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🪨 Historic landmark 🐔 A chicken
Plymouth Rock

Plymouth Rock

1 7.5
A large boulder on the shore of Plymouth, Massachusetts said to be where Pilgrims landed in 1620
  • proper noun
  • /ˈplɪməθ rɑk/
translation icon : Plymouth Rock
  • Jean Fritz's Who's That Stepping on Plymouth Rock?
  • the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock
  • landed at Plymouth Rock

Two countries started in Massachusetts, the United States of America, when the first Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock and Albania.

Examples

  • If I knocked on Plymouth Rock and someone said we're there, it may not look like home, but at this point I don't care.

  • She remembered standing with Bill beside Plymouth Rock in her new orange canvas shoes that matched her cotton skirt.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • "Prayers and Bible reading have been a part of American public school life since the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock...

    Academic text (1991)

  • Two countries started in Massachusetts, the United States of America, when the first Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock and Albania.

    Danny Jones

  • They stepped ashore on Plymouth Rock and began a new colony.

    Academic text (1991)

  • Moneywise, this had it all over the seafarers who docked on Plymouth Rock.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • Two months before their wedding, at spring break (she was in a dorm then, he in a rented room), they had taken a trip to Plymouth Rock and faced the choice of driving back before nightfall or taking a hotel room.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • They remind me of important historical sites: Gettysburg, the Alamo, Plymouth Rock. How unfortunate for this beautiful spot of land to get sullied with problem-laden people.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • The Pilgrims first stepped onto Plymouth Rock in 1620, marking the beginning of their new life in America.

  • Every year, people visit Plymouth Rock to learn about the history of the Pilgrims and their voyage across the Atlantic.

Surface Forms

Plymouth Rock main

Morphology

Plymouth + rock

Although a learner may know 'Plymouth' as a place name and 'rock' as a stone, those constituents give no clue that the phrase names a breed of chicken. This is a toponymic/nominalized name (breed named after a place), so the meaning is not compositionally predictable and would be opaque to a B1 learner.

Etymology

Plymouth Rock is the famous stone on the shore that people say marks where the Pilgrims first stepped ashore in 1620. The clear image of those first feet on one rock made Plymouth Rock a symbol of that 'landing place'.