Word Routes
Exploring the pathways of our lexicon
Rocking the English LanguageFri Jul 09 00:00:00 EDT 2010By Ben Zimmer
The latest quarterly update of the Oxford English Dictionary's online revision project covers the alphabetical range Rh to rococoesque, and it includes a fascinatingly complex entry for a seemingly simple word: rock, used as a verb. From the rocking of cradles in Old English sources to the rocking of microphones in rap lyrics, this entry has it all.
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