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Root   /rut/   Listen
noun
Root  n.  
1.
(Bot.)
(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."
(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." "The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil."
(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.
(f)
The lowest place, position, or part. "Deep to the roots of hell." "The roots of the mountains."
4.
(Astrol.) The time which to reckon in making calculations. "When a root is of a birth yknowe (known)."
Aerial roots. (Bot.)
(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.
Multiple primary root (Bot.), a name given to the numerous roots emitted from the radicle in many plants, as the squash.
Primary root (Bot.), 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, n., 2.
Root barnacle (Zool.), one of the Rhizocephala.
Root hair (Bot.), 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.
Root leaf (Bot.), a radical leaf. See Radical, a., 3 (b).
Root louse (Zool.), 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 (Bot.), 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."


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


Root  v. t.  
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." "The Lord rooted them out of their land... and cast them into another land."


Root  v. i.  
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  v. i.  (past & past part. rooted; pres. part. 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."
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."


Root  v. i.  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.)





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Root" Quotes from Famous Books



... dependent upon others, inclined to allow yourself to be dominated by opinion, to take root wherever you see a little soil, make for yourself a shield that will resist everything, for if you yield to your weaker nature you will not grow, you will dry up like a dead plant, and you will bear neither fruit nor flowers. The sap of your life will dissipate ...
— Child of a Century, Complete • Alfred de Musset
... will work and haul and root the trees as Chihun here shall order you. Take up Chihun and set him on your neck!" Moti Guj curled the tip of his trunk, Chihun put his foot there, and was swung on to the neck. Deesa handed Chihun the heavy ...
— The Works of Rudyard Kipling One Volume Edition • Rudyard Kipling
... only to be found in the higher degrees. It was this controversy, centring round the Royal Arch degree, that about the middle of the eighteenth century split Masonry into opposing camps of Ancients and Moderns, the Ancients declaring that the R.A. was "the Root, Heart, and Marrow of Freemasonry,"[354] the Moderns rejecting it. Although worked by the Ancients from 1756 onwards, this degree was definitely repudiated by Grand Lodge in 1792,[355] and only in 1813 was ...
— Secret Societies And Subversive Movements • Nesta H. Webster
... was interrupted by a shout from Swartboy himself. He was standing over a little plant with narrow leaves, that rose not more than six inches above the surface of the plain. It was the stem of the water-root,—a plant that, on the karroos of South Africa, has saved the lives of thousands of thirsty travellers, that would otherwise have perished. Several stems of the plant were seen growing around the spot, and the Bushman knew that the want from which all had been suffering, would be at ...
— The Giraffe Hunters • Mayne Reid
... undoubtedly find him at the hospital, ready to greet him with some croaking sympathy. True to his expectations Fields met him at the door. He himself was looking particularly prosperous and cheerful, as people have a way of appearing to us when our trouble is root theirs. ...
— Red Pepper Burns • Grace S. Richmond


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