root
Forms
- Plural
- roots
- present (v1)
- root
- past (v2)
- rooted
- past participle (v3)
- rooted
- present participle
- rooting
- 3rd person singular
- roots
Definitions
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.
- A root caught Ulot's left foot and he almost fell.
- 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.
2.The part of a tooth extending into the bone holding the tooth in place.
- Root damage is a common problem of overbrushing.
3.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.
4.A root vegetable.
1.To fix firmly; to establish.
- Massacres that take place during war often seem to be rooted in irrational emotion.
- If any irregularity chanced to intervene and to cause misapprehensions, he gave them not leave to root and fasten by concealment.
2.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.
- 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.
3.To prepare, oversee, or otherwise cause the rooting of cuttings.
- We rooted some cuttings last summer.
4.To get root or privileged access on (a computer system or mobile phone), often through bypassing some security mechanism.(slang)
- We rooted his box and planted a virus on it.
- I want to root my Android phone so I can remove the preinstalled crapware.
Frequency
Overall
Common· #1976
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Common
- Academic
- Uncommon
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Etymology
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.