root

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)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.

   “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.”

   “A root caught Ulot's left foot and he almost fell.”

2. (countable, uncountable)A root vegetable.

   “[...] two fields which should have been sown with roots in the early summer were not sown because the ploughing had not been completed early enough.”

3. (countable, uncountable)The part of a tooth extending into the bone holding the tooth in place.

   “Root damage is a common problem of overbrushing.”

4. (countable, uncountable)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.”

5. (countable, uncountable)The part of a hair near the skin that has not been dyed, permed, or otherwise treated.

   “He dyed his hair black last month, so the grey roots can be seen.”

6. (countable, figuratively, uncountable)The primary source; origin.

   “The love of money is the root of all evil.”

   “They were the roots out of which sprang two distinct people.”

   “Phallicism was, therefore, at the root of all religion, and was definitely the opponent of evil and darkness.”

7. (countable, uncountable)The section of a wing immediately adjacent to the fuselage.
8. (countable, uncountable)The bottom of the thread of a threaded object.

   “The root diameter is the minor diameter of an external thread and the major diameter of an internal one.”

9. (countable, uncountable)Of a number or expression, a number which, when raised to a specified power, yields the specified number or expression.

   “The cube root of 27 is 3.”

10. (countable, uncountable)A square root (understood if no power is specified; in which case, "the root of" is often abbreviated to "root").

    “Multiply by root 2.”

    “1899, Dante Gabriel Rossetti (transl.), The New Life (La Vita Nuova) of Dante Alighieri, Siddall edition, page 122. The number three is the root of the number nine; […] being multiplied merely by itself, it produceth nine, as we manifestly perceive that three times three are nine.”

11. (countable, uncountable)A zero (of an equation).
12. (countable, uncountable)The single node of a tree that has no parent.
13. (countable, uncountable)The primary lexical unit of a word, which carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced into smaller constituents. Inflectional stems often derive from roots.

    “In ſo moche that if any verbe be of the thyꝛde coniugation / I ſet out all his rotes and tenſes[…]”

    “A considerable number of derived nominals, especially thematic nouns, also exhibited o-grade roots.”

14. (countable, uncountable)A word from which another word or words are derived.
15. (countable, uncountable)The fundamental tone of any chord; the tone from whose harmonics, or overtones, a chord is composed.
16. (countable, uncountable)The lowest place, position, or part.

    “deep to the roots of hell”

    “the roots of the mountains”

17. (countable, uncountable)In UNIX terminology, the first user account with complete access to the operating system and its configuration, found at the root of the directory structure; the person who manages accounts on a UNIX system.

    “I have to log in as root before I do that.”

18. (countable, uncountable)The highest directory of a directory structure which may contain both files and subdirectories.

    “I installed the files in the root directory.”

19. (countable, slang, uncountable)A penis, especially the base of a penis.
20. An act of rummaging or searching.

    “It was always sensible to get off the busy streets if you were going to have a root inside your girlfriend's bra.”

    “It'll come to me eventually, but I think I'll go over to Bristol tomorrow afternoon and have a root through the medical school library.”

    “It was not likely a tapestry over two hundred feet long and twenty inches wide was in the dustbin, but Pavel took a root through Laurent's dustbin anyway, just because it was there.”

21. (Australia, New-Zealand, slang, vulgar)An act of sexual intercourse.

    “Fancy a root?”

    “Ken was in the good mood he'd been in for weeks. Nothing like a regular root to turn him into the jolly green giant.”

22. (Australia, New-Zealand, slang, vulgar)A sexual partner.

verb

1. 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.”

2. To prepare, oversee, or otherwise cause the rooting of cuttings.

   “We rooted some cuttings last summer.”

3. To fix firmly; to establish.

   “If any irregularity chanced to intervene and to cause misapprehensions, he gave them not leave to root and fasten by concealment.”

   “Small theater companies come and go very quickly — many times after one show — but community response to Triangle has been strong, and there is a good chance that they will make it through those early growing stages and firmly root.”

   “Massacres that take place during war often seem to be rooted in irrational emotion.”

4. (slang, transitive)To get root or privileged access on (a computer system or mobile phone), often through bypassing some security mechanism.

   “We rooted his box and planted a virus on it.”

   “I want to root my Android phone so I can remove the preinstalled crapware.”

5. (ambitransitive)To turn up or dig with the snout.

   “A pig roots the earth for truffles.”

   “Such tunges ſhuld be torne out by the harde rootes,”

6. (broadly)To seek favour or advancement by low arts or grovelling servility; to fawn.

   “Thou elvish-marked, abortive, rooting hog!”

7. (intransitive)To rummage; to search as if by digging in soil.

   “rooting about in a junk-filled drawer”

8. (intransitive)Of a baby: to turn the head and open the mouth in search of food.

   “When your baby is rooting, his head will turn to the side and he will open and close his mouth. If you put your finger in your baby's hand, she has a grasping reflex that makes her curl her fingers around yours and hold on.”

9. (transitive)To root out; to abolish.

   “I will go root away the noisome weeds.”

   “The Lord rooted them out of their land [...] and cast them into another land.”

10. To tug or pull at the reins aggressively by driving the head downwards while wearing a bit.
11. (Australia, Ireland, New-Zealand, slang, vulgar)To sexually penetrate.
12. (US, intransitive)To cheer (on); to show support (for) and hope for the success of. (See root for.)

    “I'm rooting for you, don't let me down!”

    “Let me root, root, root for the home team,”

name

1. An English surname from Middle English from a byname from Middle English rote (“glad”).

   “In July this year, Mrs. Betty Root, who is in charge of the reading centre at Reading University's Institute of Education, reported 'that there are now more backward readers than ever, in spite of the large number of teaching methods now available'.”

2. An English surname originating as an occupation for a rote (medieval guitar)-player.
3. A habitational surname from Dutch for someone living near a retting place (Dutch root, from roten (“to ret”)).
4. A town in Lucerne canton, Switzerland.
5. A township in Adams County, Indiana, United States.
6. A town in Montgomery County, New York, United States; named for lawyer and politician Erastus Root.
7. A river in Minnesota, United States; named as a translation of its native Dakota name.
8. A river in Wisconsin, United States.