rockets

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of rocket.

   Engineers tracked the rockets as they climbed steeply into the clear sky.

   The display ended with bright rockets bursting above the harbor.

   Note

   One plural serves every kind of rocket: fireworks bursting over a harbor, missiles and spacecraft, the engines that drive them, even the blunt lance heads used in jousting. Context does the sorting. The figurative senses travel too. In sport a rocket is a hard, fast shot, so a match report's rockets may be strikes on goal. In British slang it is a severe telling-off.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of rocket.

   Demand rockets each summer as tourists flood the coastal towns.

   The young striker rockets down the wing past two defenders.

   Note

   A verb of sudden speed and height: demand, prices or a career rockets when it climbs fast, and a newcomer rockets to fame. It can stand alone (the striker rockets past two defenders) or take an object. The literal uses, carrying something by rocket or attacking a target with rockets, are transitive: an army rockets an enemy position.

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