Root

• POS: Noun, Verb (intransitive), Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

Root, v. i. [AS. wrōtan; akin to wrōt a snout, trunk, D. wroeten to root, G. rÜssel snout, trunk, proboscis, Icel. rōta to root, and perhaps to L. rodere to gnaw (E. rodent) or to E. root, n.].

•  To turn up the earth with the snout, as swine.  [1913 Webster]
•  Hence, to seek for favor or advancement by low arts or groveling servility; to fawn servilely.  [1913 Webster]

Root, v. t. 

 To turn up or to dig out with the snout; as, the swine roots the earth.  [1913 Webster]

Root, n. [Icel. rōt (for vrōt); akin to E. wort, and perhaps to root to turn up the earth. See Wort.].

•  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.  [1913 Webster]
•  An edible or esculent root, especially of such plants as produce a single root, as the beet, carrot, etc.; as, the root crop.  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]

  "They were the roots out of which sprang two distinct people."  [1913 Webster]

  "The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil."  [1913 Webster]
•  The time which to reckon in making calculations.  [1913 Webster]

  "When a root is of a birth yknowe [known]."  [1913 Webster]

Aërial 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. See Illust. of Mangrove. -- 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 (Zoöl.), 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. Gray. -- Root leaf (Bot.), a radical leaf. See Radical, a., 3 (b). -- Root louse (Zoöl.), 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.” Milton.

Root, v. i. 

•  To fix the root; to enter the earth, as roots; to take root and begin to grow.  [1913 Webster]

  "In deep grounds the weeds root deeper."  [1913 Webster]
•  To be firmly fixed; to be established.  [1913 Webster]

  "If any irregularity chanced to intervene and to cause misappehensions, he gave them not leave to root and fasten by concealment."  [1913 Webster]

Root, v. i. [Cf. 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.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

Root, v. t. 

•  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.  [1913 Webster]
•  To tear up by the root; to eradicate; to extirpate; -- with up, out, or away.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

  "The Lord rooted them out of their land . . . and cast them into another land."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Root, n. & v.
--n.
1 a the part of a plant normally below the ground, attaching it to the earth and conveying nourishment to it from the soil. b (in pl.) such a part divided into branches or fibres. c the corresponding organ of an epiphyte; the part attaching ivy to its support. d the permanent underground stock of a plant. e any small plant with a root for transplanting.
2 a any plant, e.g. a turnip or carrot, with an edible root. b such a root.
3 (in pl.) the sources of or reasons for one's long-standing emotional attachment to a place, community, etc.
4 a the embedded part of a bodily organ or structure, e.g. hair, tooth, nail, etc. b the part of a thing attaching it to a greater or more fundamental whole. c (in pl.) the base of a mountain etc.
5 a the basic cause, source, or origin (love of money is the root of all evil; has its roots in the distant past). b (attrib.) (of an idea etc.) from which the rest originated.
6 the basis of something, its means of continuance or growth (has its root(s) in selfishness; has no root in the nature of things).
7 the essential substance or nature of something (get to the root of things).
8 Math. a a number or quantity that when multiplied by itself a usu. specified number of times gives a specified number or quantity (the cube root of eight is two). b a square root. c a value of an unknown quantity satisfying a given equation.
9 Philol. any ultimate unanalysable element of language; a basis, not necessarily surviving as a word in itself, on which words are made by the addition of prefixes or suffixes or by other modification.
10 Mus. the fundamental note of a chord.
11 Bibl. a scion, an offshoot (there shall be a root of Jesse).
12 Austral. & NZ coarse sl. a an act of sexual intercourse. b a (female) sexual partner.
--v.
1 a intr. take root or grow roots. b tr. cause to do this (take care to root them firmly).
2 tr. a fix firmly; establish (fear rooted him to the spot). b (as rooted adj.) firmly established (her affection was deeply rooted; rooted objection to).
3 tr. (usu. foll. by out, up) drag or dig up by the roots.
4 tr. Austral. coarse sl. a have sexual intercourse with (a woman). b exhaust, frustrate.

Idiom

pull up by the roots
1 uproot.
2 eradicate, destroy. put down roots 1 begin to draw nourishment from the soil.
2 become settled or established. root and branch thorough(ly), radical(ly). root beer US an effervescent drink made from an extract of roots. root-mean-square Math. the square root of the arithmetic mean of the squares of a set of values. root out find and get rid of. root sign Math. = radical sign. strike at the root (or roots) of set about destroying.
strike (or take) root
1 begin to grow and draw nourishment from the soil.
2 become fixed or established.

Derivative

rootage n. rootedness n. rootless adj. rootlet n. rootlike adj. rooty adj.

Root, v.
1 a intr. (of an animal, esp. a pig) turn up the ground with the snout, beak, etc., in search of food. b tr. (foll. by up) turn up (the ground) by rooting.
2 a intr. (foll. by around, in, etc.) rummage. b tr. (foll. by out or up) find or extract by rummaging.
3 intr. (foll. by for) US sl. encourage by applause or support.

Derivative

rooter n. (in sense 3).

Etymology

earlier wroot f. OE wrotan & ON r{oacute}ta: rel. to OE wrot snout

THESAURUS

Root

IC analysis, accidence, acclaim, affix, affixation, allomorph, ancestors, anchor, antecedents, applaud, base, basis, beat the bushes, bed, bed on, bedrock, beginning, birthplace, boost, bottom, bottom on, bound morpheme, bring to light, bud, build on, bulb, bulbil, burgeon, burrow, burst forth, catch, cause, cheer, cheer on, clap, clap the hands, cognate, commencement, completely, conception, confirm, conjugation, core, corm, cradle, cutting, declension, deep-dye, define, delve, derivation, derivative, descent, destroy, develop, difference of form, dig, dig out, dig up, discover, doublet, drive on, egg on, eliminate, embed, enclitic, encore, encourage, engraft, engrave, entirely, entrench, eponym, eradicate, essentiality, establish, etch, etymon, explore, exterminate, extirpate, family, family tree, fatherland, ferret, find, fix, flourish, footing, forage, forebears, forefathers, formative, found, found on, foundation, fount, fountain, fountainhead, free form, frisk, gemmate, genealogy, genesis, germinate, give a hand, go through, goad on, grass roots, ground, ground on, groundwork, grow, grow rank, hail, hasten on, head, hear it for, heart, heritage, hie on, hound on, house, hunt, hurry on, imbed, immediate constituent analysis, impact, implant, impress, imprint, inception, infix, infixation, inflection, infrastructure, ingrain, inscribe, jam, leaf, leaf out, leave, lineage, lodge, look around, look round, look through, luxuriate, marrow, morph, morpheme, morphemic analysis, morphemics, morphology, morphophonemics, motherland, nose, nose around, origin, original, origination, origins, overgrow, overrun, pack, paradigm, pedigree, pith, plant, poke, poke around, predecessors, prefix, prefixation, primitive, print, proclitic, provenance, provenience, pry, pullulate, put forth, put forth leaves, put out buds, quick, quintessence, radical, radically, radicle, radix, ransack, research, rhizome, riot, rise, rock bottom, root and branch, root for, root on, root out, root up, roots, rootstock, rummage, search, search through, seat, set, set in, set on, settle, shoot, shoot up, smell around, soul, source, speed on, spread, sprout, sprout up, spur on, stamp, stem, stereotype, stick, stick fast, stock, strike root, stuff, substance, substratum, suffix, suffixation, support, take root, tap, taproot, theme, thrive, totally, tuber, tubercle, turn up, uncover, undergird, underlie, underpinning, unearth, uproot, upspear, upsprout, urge on, utterly, vegetate, wedge, well, wellhead, whip on, wholly, word-formation

ROGET THESAURUS

Root

Word

N word, term, vocable, name, phrase, root, etymon, derivative, part of speech, ideophone, dictionary, vocabulary, lexicon, glossary, index, concordance, thesaurus, gradus, delectus, etymology, derivation, glossology, terminology orismology, paleology, lexicography, glossographer, lexicologist, verbarian, verbal, literal, titular, nominal, conjugate, paronymous, derivative, verbally, verbatim, the artillery of words.

Number

N number, symbol, numeral, figure, cipher, digit, integer, counter, round number, formula, function, series, sum, difference, complement, subtrahend, product, multiplicand, multiplier, multiplicator, coefficient, multiple, dividend, divisor, factor, quotient, submultiple, fraction, rational number, surd, irrational number, transcendental number, mixed number, complex number, complex conjugate, numerator, denominator, decimal, circulating decimal, repetend, common measure, aliquot part, prime number, prime, relative prime, prime factor, prime pair, reciprocal, totient, binary number, octal number, hexadecimal number, permutation, combination, variation, election, ratio, proportion, comparison, progression, arithmetical progression, geometrical progression, harmonical progression, percentage, permilage, figurate numbers, pyramidal numbers, polygonal numbers, power, root, exponent, index, logarithm, antilogarithm, modulus, base, differential, integral, fluxion, fluent, numeral, complementary, divisible, aliquot, reciprocal, prime, relatively prime, fractional, decimal, figurate, incommensurable, proportional, exponential, logarithmic, logometric, differential, fluxional, integral, totitive, positive, negative, rational, irrational, surd, radical, real, complex, imaginary, finite, infinite, impossible, numerically, modulo.

Cause

N cause, origin, source, principle, element, occasioner, prime mover, primum mobile, vera causa, author, mainspring, agent, leaven, groundwork, foundation, spring, fountain, well, font, fountainhead, spring head, wellhead, fons et origo, genesis, descent, remote cause, influence, pivot, hinge, turning point, lever, crux, fulcrum, key, proximate cause, causa causans, straw that breaks the camel's back, ground, reason, reason why, why and wherefore, rationale, occasion, derivation, final cause, les dessous des cartes, undercurrents, rudiment, egg, germ, embryo, bud, root, radix radical, etymon, nucleus, seed, stem, stock, stirps, trunk, tap-root, gemmule, radicle, semen, sperm, nest, cradle, nursery, womb, nidus, birthplace, hotbed, causality, causation, origination, production, caused, causal, original, primary, primitive, primordial, aboriginal, protogenal, radical, embryonic, embryotic, in embryo, in ovo, seminal, germinal, at the bottom of, connate, having a common origin, because, behind the scenes, causa latet vis est notissima, felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.

Location

VB place, situate, locate, localize, make a place for, put, lay, set, seat, station, lodge, quarter, post, install, house, stow, establish, fix, pin, root, graft, plant, shelve, pitch, camp, lay down, deposit, reposit, cradle, moor, tether, picket, pack, tuck in, embed, imbed, vest, invest in, billet on, quarter upon, saddle with, load, lade, freight, pocket, put up, bag, inhabit, domesticate, colonize, take root, strike root, anchor, cast anchor, come to an anchor, sit down, settle down, settle, take up one's abode, take up one's quarters, plant oneself, establish oneself, locate oneself, squat, perch, hive, se nicher, bivouac, burrow, get a footing, encamp, pitch one's tent, put up at, put up one's horses at, keep house, endenizen, naturalize, adopt, put back, replace.

Base

N base, basement, plinth, dado, wainscot, baseboard, mopboard, bedrock, hardpan, foundation, substructure, substratum, ground, earth, pavement, floor, paving, flag, carped, ground floor, deck, footing, ground work, basis, hold, bilge, bottom, nadir, foot, sole, toe, hoof, keel, root, centerboard, bottom, undermost, nethermost, fundamental, founded on, based on, grounded on, built on.