roke

Meaning

Noun

• Mist; smoke; damp.
• A defect in an ingot of steel: a depression lined with scale.
• A vein of ore.

Origin

• From Middle English roke ("fog, vapour, cloud"), probably from Middle Dutch roke, rooc, from Old Dutch rouc ("steam, vapour"), from Proto-Germanic *raukiz ("smoke"), from Proto-Indo-European *rewg- ("to erupt, vomit, burp"), from *rew-. Cognate with Scots rok, roik, rouk, Dutch rook ("smoke, fog"), German Rauch ("smoke, fume"), Swedish rök ("smoke, fume, steam, reek"), West Frisian reek, riik. More at reek. Compare dialectal rawk, which is related, and rag (see raggy), which may or may not be.
• Unclear; perhaps related to dialect rauk, rawk, a northern English dialectal word for a mark, including e.g. a defect on cloth.