Rook

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ɹʊk/

Definitions

1. A black bird related to the crow family; a castle-shaped piece used in chess that moves vertically or horizontally; to deceive or trick someone to gain unfairly
2. A noisy bird of the crow family common in Europe; a chess piece symbolizing a castle with straight-line movement; to cheat or take advantage of someone dishonestly
3. A member of the crow family known for large colonies; a powerful chess piece that moves along ranks or files; to swindle or defraud a person

Etymology: The rook in chess and the rook in the bird-watcher's hedgerow turn out to be unrelated words that happen to share a spelling. The chess piece comes from Persian. Its name, "rox", meant "rook" or "castle" in Middle Persian, and it reached Europe through Old French "roc" and then English. The bird comes from a much older Germanic root, Old English "hrōc", which goes back to a reconstructed Proto-Indo-European root for crow or raven, linked to Ancient Greek "kórax", meaning crow. The verb "to rook", meaning to cheat someone, is the bird's name put to work. Its exact link to the bird is not firmly established, but the sense of swindling is well attested in English. A separate noun, "rook", meaning mist or drizzle, comes from Old Norse and is now rare.

Synonyms: crow, blackbird, raven

Antonyms: pawn, bishop, knight