rods

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of rod.

   The engineers replaced the bent control rods inside the reactor core.

   Lightning rods on the rooftop channel the strike safely into the ground.

   Note

   A regular plural: one rod, two rods. It suits the physical objects, such as fishing rods, tent rods and measuring rods. The punishment sense more often speaks of "the rod," because that phrase names the practice whatever implement is used. The same spelling is also the present-tense verb, so "the rods" and "she rods" are told apart only by their place in the sentence.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of rod.

   The technician rods the sewer line whenever tree roots clog the pipe.

   He rods the long boiler tubes to clear scale before each inspection.

   Note

   A spelling shared with the noun plural, here used after a singular subject. Most of the verb's uses are practical and take an object: a crew rods concrete with metal bars, and an owner rods a barn against lightning. Two slang uses sit alongside these. One is short for hot-rodding a car. The other is a vulgar term for sexual penetration, so the context should make clear which meaning is intended.

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