He that spareth his rod hateth his son. --Prov.
xiii. 24.
(b) A kind of sceptor, or badge of office; hence,
figuratively, power; authority; tyranny; oppression.
``The rod, and bird of peace.'' --Shak.
(c) A support for a fishing line; a fish pole. --Gay.
(d) (Mach. & Structure) A member used in tension, as for
sustaining a suspended weight, or in tension and
compression, as for transmitting reciprocating motion,
etc.; a connecting bar.
(e) An instrument for measuring.
2. A measure of length containing sixteen and a half feet; --
called also {perch}, and {pole}.
{Black rod}. See in the Vocabulary.
{Rods and cones} (Anat.), the elongated cells or elements of
the sensory layer of the retina, some of which are
cylindrical, others somewhat conical.
{Sprat borer} (Zo["o]l.), the red-throated diver; -- so
called from its fondness for sprats. See {Diver}.
{Sprat loon}. (Zo["o]l.)
(a) The young of the great northern diver. [Prov. Eng.]
(b) The red-throated diver. See {Diver}.
{Sprat mew} (Zo["o]l.), the kittiwake gull.
2. Any one of numerous species of spiny-finned fishes
belonging to the {Percid[ae]}, {Serranid[ae]}, and related
families, and resembling, more or less, the true perches.
{Black perch}.
(a) The black bass.
(b) The flasher.
(c) The sea bass.
{Gray perch}, the fresh-water drum.
{Red-bellied perch}, the long-eared pondfish.
{Perch pest}, a small crustacean, parasitic in the mouth of
the perch.
{Silver perch}, the yellowtail.
{Stone}, or {Striped}, {perch}, the pope.
{White perch}, the {Roccus, or Morone, Americanus}, a small
silvery serranoid market fish of the Atlantic coast.
Wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch. --Shak.
2. To occupy as a perch. --Milton.
As chauntecleer among his wives all Sat on his
perche, that was in his hall. --Chaucer.
Not making his high place the lawless perch Of
winged ambitions. --Tennyson.
2.
(a) A measure of length containing five and a half yards;
a rod, or pole.
(b) In land or square measure: A square rod; the 160th
part of an acre.
(c) In solid measure: A mass 161/2 feet long, 1 foot in
height, and 11/2 feet in breadth, or 243/4 cubic feet
(in local use, from 22 to 25 cubic feet); -- used in
measuring stonework.
3. A pole connecting the fore gear and hind gear of a spring
carriage; a reach.