Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Rod

Rod (rŏd), n. [The same word as rood. See Rood.] 1. A straight and slender stick; a wand; hence, any slender bar, as of wood or metal (applied to various purposes). Specifically: (a) An instrument of punishment or correction; figuratively, chastisement.

He that spareth his rod hateth his son. Prov. xiii. 24.

(b) A kind of sceptor, or badge of office; hence, figuratively, power; authority; tyranny; oppression. "The rod, and bird of peace." Shak. (c) A support for a fishing line; a fish pole. Gay. (d) (Mach. & Structure) A member used in tension, as for sustaining a suspended weight, or in tension and compression, as for transmitting reciprocating motion, etc.; a connecting bar. (e) An instrument for measuring.

2. A measure of length containing sixteen and a half feet; — called also perch, and pole.

Black rod. See in the Vocabulary. — Rods and cones (Anat.), the elongated cells or elements of the sensory layer of the retina, some of which are cylindrical, others somewhat conical.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.