"on the rocks" meaning in English

See on the rocks in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Prepositional phrase

Audio: En-au-on the rocks.ogg
Etymology: From the allusion of a ship running aground against rocks and breaking apart. The poured over ice sense is due to ice's resemblance to rocks. Head templates: {{head|en|prepositional phrase|head=}} on the rocks, {{en-PP}} on the rocks
  1. Poured over ice, usually in reference to alcoholic drinks. Derived forms: on-the-rocks glass, rocks glass Related terms: schooner on the rocks Translations (poured over ice): jäillä (Finnish), avec des glaçons (French), mit Eis (German), jéggel (Hungarian), con ghiaccio (Italian), ロック (rokku) (Japanese), со льдом (so lʹdom) (Russian)
    Sense id: en-on_the_rocks-en-prep_phrase-njnUmgVU Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Hungarian translations, Terms with Italian translations, Terms with Japanese translations, Terms with Russian translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 61 39 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 62 38 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 62 38 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 50 50 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 52 48 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 55 45 Disambiguation of Terms with Hungarian translations: 55 45 Disambiguation of Terms with Italian translations: 49 51 Disambiguation of Terms with Japanese translations: 55 45 Disambiguation of Terms with Russian translations: 55 45 Disambiguation of 'poured over ice': 86 14
  2. In a bad state; experiencing difficulties or at risk of failing. Translations (in a bad state): kivillä (Finnish), karilla (Finnish)
    Sense id: en-on_the_rocks-en-prep_phrase-s355SOIw Categories (other): Entries with translation boxes, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Hungarian translations, Terms with Italian translations, Terms with Japanese translations, Terms with Russian translations Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 43 57 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 50 50 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 52 48 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 55 45 Disambiguation of Terms with Hungarian translations: 55 45 Disambiguation of Terms with Italian translations: 49 51 Disambiguation of Terms with Japanese translations: 55 45 Disambiguation of Terms with Russian translations: 55 45 Disambiguation of 'in a bad state': 2 98

Alternative forms

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  "etymology_text": "From the allusion of a ship running aground against rocks and breaking apart. The poured over ice sense is due to ice's resemblance to rocks.",
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      "expansion": "on the rocks",
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      "args": {},
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          "_dis": "61 39",
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          "_dis": "55 45",
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      "derived": [
        {
          "_dis1": "79 21",
          "word": "on-the-rocks glass"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "79 21",
          "word": "rocks glass"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I'll have a whisky on the rocks.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Poured over ice, usually in reference to alcoholic drinks."
      ],
      "id": "en-on_the_rocks-en-prep_phrase-njnUmgVU",
      "links": [
        [
          "Poured",
          "pour"
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          "ice",
          "ice"
        ],
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          "alcoholic",
          "alcoholic"
        ]
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      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "80 20",
          "word": "schooner on the rocks"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "86 14",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "poured over ice",
          "word": "jäillä"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "86 14",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "poured over ice",
          "word": "avec des glaçons"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "86 14",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "poured over ice",
          "word": "mit Eis"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "86 14",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "poured over ice",
          "word": "jéggel"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "86 14",
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "poured over ice",
          "word": "con ghiaccio"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "86 14",
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "rokku",
          "sense": "poured over ice",
          "word": "ロック"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "86 14",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "so lʹdom",
          "sense": "poured over ice",
          "word": "со льдом"
        }
      ]
    },
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          "_dis": "55 45",
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          "_dis": "55 45",
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          "_dis": "49 51",
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      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I knew my business was on the rocks, so I started considering going into voluntary bankruptcy.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "Joe and Tammy's relationship is on the rocks again.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022 May 21, Peter Bradshaw, “Triangle of Sadness review – heavy-handed satire on the super-rich loses its shape”, in The Guardian:",
          "text": "Everything of interest happens in the first ten minutes. A male model called Carl (Harris Dickinson) senses after a calamitous audition that his career is already on the rocks, all washed up.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
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      "glosses": [
        "In a bad state; experiencing difficulties or at risk of failing."
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      "id": "en-on_the_rocks-en-prep_phrase-s355SOIw",
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          "bad",
          "bad"
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          "state"
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      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "2 98",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "in a bad state",
          "word": "kivillä"
        },
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          "_dis1": "2 98",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "in a bad state",
          "word": "karilla"
        }
      ]
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  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-on the rocks.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c8/En-au-on_the_rocks.ogg/En-au-on_the_rocks.ogg.mp3",
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}
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    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "Terms with French translations",
    "Terms with German translations",
    "Terms with Hungarian translations",
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  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "on-the-rocks glass"
    },
    {
      "word": "rocks glass"
    }
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  "etymology_text": "From the allusion of a ship running aground against rocks and breaking apart. The poured over ice sense is due to ice's resemblance to rocks.",
  "head_templates": [
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    {
      "word": "schooner on the rocks"
    }
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          "text": "I'll have a whisky on the rocks.",
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        "Poured over ice, usually in reference to alcoholic drinks."
      ],
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          "text": "I knew my business was on the rocks, so I started considering going into voluntary bankruptcy.",
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          "text": "Joe and Tammy's relationship is on the rocks again.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022 May 21, Peter Bradshaw, “Triangle of Sadness review – heavy-handed satire on the super-rich loses its shape”, in The Guardian:",
          "text": "Everything of interest happens in the first ten minutes. A male model called Carl (Harris Dickinson) senses after a calamitous audition that his career is already on the rocks, all washed up.",
          "type": "quote"
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      ],
      "glosses": [
        "In a bad state; experiencing difficulties or at risk of failing."
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "poured over ice",
      "word": "jäillä"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "poured over ice",
      "word": "avec des glaçons"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "poured over ice",
      "word": "mit Eis"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "poured over ice",
      "word": "jéggel"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "poured over ice",
      "word": "con ghiaccio"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "rokku",
      "sense": "poured over ice",
      "word": "ロック"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "so lʹdom",
      "sense": "poured over ice",
      "word": "со льдом"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "in a bad state",
      "word": "kivillä"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "in a bad state",
      "word": "karilla"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "on the rocks"
  ],
  "word": "on the rocks"
}

Download raw JSONL data for on the rocks meaning in English (3.2kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-03-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-02-21 using wiktextract (7c21d10 and f2e72e5). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.