Definitions for the word "root" from multiple English dictionaries.
1. v. i.
To turn up the earth with the snout, as swine.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
2. v. i.
Hence, to seek for favor or advancement by low arts or groveling servility; to fawn servilely.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
3. v. t.
To turn up or to dig out with the snout; as, the swine roots the earth.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
4. 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.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
5. 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.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
6. n.
An edible or esculent root, especially of such plants as produce a single root, as the beet, carrot, etc.; as, the root crop.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
7. 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.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
8. n.
An ancestor or progenitor; and hence, an early race; a stem.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
9. 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.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
10. n.
The cause or occasion by which anything is brought about; the source.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
11. 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.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
12. n.
The fundamental tone of any chord; the tone from whose harmonics, or overtones, a chord is composed.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
13. n.
The lowest place, position, or part.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
14. n.
The time which to reckon in making calculations.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
15. v. i.
To fix the root; to enter the earth, as roots; to take root and begin to grow.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
16. v. i.
To be firmly fixed; to be established.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
17. 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.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
18. v. t.
To tear up by the root; to eradicate; to extirpate; -- with up, out, or away.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
19. n.
1 a part of a plant normally below the ground, conveying nourishment from the soil. B (in pl.) Branches or fibres of this. C small plant with a root for transplanting. 2 a plant with an edible root. B such a root. 3 (in pl.) Emotional attachment or family ties to a place or community. 4 a embedded part of a hair, tooth, nail, etc. B part of a thing attaching it to a greater whole. 5 (often attrib.) Basic cause, source, nature, or origin (root of all evil; roots in the distant past; root cause; the root of things). 6 a number that when multiplied by itself a usu. Specified number of times gives a specified number or quantity (cube root of eight is two). B square root. C value of an unknown quantity satisfying a given equation. 7 core of a word, without prefixes, suffixes, etc. v. 1 (cause to) take root; grow roots (root them firmly). 2 (esp. As rooted adj.) Fix firmly; establish (rooted objection to; reaction rooted in fear). 3 (usu. Foll.
Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 1884
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