Rock

A quack; so called from one Rock, who was the “Holloway” of Queen Anne’s reign.

“Oh, when his nerves had once received a shock,

Sir Isaac Newton might have gone to Rock.”

Crabbe: Borough.

The Ladiesʹ Rock. A crag in Scotland under the castle rock of Stirling, where ladies used to witness tournaments.

“In the castle hill is a hollow called The Valley about a square acre in extent, used for justings and tournaments. On the south side of the valley is a small rocky pyramidical mount, called The Ladiesʹ Hill or Rock, where the ladies sat to witness the spectacle.”—Nimme: History of Stirlingshire, p. 282.

People of the Rock. The inhabitants of Hejaz or Arabia Petræa.

Captain Rock. A fictitious name assumed by the leader of the Irish insurgents in 1822.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.