roc
Pluralrocs
- 1An enormous mythical bird featured in the legends of the East.
The ancient mariner swore a roc had carried his ship's anchor up into the clouds.
Persian storytellers described a roc whose wings stretched wider than a ship's sails.
Note
A word that traveled west with the stories: Persian rux became Arabic ruḵḵ, then Spanish rocho or ruc, before English settled on roc. Its most famous appearance is Sinbad's Second Voyage in The Arabian Nights Entertainment, where the giant bird's arrival begins with the sky suddenly going "as dark as if it had been covered with a thick cloud." The plural is simply rocs.
- 2An informal short name for rocuronium, a fast-acting drug that relaxes the muscles during anesthesia.
Anesthesiologists often reach for roc when they need rapid muscle relaxation for intubation.
The chart noted that the patient's reaction to roc had been carefully monitored throughout.
Similarrocuronium
Note
Operating-room shorthand: anesthesia teams clip rocuronium to roc in speech. The drug itself is a nondepolarizing neuromuscular blocking agent, given to ease tracheal intubation and relax skeletal muscle. Keep roc for conversation among clinicians and use rocuronium in formal writing. Despite the identical spelling, it has nothing to do with the mythical bird. The two words come from different sources and share only their letters.
Practice
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Origin
From Spanish rocho or ruc, which came from Arabic رُخّ (ruḵḵ), itself from Classical Persian رُخ (rux).