Meaning & use
stick of rock
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Meanings
nouncountableBritish
a long hard sweet, usually pink or white with a red pattern, sold at British seaside towns.
Grammar: Countable: you can say a stick of rock or two sticks of rock.
Patterns
- a stick of rock
- buy a stick of rock
- a stick of rock from somewhere
Every summer we buy a stick of rock from the shop on the pier.
She brought back a stick of rock with Brighton written through the middle.
The children shared a stick of rock on the beach.
nouncountableBritish
a hard cylinder of sugar with a word or picture running through it, often used as a souvenir.
Grammar: Countable and usually used with the name of a place: a stick of Blackpool rock.
Patterns
- a stick of [place] rock
- rock with a name in it
The gift shop sells sticks of rock with the town's name inside.
He gave me a stick of rock as a souvenir from his trip.
Word forms
| plural | sticks of rock |
|---|
Common combinations
- a stick of rock
- She bought a stick of rock for her little brother.
- seaside rock
- The shop is famous for its seaside rock.
- a stick of Blackpool rock
- He brought back a stick of Blackpool rock from his holiday.
- souvenir stick of rock
- They sell souvenir sticks of rock near the beach.
Synonyms and how they differ
- rock candy
- In American English, rock candy usually means large sugar crystals on a string, not the British seaside sweet.
- candy cane
- A candy cane is a hard sweet shaped like a hook, often eaten at Christmas; a stick of rock is straight and linked to the seaside.
Word family
- rock noun
- In British English, rock can mean this type of hard sweet, especially when sold at the seaside.
Commonly confused: stick of rock or rock?
stick of rock vs rock
Rock is the general word for the hard sweet; a stick of rock is one long piece of it. Do not confuse it with rock meaning stone.
Practice
While on holiday in Brighton, Ellie bought a ______ as a souvenir.
Choose one answer.
A stick of rock is the correct phrase for the British seaside sweet. 'Rock of stick' and 'rock stick' mix up the word order, and 'stick of stone' is not a sweet.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “stick of rock”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.