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Origin and history of retro-rocket

retro-rocket(n.)

1945, "anti-submarine weapon fired backward from an airplane at the same velocity as the plane" (so it falls straight down), from retro- + rocket (n.). By 1957 as an auxiliary rocket on a spacecraft to thrust forward and oppose the forward motion.

also from 1945

Entries linking to retro-rocket

rocket(n.1)

garden plant of the cabbage family, c. 1500, rokette, from French roquette (16c.), perhaps via Italian rochetta, diminutive of ruca "a kind of cabbage," from Latin eruca "colewort," perhaps so called for its downy stems and related to ericus "hedgehog," also "a beam set with spikes" (from PIE *ghers- "to bristle;" see horror).

retro-

word-forming element of Latin origin meaning "backwards; behind," from Latin retro (prep.) "backward, back, behind," usually in reference to place or position, rarely of time, "formerly, in the past," probably originally the ablative form of *reteros, based on re- "back" (see re-).

L. retro stands to re- as intro, "in, within"; to in, "in," and as citro, "hither," stands to cis, "on this side." [Klein]

Common in combinations in post-classical Latin (the classical equivalent was post-). Active in English as a word-forming element from mid-20c.

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    arrears
    1300), from Anglo-French arrere, Old French ariere "behind, backward" (12c., Modern French arrière), from Vulgar Latin *ad retro..., from Latin ad "to" (see ad-) + retro "behind" (see retro-)....
    missile
    Sense of "self-propelled rocket or bomb" is first recorded 1738; in reference to modern rocket-propelled, remote-guidance...
    rear
    " (mid-14c.), from Anglo-French rerewarde, Old French rieregarde, from the Old French adverb riere "behind" (from Latin retro..."back, behind;" see retro-) + Old French garde "guardian" (see guard (n.))....
    sputnik
    The rival U.S. satellite which failed to reach orbit in 1957 (because the Vanguard rocket blew up on the launch pad) was...
    buzz
    Buzz bomb "V1 rocket" is from 1944....
    V
    In German rocket weapons systems of World War II, it stood for Vergeltungswaffe "reprisal weapon."...
    nose
    (nose cone in the space rocket sense is from 1949). Meaning "sense of smell" is from mid-14c....
    halcyon
    "calm, quiet, peaceful," 1540s, in halcyon dayes (translating Latin alcyonei dies, Greek alkyonides hemerai), 14 days of calm weather at the winter solstice, when a mythical bird (also identified with the kingfisher) was said to breed in a nest floating on calm seas. The name of
    vehement
    early 15c., from Old French vehement, veement "impetuous, ardent" (12c.), from Latin vehementem (nominative vehemens) "impetuous, eager, violent, furious, ardent, carried away," perhaps [Barnhart] from a lost present middle participle of vehere "to carry" (from PIE root *wegh- "t
    emancipate
    1620s, "set free from control," from Latin emancipatus, past participle of emancipare "put (a son) out of paternal authority, declare (someone) free, give up one's authority over," in Roman law, the freeing of a son or wife from the legal authority (patria potestas) of the pater

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