rockeryn.
/ˈrɒk(ə)ri/, U.S. /ˈrɑkəri/ 1. A heaped arrangement of rough stones with soil between them, planted with rock plants, esp. alpines. Also in extended use.
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the world > food and drink > farming > gardening > garden > [noun] > rock garden
rockwork1632
rockery1794
alpine garden1801
rock garden1821
stonery1833
moraine1907
1794 Walker's Hibernian Mag. Mar. 247/1 Besides ponds for aquatic plants, artificial rockeries, and mounts for saxatile and alpine plants.
1800 Descr. Bot. Garden p. ix, in Trans. Dublin Soc. 1799 1 ii. An artificial rockery for saxatile, rock, and alpine plants..has been..constructed.
1845 Florist Jrnl. 224 On the top and sides of the rockery,..many others of a similar nature may be placed.
1878 F. S. Williams Midland Railway (ed. 4) 406 These quarries form natural rockeries of vast size.
1880 J. Fothergill Probation ii. xii A kind of rockery which ran along one side of the terrace.
1927 Passing Show Summer 48/2 Some silly ass had built a rockery where I should come to earth.
1986 J. Urquhart Whirlpool (1990) 54 Maud had planted some tulip bulbs the previous fall and..they had dropped some of their petals into the rockery.
2006 Gardens Monthly Apr. 33/1 The diminutive Oxalis enjoys the good drainage provided by a rockery or raised bed.
2. Natural rock formations. rare.
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the world > the earth > structure of the earth > structural features > mass > [noun] > of rock
stonec825
rockOE
rockwork1705
rockery1856
1856 A. P. Stanley Sinai & Palestine Introd. p. xlii The two ranges, here of red sandstone, closed in upon the Nile..; fantastic rockery, deep sand-drifts, tombs and temples hewn out of the stone.
1992 Antique Dealer & Collectors Guide Jan. 38/2 Bristol also favoured Chinoiserie decoration, with birds in flight or amidst rockery.
Compounds
General attributive.
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1861 J. W. Hooper Little Maggie & her Brother iii. 66 When she joined the children, they were standing outside the entrance-gate, and examining some curious rockery-work, overgrown with creeping plants.
1892 Garden 27 Aug. 190/1 C. decumbens..is a pretty and desirable rockery plant.
1909 J. Payne Flower o' Thorn 41 Against my garden-wall, Rooted in rockery earth, there stands at either end A tangling mass of stems and branches.
1981 Garden Hist. 9 139 The arch was later broken up for rockery stone.
2006 Scots Mag. June 603/1 During the last hour I watched the planting round the pond: a hosta, cowslips, two Camelot foxgloves and small rockery plants.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1794