[ROCKET sb.3]
1. Pyrotechny. A rocket constructed to be discharged in the water.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Rocket, Method of making a Water-Rocket.
1749. H. Walpole, Lett. to Mann, 17 May. Then from boats on every side were discharged water-rockets and fires of that kind.
1844. Alb. Smith, Adv. Mr. Ledbury, i. Like the water-rockets at the Surrey Zoological Gardens.
2. (See quot. 1907.)
1905. A. R. Wallace, My Life, II. 162. The upper fall, which in its ever-changing vapour-streams and water-rockets is wonderfully beautiful.
1907. V. Cornish, in Geogr. Jrnl., Jan., 28. The break-up of a high waterfall into conical masses was described by Livingstone, who compares them to ‘small cornets.’ They have also been called ‘water-rockets.’
