rockwork

English

Etymology

rock +‎ work

Noun

rockwork (countable and uncountable, plural rockworks)

1. Ornamental work done with rocks, as for example around a pond.
   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     Down came the clenched hands to her sides, then up again above her head, and, as I am a living and honourable man, the white flame of the fire leapt up after them, almost to the roof, throwing a fierce and ghastly glare upon She herself, upon the white figure beneath the covering, and every scroll and detail of the rockwork.

   • 1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann:

     The wall was some six feet high and when I attempted to clamber it I found I could not lift my feet to the crest. So I went along by the side of it, and came to a corner and a rockwork that enabled me to get to the top and tumble into the garden I coveted.

   • 2008 May 9, Wendy Moonan, “Rococo Eye-Openers at Two Auction Houses”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     It comes from two French words: rocaille, meaning the irregular rockwork used to decorate fountains and grottoes, and coquillage, shell motifs.

2. (climbing) The act of climbing a rock face, cliff, etc.
   • 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London, New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

     Lord John was an experienced mountaineer, and Summerlee had done some rough climbing at various times, so that I was really the novice at rock-work of the party; but my strength and activity may have made up for my want of experience.