rocket ship

noun

Etymology: From 1809.

1. A spacecraft propelled by a rocket engine.

   “In a Gallup poll conducted near the start of 1955, just 9% said they’d like to go along on the first rocket ship to the moon if asked, and two years later, just 5% said they’d volunteer to be the first one up in a spacecraft.”

2. A ship armed with rockets.

   “At about 3 P.M., the four bomb-vessels and rocket-ship weighed, and stood further in; the latter, to give effect to her rockets, much nearer than the others.”

   “And there was a further group, including Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–80), who had been a POW in Germany, and William Golding (1911–93), who had commanded a Royal Navy rocket ship, who were propelled by the ordeals of war to examine the complexities of human nature and human society.”