rockinessn.1
/ˈrɒkɪnᵻs/, U.S. /ˈrɑkinᵻs/ The quality of being rocky, esp. in consisting of or containing a large number of rocks.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > rock > [noun] > quality of being
rockiness1611
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Rochaille, rockes; rockinesse.
1640 in Rec. Early Hist. Boston (1877) II. 55 Brother Robert Scott hath the like 200 acres graunted him there,..without alowance for rockienes or swampe.
1660 J. Childrey Britannia Baconica 3 The rockiness and dryness of the Countrey.
1720 Magna Britannia I. 495/1 The Mountains indeed are not capable of such Husbandry as the Plains and Valleys, both upon Account of their Steepness and Rockiness.
1775 J. Adair Hist. Amer. Indians 228 The Alps of Italy are much inferior to several of the Cheerake Mountains, both in height and rockiness.
1805 W. Saunders Treat. Mineral Waters (ed. 2) 153 The New Town,..from the great inequality of its site, and the rockyness of its soil, is very soon dry after the severest showers.
1881 Scribner's Monthly Jan. 387/2 The track gradually narrowed..into a thin, ribbon-like course, suggestive, from its rugged rockiness, of the channel of a mountain stream.
1913 Geogr. Jrnl. 41 546 In Bufumbira, the general rockiness of the ground..is bad for walking and riding.
1954 E. Taylor Hester Lilly 62 The dark rockiness of the place was chilling, the clay paths slippery in wet weather.
2000 P. Selman Environmental Planning (ed. 2) vii. 244 Class F7—land unsuitable for producing tree crops; sites subject to extremes of climate, wetness, rockiness and slope.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
rockinessn.2
/ˈrɒkɪnᵻs/, U.S. /ˈrɑkinᵻs/ The state or condition of being rocky (in various senses of rocky adj.2); instability, shakiness.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > unreliability > [noun] > weakness, instability
ticklenessc1390
infirmness1596
precariousness1666
weakness1686
shakiness1862
ricketiness1867
rockiness1897
wonkiness1982
1897 Western Mail (Cardiff) 9 Jan. 6/1 What may be urged against him is a suspicion of rockiness, remaining from his recent illness.
1917 Racine (Wisconsin) Jrnl.-News 15 Dec. 8/4 The whole of Slosh-in-the-Mud had been grumbling for ages about the general rockiness of the local railway. It made sailors home on leave seasick.
1966 Portsmouth (Ohio) Times 17 Sept. 8/8 I've had a rocky time of it lately. But most of the rockiness was in my own mind for I had become a soured, gripey man.
1988 Herald (Melbourne) (Nexis) 28 Apr. The rockiness in some sections—at its worst when the steamer turned to return to wharf—made the evening a stern test of balance.
2006 J. Clemens Hinterland (2007) i. 12 The world still felt out of kilter, unbalanced, and every inhabitant of each of the Nine Lands sensed the rockiness of this ship.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, June 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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