the.com/rod
a humble stick promoted to lightning's bodyguard, fishing's accomplice, and the body's tiny night-watchman.
means A straight, slender bar or stick of wood, metal, or another material, used for measuring, supporting, fishing, conducting electricity, or any of a dozen other jobs — and, in anatomy, one of the slim light-sensitive cells in the eye that handle vision in dim light.
from From Old English 'rodd,' a slender shoot or stick, with relatives across the Germanic family — likely a cousin of Old Norse 'rudda,' a club. The word stayed close to its literal self for centuries, then branched out: a 'rod' became a unit of length (about 5.5 yards, the old surveyor's measuring pole), a symbol of authority and punishment (the 'rod' that spoils no child), and eventually the eye's dim-light cells, named in the 19th century for their literal rod-like shape under the microscope.
- eye duty
- Rod cells let you see in near darkness
- count
- Your retina holds about 120 million rods
- old unit
- A rod equals 16.5 feet, surveyor's leftover
- lightning
- Franklin's pointed rod redirects strikes safely to ground
- no color
- Rods are colorblind, leaving hues to cones
rod stewart — british rock singer with 250 million records sold, famous for 'maggie may' (1971)
rod laver — australian tennis legend, only player to win calendar grand slam twice (1962, 1969)
rod serling — creator and host of 'the twilight zone' (1959-1964), iconic american television writer