rock up

English

Etymology 1

From rock (“to move back and forth”) +‎ up.

Verb

rock up (third-person singular simple present rocks up, present participle rocking up, simple past and past participle rocked up)

1. (informal) To turn up at a place or function spontaneously or unexpectedly, without notice or prior warning.
   • 2021 December 29, Stephen Roberts, “Stories and facts behind railway plaques: Chippenham (1841)”, in RAIL, number 947, page 57:

     I'm sure the Brunel-designed stone-built structure would have had a hatstand for his trademark stovepipe. I can picture him rocking up there of a morning and lobbing it nonchalantly onto the hatstand.

Translations

to turn up unexpectedly

• Finnish: ilmestyä paikalle, pöllähtää paikalle
• Russian: заявля́ться (ru) impf (zajavljátʹsja), заяви́ться (ru) pf (zajavítʹsja)

Etymology 2

From rock (“stone”) +‎ up.

Verb

rock up (third-person singular simple present rocks up, present participle rocking up, simple past and past participle rocked up)

1. (climbing) To work one's way vertically up a chimney or cleft using a rocking movement.
2. (slang, drugs) To turn powder cocaine into crack cocaine by cooking.

References

• “rock up”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

• cork up