rock and roll
UK/ˈɹɒk ən(d)ˈɹəʊl/US/ˈɹɑk ən(d)ˈɹoʊl/
rock and roll noun: a genre of popular music that evolved in the 1950s from a combination of rhythm and blues and country music, characterized by electric guitars, strong rhythms, and youth-oriented lyrics.
Noun
rock and roll (uncountable)
- A genre of popular music that evolved in the 1950s from a combination of rhythm and blues and country music, characterized by electric guitars, strong rhythms, and youth-oriented lyrics.
- A style of vigorous dancing associated with this genre of music.
- An intangible feeling, philosophy, belief or allegiance relating to rock music, characterized by unbridled enthusiasm, hedonism, and cynical regard for authoritarian bodies.
- rock and roll lifestyle
- Dole, payment by the state to the unemployed.
- I'm back on rock and roll
- The full automatic fire capability selection on a selective fire weapon.
- The ability to run the picture and audio back and forth in synchronization, allowing the correction of mistakes during dubbing.
- The dubbing theatre is a viewing theatre equipped for running the picture with a great many tracks interlocked to run synchronously. Once laced up, they can be run forwards or backwards remaining in synch; when it was first introduced this system was given the name 'rock and roll'.2004, Robert Angell, Getting Into Films & Television, page 56
- It is very rare that an entire commentary is recorded in one take. If you need to stop for some reason — the performance isn't quite right, there's a rustle of papers, etc — you can always go back on the recording and pick it up from the point at which it went wrong. This is known as rock and roll.2012, Colin Hart, Television Program Making, page 196
Verb
rock and roll (third-person singular simple present rocks and rolls or rock and rolls, present participle rocking and rolling or rock and rolling, simple past and past participle rocked and rolled or rock and rolled)
- To have sex.
- To play rock and roll music.
- Synonyms:
- rock
- To start, commence, begin, get moving; move along with a rocking, rolling motion.
- Does everyone know what car they're going in? Then let's rock and roll!
- He puts the brakes on here and there down the next four miles of curves, but then opens her out so that she rocks and rolls through Totnes at a mile a minute for a flying start on the worst bank of the whole trip, five steep miles up to Rattery Box and four not so steep past Brent up to Wrangaton.1956 February, W. A. Tuplin, “Hot Work on a "Star"”, in Railway Magazine, page 90
rock and roll meaning in Hindi, Arabic, Persian and Vietnamese
rock and roll in Hindi
- style of music
- रॉक एंड रोल rŏk eṇḍ rol
rock and roll in Arabic
- style of music
- رُوك أَنْد رُول rok ʔand rol
rock and roll in Persian
- style of music
- راک اند رول râk and rol
rock and roll in Vietnamese
- style of music
- lắc và lộn
Synonyms of rock and roll
- bang
- do it
- copulate
- couple
- engage in sex
- exchange flesh
- have intimate relations
- have marital relations
- have sex
- have sexual relations
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of rock and roll
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| alternative form | rock-and-roll |
| alternative form | rock'n'roll |
| alternative form | rock 'n' roll |
| alternative form | rock n roll |
| alternative form | rock 'n roll |
| alternative form | rock-n-roll |
| alternative form | rock-'n'-roll |
| alternative form | rock & roll |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | rocks and rolls |
| third-person singular present | rock and rolls |
| present participle | rocking and rolling |
| present participle | rock and rolling |
| past participle | rocked and rolled |
| past | rocked and rolled |
| past participle | rock and rolled |
| past | rock and rolled |
Origin of rock and roll
From rock (move back and forth) + and + roll; originally a verb phrase common among African Americans, meaning "to have sexual intercourse"; it was a euphemism that appeared in song titles since at least 1914 (Trixie Smith's "My Man Rocks Me With One Steady Roll"). As a name for a specific style of popular music from the early 1950s, popularized by disc jockey Alan Freed in reference to the euphemistic use in song titles.
Words formed from rock and roll
Questions about rock and roll
- What does rock and roll mean?
- Rock and roll means a genre of popular music that evolved in the 1950s from a combination of rhythm and blues and country music, characterized by electric guitars, strong rhythms, and youth-oriented lyrics.
- What is rock and roll in Hindi?
- Rock and roll in Hindi is रॉक एंड रोल (rŏk eṇḍ rol). See Rock and roll meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is rock and roll?
- Rock and roll can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce rock and roll?
- Rock and roll is pronounced /ˈɹɒk ən(d)ˈɹəʊl/ (UK).
Words near rock and roll in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: rock and roll (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-rock and roll.ogg.
Cite this entry: “rock and roll.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rock_and_roll. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.