I. ˈrüf, ˈru̇f, dial ˈrəf noun
( plural roofs -fs ; also rooves ˈrüvz)
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English rof, roof, rouf, ruf, from Old English hrōf; akin to Old Frisian hrōf roof, Middle Low German rōf, rūf cover, sheltering roof, Middle Dutch roef, roof cover, roof, Old Norse hrōf roof of a boathouse, boathouse, Old Slavic stropŭ roof
1.
a. : the outside cover of a building or structure including the roofing and all the materials and construction necessary to maintain the cover upon its walls or other support:
(1) : such a cover or its inner shell on the interior of a structure ; especially : a high vaulted or spacious ceiling
the long interior … has a handsome open timber roof decorated in polychrome — American Guide Series: Connecticut
its principal room is the Livery Hall, high ceilinged, with decorated roof , chandeliers, and tall marble pillars — Gerard Foy
(2) : such a cover of a house or home
finds herself without a roof over her head — H.M.Parshley
placing … the most distressed families under roof — U.S. Code
b. : a shelter, house, or other domicile used as a home
had his roof and taught physics in a boy's school — D.C.Peattie
why not … share the same roof — Virginia Woolf
c. : roofing
the house has a slate roof
slag or gravel roof
coal tar, pitch, and felt roof
2.
a.
(1) : the highest point or reach of something : summit , culmination
in the desolate mountains at the roof of the … world — Newsweek
(2) : ceiling 7
what the nation needed … was a floor under some prices and a roof over others — Time
both wool and rubber … have gone through the roof — America
b. : something that covers in, includes, or completes
agency to put a permanent roof over the temporary consolidation of the independent housing agencies — Time
c. : the vault of the heavens
this majestic roof fretted with golden fire — Shakespeare
beneath this small blue roof of vernal sky — S.T.Coleridge
d. : something resembling a roof in form or function: as
(1) : the canopy of leaves and branches formed by trees or other vegetative growth
from under shady arborous roof — John Milton
some do rise above the jungle roof — C.H.Curran
(2) : the cover of a vehicle (as a car or airplane) : top
3.
a. : the vaulted upper boundary of the mouth supported largely by the palatine bones and limited anteriorly by the dental ridge and posteriorly by the uvula and upper part of the fauces
b. : tegmentum
c. : a covering structure of any of various other parts of the body
roof of the skull
roof of a cavity
4.
a.
(1) : the rock immediately above a tabular deposit (as a coal seam or vein)
(2) : the overhead of an excavation or tunnel in a mine
(3) : the invaded rock above a batholith
b. : a passage excavated in quarrying slate from below upward : raise
[s]roof.jpg[/s] [
roof 1a(1): 1 gambrel, 2 mansard, 3 hip, 4 lean-to
]
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English rofen, from rof, roof, n.
1.
a. : to cover or provide (a structure) with a roof
had the passage at the entrance of the house repaired and roofed — Thomas Carlyle
the thatcher mounts his ladder … with his burden of straw, roofing the corn built to be its own storehouse — Adrian Bell
b. : to provide (a roof) with a protective or weatherproof exterior
originally roofed with handmade shingles — American Guide Series: Louisiana
2.
a. : to constitute or form a roof over (something)
maple trees roofed every street with gold — Janet Whitney
the mountains which roof their mines — Christian Science Monitor
b. : to provide shelter for : house