root
(noun) the embedded part of a bodily structure such as a tooth, nail, or hair
root, root word, base, stem, theme, radical
(noun) (linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are removed; âthematic vowels are part of the stemâ
etymon, root
(noun) a simple form inferred as the common basis from which related words in several languages can be derived by linguistic processes
solution, root
(noun) the set of values that give a true statement when substituted into an equation
beginning, origin, root, rootage, source
(noun) the place where something begins, where it springs into being; âthe Italian beginning of the Renaissanceâ; âJupiter was the origin of the radiationâ; âPittsburgh is the source of the Ohio Riverâ; âcommunismâs Russian rootâ
ancestor, ascendant, ascendent, antecedent, root
(noun) someone from whom you are descended (but usually more remote than a grandparent)
root
(noun) (botany) the usually underground organ that lacks buds or leaves or nodes; absorbs water and mineral salts; usually it anchors the plant to the ground
root
(noun) a number that, when multiplied by itself some number of times, equals a given number
root
(verb) take root and begin to grow; âthis plant roots quicklyâ
root
(verb) cause to take roots
settle, root, take root, steady down, settle down
(verb) become settled or established and stable in oneâs residence or life style; âHe finally settled downâ
rout, root, rootle
(verb) dig with the snout; âthe pig was rooting for trufflesâ
root
(verb) plant by the roots
root
(verb) cheer for; âShe roots for the Broncosâ
root
(verb) come into existence, originate; âThe problem roots in her depressionâ
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Root
An English surname from a byname from Middle English rote (âgladâ).
An English occupational surname for a rote (medieval guitar)-player.
A Dutch habitational surname for someone living near a retting place (Dutch root, from roten (âto retâ)).
A town in Lucerne canton, Switzerland.
A town in New York, United States; named for lawyer and politician Erastus Root.
A river in Minnesota, United States; named as a translation of its native Dakota name.
A river in Wisconsin, United States.
• Toor, Toro, roto, roto-, toro, troo
root (countable and uncountable, plural roots)
The part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors and supports the plant body, absorbs and stores water and nutrients, and in some plants is able to perform vegetative reproduction.
Hyponym: taproot
A root vegetable.
The part of a tooth extending into the bone holding the tooth in place.
The part of a hair under the skin that holds the hair in place.
The part of a hair near the skin that has not been dyed, permed, or otherwise treated.
(figurative) The primary source; origin.
Synonyms: basis, origin, source
(arithmetic) Of a number or expression, a number which, when raised to a specified power, yields the specified number or expression.
Hyponyms: cube root, functional root, square root
(arithmetic) A square root (understood if no power is specified; in which case, âthe root ofâ is often abbreviated to ârootâ).
(analysis) A zero (of an equation).
Synonym: zero
Antonym: pole
Holonym: kernel
(graph theory, computing) The single node of a tree that has no parent.
(linguistic morphology) The primary lexical unit of a word, which carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced into smaller constituents. Inflectional stems often derive from roots.
Coordinate term: stem
(philology) A word from which another word or words are derived.
Synonym: etymon
(music) The fundamental tone of any chord; the tone from whose harmonics, or overtones, a chord is composed.
The lowest place, position, or part.
(computing) In UNIX terminology, the first user account with complete access to the operating system and its configuration, found at the root of the directory structure; the person who manages accounts on a UNIX system.
Synonyms: superuser, root account, root user
(computing) The highest directory of a directory structure which may contain both files and subdirectories.
(slang) A penis, especially the base of a penis.
root (third-person singular simple present roots, present participle rooting, simple past and past participle rooted)
To grow roots; to enter the earth, as roots; to take root and begin to grow.
To prepare, oversee, or otherwise cause the rooting of cuttings
To be firmly fixed; to be established.
(computing slang, transitive) To get root or priviledged access on a computer system or mobile phone, often through bypassing some security mechanism.
Synonym: jailbreak (mobile phone)
root (third-person singular simple present roots, present participle rooting, simple past and past participle rooted)
(ambitransitive) To turn up or dig with the snout.
(by extension) To seek favour or advancement by low arts or grovelling servility; to fawn.
(intransitive) To rummage; to search as if by digging in soil.
Synonyms: dig out, root out, rummage
(transitive) To root out; to abolish.
(Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, vulgar, slang) To have sexual intercourse.
Synonyms: screw, bang, drill (US), shag (British), Thesaurus:copulate with
• The Australian/New Zealand sexual sense is somewhat milder than fuck but still quite coarse, and certainly not for polite conversation. The sexual sense will often be understood, unless care is taken with the context to make the rummage sense clear, or root through or root around is used. The past participle rooted is equivalent to fucked in the figurative sense of broken or tired, but rooting is only the direct verbal sense, not an all-purpose intensive like fucking.
root (plural roots)
(Australia, New Zealand, vulgar, slang) An act of sexual intercourse.
Synonyms: screw (UK, US), shag (UK), Thesaurus:copulation
(Australia, New Zealand, vulgar, slang) A sexual partner.
Synonym: screw (US)
• The Australian/New Zealand sexual sense of root is somewhat milder than fuck but still quite coarse, certainly not for polite conversation. The normal usage is to have a root or similar.
root (third-person singular simple present roots, present participle rooting, simple past and past participle rooted)
(intransitive, with "for" or "on", US) To cheer (on); to show support (for) and hope for the success of. (See root for.) [late 19th century]
Synonyms: barrack (Australia, New Zealand), cheer on
• Toor, Toro, roto, roto-, toro, troo
Source: Wiktionary
Root, v. i. Etym: [AS. wrotan; akin to wrot a snout, trunk, D. wroeten to root, G. rĂŒssel snout, trunk, proboscis, Icel. rota to root, and perhaps to L. rodere to gnaw (E. rodent) or to E. root, n.]
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. t.
Definition: To turn up or to dig out with the snout; as, the swine roots the earth.
Root, n. Etym: [Icel. rot (for vrot); akin to E. wort, and perhaps to root to turn up the earth. See Wort.]
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. 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.)
Definition: 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.)
Definition: The time which to reckon in making calculations. When a root is of a birth yknowe [known]. Chaucer. AĂ«rial 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. [imp. & p. p. Rooted; p. pr. & vb. n. 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, 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." Shak. The Lord rooted them out of their land . . . and cast them into another land. Deut. xxix. 28.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
22 February 2025
(noun) the use of closed-class words instead of inflections: e.g., âthe father of the brideâ instead of âthe brideâs fatherâ
The Boston Tea Party helped popularize coffee in America. The hefty tea tax imposed on the colonies in 1773 resulted in America switching from tea to coffee. In the lead up to the Revolutionary War, it became patriotic to sip java instead of tea. The Civil War made the drink more pervasive. Coffee helped energize tired troops, and drinking it became an expression of freedom.
