rocketern.
/ˈrɒkᵻtə/, U.S. /ˈrɑkədər/ 1. A game bird, esp. a pheasant, that is flying fast and high, spec. one that flies rapidly straight up when flushed from cover.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > wild or domestic birds > [noun] > game-bird > that flies almost vertically or rockets
rocketer1852
1852 Fraser's Mag. Apr. 404/2 A magnificent cock-pheasant came sailing down the wind on his broad pinions, right above our heads, and ‘rocketer’ as he was, I brought him to the ground.
1870 ‘Ouida’ Held in Bondage (new ed.) viii. 97 Isn't it beautiful to see Sabretasche knock down the rocketers [1863 birds].
1883 19th Cent. Dec. 1090 The ‘rocketer’, which I may at once define as a bird flying fast and high in the air towards the shooter.
1916 E. V. Lucas Cloud & Silver (1971) 157 How the veteran rocketer had escaped I cannot say, but shoot after shoot found him still robust and elusive, while his relations were falling all around.
1947 I. J. Pitman in E. Barker Char. of Eng. xxii. 453 That pheasant..will give the shooter more joy in his earned indemnity than will be given by the neat dispatch of some high and curly rocketer.
1980 I. Colegate Shooting Party 78 That was a real rocketer you got on that last drive.
2. Cricket. A hit which goes very high; a skyer. Now disused.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > batting > [noun] > types of stroke
long ball1744
nip1752
catch1816
no-hit1827
cut1833
short hit1833
draw1836
drive1836
square hit1837
skylarker1839
skyer1840
skyscraper1842
back-cut1845
bum1845
leg sweep1846
slog1846
square cut1850
driver1851
Harrow drive1851
leg slip1852
poke1853
snick1857
snorter1859
leg stroke1860
smite1861
on-drive1862
bump ball1864
rocketer1864
pull1865
grass trimmer1867
late cut1867
off-drive1867
spoon1871
push1873
push stroke1873
smack1875
Harrow drive1877
pull-stroke1880
leg glance1883
gallery-hit1884
boundary-stroke1887
glide1888
sweep1888
boundary1896
hook1896
leg glide1896
backstroke1897
flick1897
hook stroke1897
cover-drive1898
straight drive1898
square drive1900
edger1905
pull-drive1905
slash1906
placing stroke1907
push drive1912
block shot1915
if-shot1920
placing shot1921
cow-shot1922
mow1925
Chinese cut1937
haymaker1954
hoick1954
perhapser1954
air shot1956
steepler1959
mishook1961
swish1963
chop-
1864 Baily's Monthly Mag. Mar. 348 He..took it at a half volley with a swing from the shoulder and a jerk that sent it away and away—a rocketer—still away above the crowd.
1887 F. Gale Game of Cricket v. iv. 70 He hit [the ball] too quick, and instead of going out of the field, as it might have done, it went up a tremendous rocketer.
1900 Badminton Mag. Oct. 380 The great smiter..hit a ball very high straight to the young blacksmith... But for some reason—whether he was thinking too much of the style of the thing, or was unused to rocketers—..the ball fell with a hollow clank on the top of his head.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1852