Root

10 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

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

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:



  Root \Root\, n. [Icel. r[=o]t (for vr[=o]t); 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.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     2. An edible or esculent root, especially of such plants as
        produce a single root, as the beet, carrot, etc.; as, the
        root crop.
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     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.
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                  They were the roots out of which sprang two
                  distinct people.                  --Locke.
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        (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.
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                  The love of money is a root of all kinds of
                  evil.                             --1 Tim. vi.
                                                    10 (rev. Ver.)
            [1913 Webster]
        (d) (Math.) 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.
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        (f) The lowest place, position, or part. "Deep to the
            roots of hell." --Milton. "The roots of the
            mountains." --Southey.
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     4. (Astrol.) The time which to reckon in making calculations.
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              When a root is of a birth yknowe [known]. --Chaucer.
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     {Aerial 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} (Zool.), 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} (Zool.), 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.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Hence, to seek for favor or advancement by low arts or
        groveling servility; to fawn servilely.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Root \Root\ (r[=oo]t), 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.
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              In deep grounds the weeds root deeper. --Mortimer.
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     2. To be firmly fixed; to be established.
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              If any irregularity chanced to intervene and to
              cause misappehensions, he gave them not leave to
              root and fasten by concealment.       --Bp. Fell.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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 1913 Suppl.]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Root \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.
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     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.
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              The Lord rooted them out of their land . . . and
              cast them into another land.          --Deut. xxix.
                                                    28.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  root
       n 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: (linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are
          removed; "thematic vowels are part of the stem" [syn: {root
          word}, {base}, {stem}, {theme}, {radical}]
       3: 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}, {origin}, {rootage}, {source}]
       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}, {ascendant}, {ascendent},
           {antecedent}] [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 [syn: {tooth root}]
       v 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}, {rootle}]
       5: take sides with; align oneself with; show strong sympathy
          for; "We all rooted for the home team"; "I'm pulling for
          the underdog"; "Are you siding with the defender of the
          title?" [syn: {side}, {pull}]
       6: become settled or established and stable in one's residence
          or life style; "He finally settled down" [syn: {settle}, {take
          root}, {steady down}, {settle down}]
       7: cause to take roots

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  260 Moby Thesaurus words for "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
  
  

From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:

  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}.
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  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}.
       
          [{Jargon File}]
       
          (1994-10-27)
       
          2.  {root directory}.
       
          (1996-11-21)
       
          3.  {root node}.
       
          (1998-11-14)