rook

Definition of rook

13 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

noun

(countable, uncountable)A European bird, Corvus frugilegus, of the crow family.

“But what distinguishes the rook from the crow is the bill; the nostrils, chin, and sides of that and the mouth being in old birds white and bared of feathers, by often thrusting the bill into the ground in search of the erucæ of the Dor-beetle*; the rook then, instead of being proscribed, should be treated as the farmer's friend; as it clears his ground from caterpillars, that do incredible damage by eating the roots of the corn.”
“To-night the winds begin to rise ⁠And roar from yonder dropping day: ⁠The last red leaf is whirl’d away, The rooks are blown about the skies; […]”

See all 13 definitions

noun

(countable, uncountable)A European bird, Corvus frugilegus, of the crow family.

“But what distinguishes the rook from the crow is the bill; the nostrils, chin, and sides of that and the mouth being in old birds white and bared of feathers, by often thrusting the bill into the ground in search of the erucæ of the Dor-beetle*; the rook then, instead of being proscribed, should be treated as the farmer's friend; as it clears his ground from caterpillars, that do incredible damage by eating the roots of the corn.”
“To-night the winds begin to rise ⁠And roar from yonder dropping day: ⁠The last red leaf is whirl’d away, The rooks are blown about the skies; […]”
(countable, uncountable)A cheat or swindler; someone who betrays.

“So I am (like an old rook, who is ruined by gaming) forced to live on the good fortune of the pushing young men, whose fancies are so vigorous that they ensure their success in their adventures with Muses, by their strength and imagination.”
(countable, uncountable)A bad deal; a rip-off.
(British, countable, uncountable)A type of firecracker used by farmers to scare birds of the same name.
(uncountable)A trick-taking game, usually played with a specialized deck of cards.

“Adventists still do not really know how to play cards, apart from the sanitized version of bridge, Rook.”
(archaic, countable, slang, uncountable)A parson.
A piece shaped like a castle tower, that can be moved only up, down, left or right (but not diagonally) or in castling.
(rare)A castle or other fortification.
(slang)A rookie.
(uncountable)mist; fog; roke

verb

(transitive)To cheat or swindle.

“They rook one shockingly at these places.”
“Some had spent a week in Jersey before coming to Guernsey; and, from what Paddy had heard, they really do know how to rook the visitors over there.”
(obsolete)To squat; to ruck.

“The raven rook'd her on the chimney's top”
(alt-of, pronunciation-spelling)Pronunciation spelling of look, mimicking Asian speech.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

* Inherited from Middle English rok, roke, from Old English hrōc, from Proto-West Germanic *hrōk, from Proto-Germanic *hrōkaz (compare Old Norse hrókr, Saterland Frisian Rouk, Dutch roek, obsolete German Ruch),…

See full etymology

* Inherited from Middle English rok, roke, from Old English hrōc, from Proto-West Germanic *hrōk, from Proto-Germanic *hrōkaz (compare Old Norse hrókr, Saterland Frisian Rouk, Dutch roek, obsolete German Ruch), from Proto-Indo-European *kerk- (“crow, raven”) (compare Old Irish cerc (“hen”), Old Prussian kerko (“loon, diver”), dialectal Bulgarian кро́кон (krókon, “raven”), Ancient Greek κόραξ (kórax, “crow”), Old Armenian ագռաւ (agṙaw), Avestan 𐬐𐬀𐬵𐬭𐬐𐬀𐬙𐬀𐬝 (kahrkatat̰, “rooster”), Sanskrit कृकर (kṛkara, “rooster”)), Ukrainian крук (kruk, “raven”). * (parson): Probably from the resemblance in plumage to a parson's garments.

Anagrams of rook

5 plays · some not in Scrabble

Words you can make from rook

4 playable · top: KOR (7 pts)

Best play kor 7 points

3-letter words

1 word

ROO 3 pts

2-letter words

2 words

Hooks

4 extensions · 2 front · 2 back

A single letter you can add to rook to make another valid word.