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roots

 [root, root]   Origin

root

1   [root, root]
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.
EXPAND
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.
COLLAPSE
verb (used without object)
17.
to become fixed or established.

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Roots is always a great word to know.
So is quincunx. Does it mean:
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
a fool or simpleton; ninny.
LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...
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 followed by up or out).
21.
to extirpate; exterminate; remove completely (often followed 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:
before 1150; (noun) Middle English; late Old English rōt < Old Norse rōt; akin to Old English wyrt plant, wort2, German Wurzel, Latin rādīx (see radix), Greek rhíza (see rhizome); (v.) Middle English roten, rooten, derivative of the noun

Related forms
root·like, adjective

Synonyms
6. basis. 7. beginning, derivation, rise, fountainhead. 8. parent. 21. eradicate.

Dictionary.com Unabridged

root

2   [root, root]
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 followed by up).
4.
to unearth; bring to light (often followed by up).
Origin:
1530–40; variant of obsolete wroot (Old English wrōtan, akin to wrōt a snout)

root

3   [root or, sometimes, root]
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; perhaps variant of rout4

Synonyms
1. cheer, applaud, boost, support.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To roots
Collins
World English Dictionary
roots (ruːts)
 
—adj
(of popular music) going back to the origins of a style, esp in being genuine and unpretentious: roots rock
 
'rootsy
 
—adj

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

root
"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, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

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.
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Science Dictionary
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
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary

Roots definition


(1976) A Pulitzer Prize–winning novel by the African-American author Alex Haley, later made into a popular television drama. It traces a black American man's heritage to Africa, where his ancestors had been captured and sold as slaves.

root definition


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
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Slang Dictionary

root definition


  1. n.
    a cigarette or a cigar. : That root you're smoking sure stinks.
  2. in.
    to eat food like a pig. : Bart is downstairs rooting now. It won't take that slob long to eat.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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