Root

[ruːt] or [rut]

Definition

(noun.) the part of a tooth that is embedded in the jaw and serves as support.

(noun.) (linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are removed; 'thematic vowels are part of the stem'.

(noun.) (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.

(noun.) a number that, when multiplied by itself some number of times, equals a given number.

(verb.) take root and begin to grow; 'this plant roots quickly'.

(verb.) cause to take roots.

(verb.) plant by the roots.

(verb.) come into existence, originate; 'The problem roots in her depression'.

Checker: Lowell--From WordNet

Definition

(v. i.) To turn up the earth with the snout, as swine.

(v. i.) Hence, to seek for favor or advancement by low arts or groveling servility; to fawn servilely.

(v. t.) To turn up or to dig out with the snout; as, the swine roots the earth.

(n.) 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.

(n.) 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.

(n.) An edible or esculent root, especially of such plants as produce a single root, as the beet, carrot, etc.; as, the root crop.

(n.) 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.

(n.) An ancestor or progenitor; and hence, an early race; a stem.

(n.) 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.

(n.) The cause or occasion by which anything is brought about; the source.

(n.) 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.

(n.) The fundamental tone of any chord; the tone from whose harmonics, or overtones, a chord is composed.

(n.) The lowest place, position, or part.

(n.) The time which to reckon in making calculations.

(v. i.) To fix the root; to enter the earth, as roots; to take root and begin to grow.

(v. i.) To be firmly fixed; to be established.

(v. t.) 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.

(v. t.) To tear up by the root; to eradicate; to extirpate; -- with up, out, or away.

Inputed by Angela

Synonyms and Synonymous

n. [1]. Bottom, base, foundation, lower part.[2]. Cause, origin, source, occasion.[3]. Radical, radix, etymon, primitive word.

v. n. Take root.

v. a. Implant, set, fix, establish.

Editor: Maggie

Synonyms and Antonyms

SYN:Radix, radicle, stem, origin, source, spring, rise, commencement, parent

ANT:Branch, ramification, outcome, product, issue, progeny

Inputed by Katrina

Definition

v.t. to turn up with the snout.—v.i. to turn up the earth with the snout.—n. Root′er.—v.t. Root′le.

n. the part of a plant which is fixed in the earth and which draws up sap from the soil: an edible root: anything like a root a growing plant together with its root: the bottom: a word from which others are derived: the cause occasion or basis of anything: the source: the lowest place: the first ancestor or progenitor: (math.) the factor of a quantity which multiplied by itself produces that quantity: any value of the unknown quantity in an equation which will render both sides of it identical.—v.i. to fix the root: to be firmly established: to tear up: to eradicate: to exterminate.—v.t. to plant in the earth: to implant deeply.—ns. Root′age the act of striking roots; Root′-beer a drink made from roots of dandelion sassafras &c.; Root′-bōr′er an insect which bores the roots of plants.—adj. Root′-bound (Milt.) fixed in the earth by or as by the root.—ns. Root′-cap a cap-like layer of cells at the tip of roots; Root′-crop a crop of esculent roots esp. of single-rooted plants as turnips &c.; Root′-dig′ger a form of tongs for raising carrots &c.; Root′-eat′er any animal feeding habitually on roots.—adj. Root′ed firmly planted: fixed by the roots: deep-seated as a rooted dislike.—adv. Root′edly.—ns. Root′edness; Root′er.—adj. Root′-fast firmly rooted.—ns. Root′-fī′bril one of the fine divisions of a root; Root′-form a form assumed by an insect when feeding on roots; Root′-graft′ing the process of grafting scions on a part of the root of some appropriate stock; Root′-hair a delicate filament developed from a single cell.—adj. Root′-head′ed fixed as if rooted by the head.—ns. Root′-house a rustic-house: a storehouse for potatoes &c.; Root′-knot an abnormal knot of a root.—adj. Root′less destitute of roots.—ns. Root′let a little root: a radicle; Root′-louse one of the plant-lice; Root′-par′asite a plant which grows upon and derives its nourishment from the root of another plant; Root′-pres′sure an upward flow of sap 'bleeding;' Root′-pulp′er a mill for grinding roots; Root′-sheath the sheath of the root of a hair or feather; Root′-stock (bot.) a prostrate rooting stem either fleshy or woody which yearly produces young branches or plants: origin.—adj. Root′y abounding in roots: rank.—Root and branch completely; Root of bitterness a dangerous error drawing away to apostasy; Root of the matter that which is essential.—Strike or Take root to root to become fixed.

Checked by Lemuel