ROOT


Meaning of ROOT in English

root 1

— rootlike , adj.

/rooht, root/ , n.

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. Math.

a. 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. r th 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. Gram.

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. Mach.

a. (in a screw or other threaded object) the narrow inner surface between threads. Cf. 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.

17. root and branch , utterly; entirely: to destroy something root and branch.

18. 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.

v.i.

19. to become fixed or established.

v.t.

20. to fix by or as if by roots: We were rooted to the spot by surprise.

21. to implant or establish deeply: Good manners were rooted in him like a second nature.

22. to pull, tear, or dig up by the roots (often fol. by up or out ).

23. to extirpate; exterminate; remove completely (often fol. by up or out ): to root out crime.

[ bef. 1150; (n.) ME; late OE rot rot; akin to OE wyrt plant, WORT 2 , G Wurzel, L radix (see RADIX), Gk rhíza (see RHIZOME); (v.) ME roten, rooten, deriv. of the n. ]

Syn. 6. basis. 7. beginning, derivation, rise, fountainhead. 8. parent. 23. eradicate.

root 2

/rooht, root/ , v.i.

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.

v.t.

3. to turn over with the snout (often fol. by up ).

4. to unearth; bring to light (often fol. by up ).

[ 1530-40; var. of obs. wroot (OE wrotan, akin to wrot a snout) ]

root 3

/rooht/ or, sometimes, /root/ , v.i.

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.

[ 1885-90, Amer.; perh. var. of ROUT 4 ]

Syn. 1. cheer, applaud, boost, support.

Random House Webster's Unabridged English dictionary.      Полный английский словарь Вебстер - Random House .