whiskey on the rocks
1
3.9
- noun
- /ˈwɪski ɒn ðə rɒks/
- US
:
whisky con hielo
- I'll have a whiskey on the rocks.
- a whiskey on the rocks
Examples
-
She left the house and went to a Bennigan's because it was easy, and ordered Irish whiskey on the rocks, along with a salad and boiled shrimp.
Fiction book (1995) -
Well, it was already a really lovely New York afternoon, so the only thing to properly cap it off for us at that point was to sit outside at a little bar and share a whiskey on the rocks; but as we clinked glasses, we heard a trumpet peal from somewhere in the distance.
Blog text (4) -
Give us two whiskeys on the rocks.
Fiction book (1991) -
He was light beer while all the other cops I knew were whiskey on the rocks.
Fiction book (1997) -
I'll have a whiskey on the rocks to enjoy after a long day.
-
Can you bring me two whiskeys on the rocks, please?
-
Sipping a whiskey on the rocks is the perfect way to unwind in the evening.
How Diluted
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase combines literal constituents ('whiskey' + 'on' + 'the' + 'rocks'), but here 'rocks' is a beverage-jargon metaphor meaning 'ice cubes' rather than actual stones. A B1 learner who knows the words might guess the drink involves something solid, yet they would not reliably derive that 'rocks' means 'ice' without prior exposure, so the expression is only partly predictable.
Etymology
Whiskey on the rocks probably comes from bartenders who called ice rocks because the cubes look like small stones. So whiskey on the rocks means whiskey served 'with ice', not 'plain'.