2009
fbharjo commented on the word rook
from Middle English rok, from Middle French roc, from Arabic rukh, from Persian رخ rukh (=chess piece)
August 31, 2009