root

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.

Noun

  1. 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.
    • This tree's roots can go as deep as twenty metres underground.
    • A Greek historian Phylarchus describes a white root indigenous to India that caused eunuchism when a person bathed in water in which the root was steeped. - 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York:...
    • A root caught Ulot's left foot and he almost fell. - 1981, Frank Herbert, God Emperor of Dune, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 6:

    Synonyms: fang

    Hyponyms: taproot

  2. A root vegetable.
    • [...] two fields which should have been sown with roots in the early summer were not sown because the ploughing had not been completed early enough. - 1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August...
  3. The part of a tooth extending into the bone holding the tooth in place.
    • Root damage is a common problem of overbrushing.

    Synonyms: fang

  4. The part of a hair under the skin that holds the hair in place.
    • The root is the only part of the hair that is alive.
  5. The part of a hair near the skin that has not been dyed, permed, or otherwise treated.
    • He dyed his hair black last month, so the grey roots can be seen.
  6. The primary source; origin.
    • The love of money is the root of all evil.
    • They were the roots out of which sprang two distinct people. - , Book 1
    • Phallicism was, therefore, at the root of all religion, and was definitely the opponent of evil and darkness. - 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 160:

    Synonyms: basis origin source

  7. The section of a wing immediately adjacent to the fuselage.
  8. The bottom of the thread of a threaded object.
    • The root diameter is the minor diameter of an external thread and the major diameter of an internal one.

    Antonyms: crest

  9. Of a number or expression, a number which, when raised to a specified power, yields the specified number or expression.
    • The cube root of 27 is 3.
  10. A square root (understood if no power is specified; in which case, "the root of" is often abbreviated to "root").
    • Multiply by root 2.
    • 1899, Dante Gabriel Rossetti (transl.), The New Life (La Vita Nuova) of Dante Alighieri, Siddall edition, page 122. The number three is the root of the number nine; […] being multiplied merely by itself, it produceth...
  11. A zero (of an equation).

    Synonyms: zero

    Antonyms: pole

  12. The single node of a tree that has no parent.

Origin

PIE word *wréh₂ds From Middle English rote, root, roote (“the underground part of a plant”), from late Old English rōt, from Old Norse rót (“root”), from Proto-Germanic *wrōts (“root”), from Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds (“root”); Doublet of wort, radish, and radix. Cognate with Scots ruit, rute (“root”), Danish rod (“root”), Faroese and Icelandic rót (“root”), Norwegian and Swedish rot (“root”).

Forms

roots

Related

successor + = + +... = − = × = × ×... = ÷ = Or sometimes = √ = log(base) =

Derived

abscess root advanced tongue root aerial root alumroot aniseroot Armillaria root disease Armillaria root rot arrow-root arrowroot asparagus root balsamroot bareroot bare-root beetroot beet root bellyache root bigroot birthroot biscuit root biscuitroot bitterroot blackroot bloodroot Boott's rattlesnake root

Noun Entry 2

  1. An act of rummaging or searching.
    • It was always sensible to get off the busy streets if you were going to have a root inside your girlfriend's bra. - 2002, Tom Reilly, Hollow Be Thy Name, Trafford Publishing, →ISBN:
    • It'll come to me eventually, but I think I'll go over to Bristol tomorrow afternoon and have a root through the medical school library. - 2011 August 1, Bernard Knight, According to the Evidence, Severn House Publishers...
    • It was not likely a tapestry over two hundred feet long and twenty inches wide was in the dustbin, but Pavel took a root through Laurent's dustbin anyway, just because it was there. - 2016 January 20, Joan Smith, The...
  2. An act of sexual intercourse.
    • Fancy a root?
    • Ken was in the good mood he'd been in for weeks. Nothing like a regular root to turn him into the jolly green giant. - 2018, Melissa Lucashenko, Too Much Lip, University of Queensland Press, published 2023, page 113:

    Synonyms: screw shag aphrodisia carnal knowledge coitus coition commerce commixtion congress conjunction connection consummation conversation copulation coupling intercourse intimacy intimate relations intromission joining lovemaking lustmaking mating mounting

  3. A sexual partner.

    Synonyms: screw

Origin

From Middle English wrōten (“to dig with the snout”), from Old English wrōtan, from Proto-West Germanic *wrōtan, from Proto-Germanic *wrōtaną (“to dig out, to root”). Related to Old English wrōt (“snout; trunk”). Loss of initial w- probably due to influence from the related noun (Etymology 1).

Forms

roots wrout rout wroot

Verb Entry 3

  1. To turn up or dig with the snout.
    • A pig roots the earth for truffles.
    • Such tunges ſhuld be torne out by the harde rootes, - c. 1515–1516, published 1568, John Skelton, Againſt venemous tongues enpoyſoned with ſclaunder and falſe detractions &c.
  2. To seek favour or advancement by low arts or grovelling servility; to fawn.
    • Thou elvish-marked, abortive, rooting hog! - c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London:...
  3. To rummage; to search as if by digging in soil.
    • rooting about in a junk-filled drawer

    Synonyms: dig out root out rummage

  4. Of a baby: to turn the head and open the mouth in search of food.
    • When your baby is rooting, his head will turn to the side and he will open and close his mouth. If you put your finger in your baby's hand, she has a grasping reflex that makes her curl her fingers around yours and hold...
  5. To root out; to abolish.
    • I will go root away the noisome weeds. - 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies:...
    • The Lord rooted them out of their land [...] and cast them into another land. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomy 29:28:
  6. To tug or pull at the reins aggressively by driving the head downwards while wearing a bit.
  7. To sexually penetrate.

    Synonyms: screw bang drill shag Formal terms bed coit coitize dight enjoy feague go in unto go to bed with have know lie by lie with love mount occupy penetrate season seduce sleep with

Forms

roots rooting rooted wrout rout wroot

Derived

root about rooted rooter root for rootle root out root up underroot

Verb Entry 4

  1. To grow roots; to enter the earth, as roots; to take root and begin to grow.
    • The cuttings are starting to root.
    • In deep grounds the weeds root the deeper. - 1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan]...
    • Some old, underfired clay pantiles might be damaged by button mosses rooting in cracks and fissures. But most post-war tiles are hard enough to withstand a bit of moss growth. - 2014 October 26, Jeff Howell, “Is the...
  2. To prepare, oversee, or otherwise cause the rooting of cuttings.
    • We rooted some cuttings last summer.
  3. To fix firmly; to establish.
    • If any irregularity chanced to intervene and to cause misapprehensions, he gave them not leave to root and fasten by concealment. - 1823, Gilbert Burnet, The Life of Sir Matthew Hale, Knt., Sometime Lord Chief Justice...
    • Small theater companies come and go very quickly — many times after one show — but community response to Triangle has been strong, and there is a good chance that they will make it through those early growing stages and...
    • Massacres that take place during war often seem to be rooted in irrational emotion. - 2020 October 15, Frank Pasquale, “‘Machines set loose to slaughter’: the dangerous rise of military AI”, in The Guardian:
  4. To get root or privileged access on (a computer system or mobile phone), often through bypassing some security mechanism.
    • We rooted his box and planted a virus on it.
    • I want to root my Android phone so I can remove the preinstalled crapware.

    Synonyms: jailbreak

Forms

roots rooting rooted

Verb US, intransitive

  1. To cheer (on); to show support (for) and hope for the success of. (See root for.)
    • I'm rooting for you, don't let me down!
    • Let me root, root, root for the home team, - 1908, Jack Norworth, Take Me Out to the Ball Game:

    Synonyms: barrack cheer on

Origin

Possibly an alteration of rout (“to make a loud noise”), influenced by hoot.

Forms

roots rooting rooted