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root
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28 dictionary results for: Root
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
root1       [root, root] Pronunciation Key
–noun
1.a part of the body of a plant that develops, typically, from the radicle and grows downward into the soil, anchoring the plant and absorbing nutriment and moisture.
2.a similar organ developed from some other part of a plant, as one of those by which ivy clings to its support.
3.any underground part of a plant, as a rhizome.
4.something resembling or suggesting the root of a plant in position or function: roots of wires and cables.
5.the embedded or basal portion of a hair, tooth, nail, nerve, etc.
6.the fundamental or essential part: the root of a matter.
7.the source or origin of a thing: The love of money is the root of all evil.
8.a person or family as the source of offspring or descendants.
9.an offshoot or scion.
10.Mathematics.
a.Also called nth root. a quantity that, when multiplied by itself a certain number of times, produces a given quantity: The number 2 is the square root of 4, the cube root of 8, and the fourth root of 16.
b.rth root, the quantity raised to the power 1/r: The number 2 is the 1/3 root of 8.
c.a value of the argument of a function for which the function takes the value zero.
11.Grammar.
a.a morpheme that underlies an inflectional or derivational paradigm, as dance, the root in danced, dancer, or ten-, the root of Latin tendere “to stretch.”
b.such a form reconstructed for a parent language, as *sed-, the hypothetical proto-Indo-European root meaning “sit.”
12.roots,
a.a person's original or true home, environment, and culture: He's lived in New York for twenty years, but his roots are in France.
b.the personal relationships, affinity for a locale, habits, and the like, that make a country, region, city, or town one's true home: He lived in Tulsa for a few years, but never established any roots there.
c.personal identification with a culture, religion, etc., seen as promoting the development of the character or the stability of society as a whole.
13.Music.
a.the fundamental tone of a compound tone or of a series of harmonies.
b.the lowest tone of a chord when arranged as a series of thirds; the fundamental.
14.Machinery.
a.(in a screw or other threaded object) the narrow inner surface between threads. Compare crest (def. 18), flank (def. 7).
b.(in a gear) the narrow inner surface between teeth.
15.Australian Informal. an act of sexual intercourse.
16.Shipbuilding. the inner angle of an angle iron.
–verb (used without object)
17.to become fixed or established.
–verb (used with object)
18.to fix by or as if by roots: We were rooted to the spot by surprise.
19.to implant or establish deeply: Good manners were rooted in him like a second nature.
20.to pull, tear, or dig up by the roots (often fol. by up or out).
21.to extirpate; exterminate; remove completely (often fol. by up or out): to root out crime.
—Idioms
22.root and branch, utterly; entirely: to destroy something root and branch.
23.take root,
a.to send out roots; begin to grow.
b.to become fixed or established: The prejudices of parents usually take root in their children.
[Origin: bef. 1150; (n.) ME; late OE rōt < ON rōt; akin to OE wyrt plant, wort2, G Wurzel, L rādīx (see radix), Gk rhíza (see rhizome); (v.) ME roten, rooten, deriv. of the n.]

—Related forms
rootlike, adjective

—Synonyms 6. basis. 7. beginning, derivation, rise, fountainhead. 8. parent. 21. eradicate.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
root2       [root, root] Pronunciation Key
–verb (used without object)
1.to turn up the soil with the snout, as swine.
2.to poke, pry, or search, as if to find something: to root around in a drawer for loose coins.
–verb (used with object)
3.to turn over with the snout (often fol. by up).
4.to unearth; bring to light (often fol. by up).
[Origin: 1530–40; var. of obs. wroot (OE wrōtan, akin to wrōt a snout)]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
root3       [root or, sometimes, root] Pronunciation Key,
–verb (used without object)
1.to encourage a team or contestant by cheering or applauding enthusiastically.
2.to lend moral support: The whole group will be rooting for him.
[Origin: 1885–90, Americanism; perh. var. of rout4]

—Synonyms 1. cheer, applaud, boost, support.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
Root       [root] Pronunciation Key,
–noun
1.El·i·hu       [el-uh-hyoo] Pronunciation Key, 1845–1937, U.S. lawyer and statesman: Nobel peace prize 1912.
2.John Well·born       [wel-bern] Pronunciation Key, 1851–91, U.S. architect.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
root 1       (rōōt, rŏŏt)  Pronunciation Key 
n.  
  1. The usually underground portion of a plant that lacks buds, leaves, or nodes and serves as support, draws minerals and water from the surrounding soil, and sometimes stores food.
  2. Any of various other underground plant parts, especially an underground stem such as a rhizome, corm, or tuber.
    1. The embedded part of an organ or structure such as a hair, tooth, or nerve, that serves as a base or support.
    2. A base or support: We snipped the wires at the roots.
    3. The condition of being settled and of belonging to a particular place or society. Often used in the plural: Our roots in this town go back a long way.
    4. roots The state of having or establishing an indigenous relationship with or a personal affinity for a particular culture, society, or environment: music with unmistakable African roots.
    5. The element that carries the main component of meaning in a word and provides the basis from which a word is derived by adding affixes or inflectional endings or by phonetic change.
    6. Such an element reconstructed for a protolanguage. Also called radical.
    7. A number that when multiplied by itself an indicated number of times forms a product equal to a specified number. For example, a fourth root of 4 is √2. Also called nth root.
    8. A number that reduces a polynomial equation in one variable to an identity when it is substituted for the variable.
    9. A number at which a polynomial has the value zero.
    10. The note from which a chord is built.
    11. Such a note occurring as the lowest note of a triad or other chord.
  4. An essential part or element; the basic core: I finally got to the root of the problem.
  5. A primary source; an origin. See Synonyms at origin.
  6. A progenitor or ancestor from which a person or family is descended.
    1. The condition of being settled and of belonging to a particular place or society. Often used in the plural: Our roots in this town go back a long way.
    2. roots The state of having or establishing an indigenous relationship with or a personal affinity for a particular culture, society, or environment: music with unmistakable African roots.
    3. The element that carries the main component of meaning in a word and provides the basis from which a word is derived by adding affixes or inflectional endings or by phonetic change.
    4. Such an element reconstructed for a protolanguage. Also called radical.
    5. A number that when multiplied by itself an indicated number of times forms a product equal to a specified number. For example, a fourth root of 4 is √2. Also called nth root.
    6. A number that reduces a polynomial equation in one variable to an identity when it is substituted for the variable.
    7. A number at which a polynomial has the value zero.
    8. The note from which a chord is built.
    9. Such a note occurring as the lowest note of a triad or other chord.
  8. Linguistics
    1. The element that carries the main component of meaning in a word and provides the basis from which a word is derived by adding affixes or inflectional endings or by phonetic change.
    2. Such an element reconstructed for a protolanguage. Also called radical.
    3. A number that when multiplied by itself an indicated number of times forms a product equal to a specified number. For example, a fourth root of 4 is √2. Also called nth root.
    4. A number that reduces a polynomial equation in one variable to an identity when it is substituted for the variable.
    5. A number at which a polynomial has the value zero.
    6. The note from which a chord is built.
    7. Such a note occurring as the lowest note of a triad or other chord.
  9. Mathematics
    1. A number that when multiplied by itself an indicated number of times forms a product equal to a specified number. For example, a fourth root of 4 is √2. Also called nth root.
    2. A number that reduces a polynomial equation in one variable to an identity when it is substituted for the variable.
    3. A number at which a polynomial has the value zero.
    4. The note from which a chord is built.
    5. Such a note occurring as the lowest note of a triad or other chord.
  10. Music
    1. The note from which a chord is built.
    2. Such a note occurring as the lowest note of a triad or other chord.

v.   root·ed, root·ing, roots

v.   intr.
  1. To grow roots or a root.
  2. To become firmly established, settled, or entrenched.
  3. To come into existence; originate.

v.   tr.
  1. To cause to put out roots and grow.
  2. To implant by or as if by the roots.
  3. To furnish a primary source or origin to.
  4. To remove by or as if by the roots. Often used with up or out: "declared that waste and fraud will be vigorously rooted out of Government" (New York Times).


[Middle English rot, from Old English rōt, from Old Norse; see wrād- in Indo-European roots.]

root'er n.
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root 2       (rōōt, rŏŏt)  Pronunciation Key 
v.   root·ed, root·ing, roots

v.   tr.
To dig with or as if with the snout or nose: Even a blind hog can root up an acorn.

v.   intr.
  1. To dig in the earth with or as if with the snout or nose.
  2. To rummage for something: rooted around for a pencil in his cluttered office.


[Middle English wroten, from Old English wrōtan.]

root'er n.
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root 3       (rōōt, rŏŏt)  Pronunciation Key 
intr.v.   root·ed, root·ing, roots
  1. To give audible encouragement or applause to a contestant or team; cheer. See Synonyms at applaud.
  2. To lend support to someone or something.


[Possibly alteration of rout3.]

root'er n.
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Root       (rōōt)  Pronunciation Key 
American lawyer and public official who served as U.S. secretary of war (1899-1904), secretary of state (1905-1909), and senator from New York (1909-1915). He won the 1912 Nobel Peace Prize.

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Root, John Wellborn 1850-1891.  
American architect whose designs include the Monadnock Building (1889-1891) in Chicago, which employed steel beams along with traditional masonry-bearings walls.

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
root  (n.)
"underground part of a plant," late O.E. rot, from O.N. rot "root," from P.Gmc. *wrot, *vrot (with characteristic loss of -w- before -r-), from PIE *wrd-. The O.E. cognate was wyrt "root, herb, plant" (see wort); also cognate with L. radix. The usual O.E. words for "root" were wyrttruma and wyrtwala. Fig. use is from c.1200. Of teeth, hair, etc., from c.1225. Mathematical sense is from 1557. Slang meaning "penis" is recorded from 1846. The verb meaning "fixed or firmly attached by roots" (often fig.) is attested from 1398; sense of "to pull up by the root" (now usually uproot) also is from 1398. Root beer first recorded 1843, Amer.Eng.; root doctor is from 1821.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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root  (v1.)
"dig with the snout," 1538, from M.E. wroten "dig with the snout," from O.E. wrotan, from P.Gmc. *wrotanan (cf. O.N. rota, Swed. rota "to dig out, root," M.L.G. wroten, M.Du. wroeten, O.H.G. ruozian "to plow up"), cognate with L. rodere "to gnaw" (see rodent). Associated with the verb sense of root (n.). Extended sense of "poke about, pry" first recorded 1831. Phrase root hog or die "work or fail" first attested 1834, Amer.Eng. (in works of Davey Crockett, who noted it as an "old saying"). Reduplicated form rootin' tootin' "noisy, rambunctious" is recorded from 1875.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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root  (v2.)
"cheer, support," 1889, Amer.Eng., originally in a baseball context, probably from root (v.1) via intermediate sense of "study, work hard" (1856).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
root

noun
1. (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 
2. the place where something begins, where it springs into being; "the Italian beginning of the Renaissance"; "Jupiter was the origin of the radiation"; "Pittsburgh is the source of the Ohio River"; "communism's Russian root" [syn: beginning] 
3. (linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are removed; "thematic vowels are part of the stem" 
4. a number that, when multiplied by itself some number of times, equals a given number 
5. the set of values that give a true statement when substituted into an equation [syn: solution] 
6. someone from whom you are descended (but usually more remote than a grandparent) [syn: ancestor] [ant: descendant] 
7. a simple form inferred as the common basis from which related words in several languages can be derived by linguistic processes [syn: etymon] 
8. the part of a tooth that is embedded in the jaw and serves as support 

verb
1. take root and begin to grow; "this plant roots quickly" 
2. come into existence, originate; "The problem roots in her depression" 
3. plant by the roots 
4. dig with the snout; "the pig was rooting for truffles" [syn: rout] 
5. become settled or established and stable in one's residence or life style; "He finally settled down" [syn: settle] 
6. cause to take roots 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms - Cite This Source - Share This

root

In addition to the idioms beginning with root, also see put down roots; take root.


The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
root       (rt, rt)  Pronunciation Key 
  1. A plant part that usually grows underground, secures the plant in place, absorbs minerals and water, and stores food manufactured by leaves and other plant parts. Roots grow in a root system. Eudicots and magnoliids have a central, longer, and larger taproot with many narrower lateral roots branching off, while monocots have a mass of threadlike fibrous roots, which are roughly the same length and remain close to the surface of the soil. In vascular plants, roots usually consist of a central cylinder of vascular tissue, surrounded by the pericycle and endodermis, then a thick layer of cortex, and finally an outer epidermis or (in woody plants) periderm. Only finer roots (known as feeder roots) actively take up water and minerals, generally in the uppermost meter of soil. These roots absorb minerals primarily through small epidermal structures known as root hairs. In certain plants, adventitious roots grow out from the stem above ground as aerial roots or prop roots, bending down into the soil, to facilitate the exchange of gases or increase support. Certain plants (such as the carrot and beet) have fleshy storage roots with abundant parenchyma in their vascular tissues. See also fibrous root, taproot.
  2. Any of various other plant parts that grow underground, especially an underground stem such as a corm, rhizome, or tuber.
  3. The part of a tooth that is embedded in the jaw and not covered by enamel.
  4. Mathematics
    1. A number that, when multiplied by itself a given number of times, produces a specified number. For example, since 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 = 16, 2 is a fourth root of 16.
    2. A solution to an equation. For example, a root of the equation x2 - 4 = 0 is 2, since 22 - 4 = 0.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
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Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
root

In biology, the part of a plant that grows downward and holds the plant in place, absorbs water and minerals from the soil, and often stores food. The main root of a plant is called the primary root; others are called secondary roots. The hard tip is called the root cap, which protects the growing cells behind it. Root hairs increase the root's absorbing surface.


The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
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root

The part of a tooth below the gum. The root anchors the tooth to the jawbone.


The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
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Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

root (r&oomacr;t, r&oobreve;t)
n.

  1. The embedded part of an organ or structure, such as a hair, tooth, or nerve, serving as a base or support.
  2. A primary source; an origin; radix.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law - Cite This Source - Share This
Main Entry: root
Pronunciation: 'rüt, 'rut
Function: noun
in the civil law of Louisiana : DESCENDANT—by roots : PER STIRPES

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Free On-line Dictionary of Computing - Cite This Source - Share This

root
1. The Unix superuser account (with user name "root" and user ID 0) that overrides file permissions. The term avatar is also used. By extension, the privileged system-maintenance login on any operating system.
See root mode, go root, wheel.
[The Jargon File]
(1994-10-27)
2. root directory.
(1996-11-21)
3. root node.
(1998-11-14)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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Jargon File - Cite This Source - Share This

root

n. [Unix]
1. The superuser account (with user name `root') that ignores permission bits, user number 0 on a Unix system. The term avatar is also used.
2. The top node of the system directory structure; historically the home directory of the root user, but probably named after the root of an (inverted) tree.
3. By extension, the privileged system-maintenance login on any OS. See root mode, go root, see also wheel.

Jargon File 4.2.0
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superuser

n. [Unix] Syn. {root}, {avatar}. This usage has spread to non-Unix environments; the superuser is any account with all {wheel} bits on. A more specific term than {wheel}.

Jargon File 4.2.0
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Root

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. [Slang or Cant, U. S.]

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Root

Root\, v. i. [AS. wr[=o]tan; akin to wr[=o]t a snout, trunk, D. wroeten to root, G. r["u]ssel snout, trunk, proboscis, Icel. r[=o]ta 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.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Root

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

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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