Roody Rood"y adjective Rank in growth. [ Prov. Eng.]

Roof Roof noun [ Middle English rof , Anglo-Saxon hr...f top, roof; akin to Dutch roef cabin, Icelandic hr...f a shed under which ships are built or kept; confer Old Saxon hr...st roof, Goth. hr...t . Confer Roost .] 1. (Architecture) The cover of any building, including the roofing (see Roofing ) and all the materials and construction necessary to carry and maintain the same upon the walls or other uprights. In the case of a building with vaulted ceilings protected by an outer roof, some writers call the vault the roof , and the outer protection the roof mask . It is better, however, to consider the vault as the ceiling only, in cases where it has farther covering.

2. That which resembles, or corresponds to, the covering or the ceiling of a house; as, the roof of a cavern; the roof of the mouth.

The flowery roof
Showered roses, which the morn repaired.

Milton.

3. (Mining.) The surface or bed of rock immediately overlying a bed of coal or a flat vein.

Bell roof , French roof , etc. (Architecture) See under Bell , French , etc. -- Flat roof . (Architecture) (a) A roof actually horizontal and level, as in some Oriental buildings . (b) A roof nearly horizontal, constructed of such material as allows the water to run off freely from a very slight inclination. -- Roof plate . (Architecture) See Plate , noun , 10.

Roof Roof transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Roofed ; present participle & verbal noun Roofing .] 1. To cover with a roof.

I have not seen the remains of any Roman buildings that have not been roofed with vaults or arches.

Addison.

2. To inclose in a house; figuratively, to shelter.

Here had we now our country's honor roofed .

Shak.

Roofer Roof"er noun One who puts on roofs.

Roofing Roof"ing noun 1. The act of covering with a roof.

2. The materials of which a roof is composed; materials for a roof. Gwilt.

3. Hence, the roof itself; figuratively, shelter. "Fit roofing gave." Southey.

4. (Mining) The wedging, as of a horse or car, against the top of an underground passage. Raymond.

Roofless Roof"less adjective 1. Having no roof; as, a roofless house.

2. Having no house or home; shelterless; homeless.

Rooflet Roof"let noun A small roof, covering, or shelter.

Rooftree Roof"tree` noun The beam in the angle of a roof; hence, the roof itself.

Now for me the woods may wither, now for me the rooftree fall.

Tennyson.

Roofy Roof`y adjective Having roofs. [ R.] Dryden.

Rook Rook (rok) noun Mist; fog. See Roke . [ Obsolete]

Rook Rook intransitive verb To squat; to ruck. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Rook Rook noun [ French roc (cf. Spanish roque ), from Persian & Arabic rokh , or rukh , the rook or castle at chess, also the bird roc (in this sense perhaps a different word); confer Hind. rath a war chariot, the castle at chess, Sanskrit ratha a car, a war car. Confer Roll .] (Chess) One of the four pieces placed on the corner squares of the board; a castle.

Rook Rook noun [ Anglo-Saxon hrōc ; akin to Old High German hruoh , ruoh , ruoho , Icelandic hrōkr , Swedish roka , Dan. raage; confer Goth. hrukjan to crow.] 1. (Zoology) A European bird ( Corvus frugilegus ) resembling the crow, but smaller. It is black, with purple and violet reflections. The base of the beak and the region around it are covered with a rough, scabrous skin, which in old birds is whitish. It is gregarious in its habits. The name is also applied to related Asiatic species.

The rook . . . should be treated as the farmer's friend.

Pennant.

2. A trickish, rapacious fellow; a cheat; a sharper. Wycherley.

Rook Rook transitive verb & i. [ imperfect & past participle Rooked ; present participle & verbal noun Rooking .] To cheat; to defraud by cheating. "A band of rooking officials." Milton.

Rookery Rook"er·y noun ; plural Rookeries 1. The breeding place of a colony of rooks; also, the birds themselves. Tennyson.

2. A breeding place of other gregarious birds, as of herons, penguins, etc.

3. The breeding ground of seals, esp. of the fur seals.

4. A dilapidated building with many rooms and occupants; a cluster of dilapidated or mean buildings.

5. A brothel. [ Low]

Rooky Rook"y (-ȳ) adjective [ See Roky .] Misty; gloomy. [ Obsolete]

Light thickens, and the crow
Makes wing to the rooky wood.

Shak.

» Some make this Shakespearean word mean "abounding in rooks."

Room Room (rōm) noun [ Middle English roum , rum , space, Anglo-Saxon rūm ; akin to Old Saxon , OFries. & Icelandic rūm , Dutch ruim , German raum , Old High German rūm , Swedish & Danish rum , Goth. rūms , and to Anglo-Saxon rūm , adj., spacious, Dutch ruim , Icelandic rūmr , Goth. rūms ; and probably to Latin rus country (cf. Rural ), Zend rava&ndot;h wide, free, open, ravan a plain.] 1. Unobstructed spase; space which may be occupied by or devoted to any object; compass; extent of place, great or small; as, there is not room for a house; the table takes up too much room .

Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room .

Luke xiv. 22.

There was no room for them in the inn.

Luke ii. 7.

2. A particular portion of space appropriated for occupancy; a place to sit, stand, or lie; a seat.

If he have but twelve pence in his purse, he will give it for the best room in a playhouse.

Overbury.

When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room .

Luke xiv. 8.

3. Especially, space in a building or ship inclosed or set apart by a partition; an apartment or chamber.

I found the prince in the next room .

Shak.

4. Place or position in society; office; rank; post; station; also, a place or station once belonging to, or occupied by, another, and vacated. [ Obsolete]

When he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judea in the room of his father Herod.

Matt. ii. 22.

Neither that I look for a higher room in heaven.

Tyndale.

Let Bianca take her sister's room .

Shak.

5. Possibility of admission; ability to admit; opportunity to act; fit occasion; as, to leave room for hope.

There was no prince in the empire who had room for such an alliance.

Addison.

Room and space (Shipbuilding) , the distance from one side of a rib to the corresponding side of the next rib; space being the distance between two ribs, in the clear, and room the width of a rib. -- To give room , to withdraw; to leave or provide space unoccupied for others to pass or to be seated. -- To make room , to open a space, way, or passage; to remove obstructions; to give room.

Make room , and let him stand before our face.

Shak.

Syn. -- Space; compass; scope; latitude.

Room Room intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Roomed ; present participle & verbal noun Rooming .] To occupy a room or rooms; to lodge; as, they arranged to room together.

Room Room adjective [ Anglo-Saxon rūm .] Spacious; roomy. [ Obsolete]

No roomer harbour in the place.

Chaucer.

Roomage Room"age noun [ From Room . CF. Rummage .] Space; place; room. [ Obsolete] Sir H. Wotton.

Roomer Room"er noun A lodger. [ Colloq.]

Roomer Room"er adverb [ See Room , adjective ] At a greater distance; farther off. [ Obsolete] Sir J. Harrington.

Roomful Room"ful adjective Abounding with room or rooms; roomy. "A roomful house." [ R.] Donne.

Roomful Room"ful noun ; plural Roomfuls As much or many as a room will hold; as, a roomful of men. Swift.

Roomily Room"i·ly adverb Spaciously.

Roominess Room"i·ness noun The quality or state of being roomy; spaciousness; as, the roominess of a hall.

Roomless Room"less adjective Being without room or rooms. Udall.

Roommate Room"mate` noun One of twe or more occupying the same room or rooms; one who shares the occupancy of a room or rooms; a chum.

Roomsome Room"some adjective Roomy. [ Obsolete] Evelyn.

Roomth Roomth noun Room; space. [ Obsolete] Drayton.

Roomthy Roomth"y adjective Roomy; spacious. [ Obsolete] Fuller.

Roomy Room"y adjective Having ample room; spacious; large; as, a roomy mansion; a roomy deck. Dryden.

Roon Roon adjective & noun Vermilion red; red. [ R.]

Her face was like the lily roon .

J. R. Drake.

Roop Roop noun See Roup . [ Prov. Eng.]

Roorback, Roorbach Roor"back, Roor"bach noun A defamatory forgery or falsehood published for purposes of political intrigue. [ U.S.]

» The word originated in the election canvass of 1844, when such a forgery was published, to the detriment of James K. Polk, a candidate for President, purporting to be an extract from the "Travels of Baron Roorbach ."

Roosa oil Roo"sa oil` The East Indian name for grass oil. See under Grass .

Roost Roost noun Roast. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Roost Roost transitive verb See Roust , transitive verb

Roost Roost noun [ Anglo-Saxon hrōst ; akin to OD. roest roost, roesten to roost, and probably to English roof . Confer Roof .] 1. The pole or other support on which fowls rest at night; a perch.

He clapped his wings upon his roost .

Dryden.

2. A collection of fowls roosting together.

At roost , on a perch or roost; hence, retired to rest.

Roost Roost intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Roosted ; present participle & verbal noun Roosting .] 1. To sit, rest, or sleep, as fowls on a pole, limb of a tree, etc.; to perch. Wordsworth.

2. Fig.; To lodge; to rest; to sleep.

O, let me where thy roof my soul hath hid,
O, let me roost and nestle there.

Herbert.

Roostcock Roost"cock` noun The male of the domestic fowl; a cock. [ Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

Rooster Roost"er noun The male of the domestic fowl; a cock. [ U.S.]

Nor, when they [ the Skinners and Cow Boys] wrung the neck of a rooster , did they trouble their heads whether he crowed for Congress or King George.

W. Irving.

Root Root intransitive verb [ Anglo-Saxon wrōtan ; akin to wrōt a snout, trunk, Dutch wroeten to root, German rüssel snout, trunk, proboscis, Icelandic rōta to root, and perhaps to Latin rodere to gnaw (E. rodent ) or to English root , noun ] 1. To turn up the earth with the snout, as swine.

2. Hence, to seek for favor or advancement by low arts or groveling servility; to fawn servilely.

Root Root transitive verb To turn up or to dig out with the snout; as, the swine roots the earth.

Root Root noun [ Icelandic rōt (for vrōt ); akin to English wort , and perhaps to root to turn up the earth. See Wort .] 1. (Botany) (a) The underground portion of a plant, whether a true root or a tuber, a bulb or rootstock, as in the potato, the onion, or the sweet flag. (b) The descending, and commonly branching, axis of a plant, increasing in length by growth at its extremity only, not divided into joints, leafless and without buds, and having for its offices to fix the plant in the earth, to supply it with moisture and soluble matters, and sometimes to serve as a reservoir of nutriment for future growth. A true root, however, may never reach the ground, but may be attached to a wall, etc., as in the ivy, or may hang loosely in the air, as in some epiphytic orchids.

2. An edible or esculent root, especially of such plants as produce a single root, as the beet, carrot, etc.; as, the root crop.

3. That which resembles a root in position or function, esp. as a source of nourishment or support; that from which anything proceeds as if by growth or development; as, the root of a tooth, a nail, a cancer, and the like. Specifically: (a) An ancestor or progenitor; and hence, an early race; a stem.

They were the roots out of which sprang two distinct people.

Locke.

(b) A primitive form of speech; one of the earliest terms employed in language; a word from which other words are formed; a radix, or radical. (c) The cause or occasion by which anything is brought about; the source. "She herself . . . is root of bounty." Chaucer.

The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.

1 Tim. vi. 10 (rev. Ver.)

(d) (Math.) That factor of a quantity which when multiplied into itself will produce that quantity; thus, 3 is a root of 9, because 3 multiplied into itself produces 9; 3 is the cube root of 27. (e) (Mus.) The fundamental tone of any chord; the tone from whose harmonics, or overtones, a chord is composed. Busby.

(f) The lowest place, position, or part. "Deep to the roots of hell." Milton. "The roots of the mountains." Southey.

4. (Astrol.) The time which to reckon in making calculations.

When a root is of a birth yknowe [ known].

Chaucer.

Aërial roots . (Botany) (a) Small roots emitted from the stem of a plant in the open air, which, attaching themselves to the bark of trees, etc., serve to support the plant. (b) Large roots growing from the stem, etc., which descend and establish themselves in the soil. See Illust. of Mangrove . -- Multiple primary root (Botany) , a name given to the numerous roots emitted from the radicle in many plants, as the squash. -- Primary root (Botany) , the central, first-formed, main root, from which the rootlets are given off. -- Root and branch , every part; wholly; completely; as, to destroy an error root and branch . -- Root-and-branch men , radical reformers; -- a designation applied to the English Independents (1641). See Citation under Radical , noun , 2. -- Root barnacle (Zoology) , one of the Rhizocephala. -- Root hair (Botany) , one of the slender, hairlike fibers found on the surface of fresh roots. They are prolongations of the superficial cells of the root into minute tubes. Gray. -- Root leaf (Botany) , a radical leaf. See Radical , adjective , 3 (b) . -- Root louse (Zoology) , any plant louse, or aphid, which lives on the roots of plants, as the Phylloxera of the grapevine. See Phylloxera . -- Root of an equation (Alg.) , that value which, substituted for the unknown quantity in an equation, satisfies the equation. -- Root of a nail (Anat.) , the part of a nail which is covered by the skin. -- Root of a tooth (Anat.) , the part of a tooth contained in the socket and consisting of one or more fangs. -- Secondary roots (Botany) , roots emitted from any part of the plant above the radicle. -- To strike root , To take root , to send forth roots; to become fixed in the earth, etc., by a root; hence, in general, to become planted, fixed, or established; to increase and spread; as, an opinion takes root . "The bended twigs take root ." Milton.

Root Root (rōt) intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Rooted ; present participle & verbal noun Rooting .] 1. To fix the root; to enter the earth, as roots; to take root and begin to grow.

In deep grounds the weeds root deeper.

Mortimer.

2. To be firmly fixed; to be established.

If any irregularity chanced to intervene and to cause misappehensions, he gave them not leave to root and fasten by concealment.

Bp. Fell.

Root Root transitive verb 1. To plant and fix deeply in the earth, or as in the earth; to implant firmly; hence, to make deep or radical; to establish; -- used chiefly in the participle; as, rooted trees or forests; rooted dislike.

2. To tear up by the root; to eradicate; to extirpate; -- with up , out , or away . "I will go root away the noisome weeds." Shak.

The Lord rooted them out of their land . . . and cast them into another land.

Deut. xxix. 28.

Root Root intransitive verb [ Confer Rout to roar.] To shout for, or otherwise noisly applaud or encourage, a contestant, as in sports; hence, to wish earnestly for the success of some one or the happening of some event, with the superstitious notion that this action may have efficacy; -- usually with for ; as, the crowd rooted for the home team. [ Slang or Cant, U. S.]

Rootcap Root"cap` (rōt"kăp`) noun (Botany) A mass of parenchymatous cells which covers and protects the growing cells at the end of a root; a pileorhiza.

Rooted Root"ed adjective Having taken root; firmly implanted; fixed in the heart. "A rooted sorrow." Shak.

-- Root"ed*ly , adverb -- Root"ed*ness , noun

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