*root*

n. 1. (Bot.) A white-flowered west Indian plant of the genus Maranta, esp. Maranta arundinacea, now cultivated in many hot countries. Its root yields arrowroot starch. It said that the Indians used the roots to neutralize the venom in wounds made by poisoned arrows.
Syn. -- arrowroot, American arrowroot, obedience plant. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A nutritive starch obtained from the rootstocks of Maranta arundinacea, and used as food, esp. for children an invalids; also, a similar starch obtained from other plants, as various species of Maranta and Curcuma. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a plant of the genus Balsamorhiza having white-downy leaves in a basal rosette and yellow flowers and long balsam-scented taproots. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. (Bot.) An herbaceous plant (Trillium erectum), and its astringent rootstock, which is said to have medicinal properties. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) A plant (Lewisia rediviva) allied to the purslane, but with fleshy, farinaceous roots, growing in the mountains of Idaho, Montana, etc. It gives the name to the Bitter Root mountains and river. The Indians call both the plant and the river Spæt'lum. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) See Colicroot. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) A plant (Sanguinaria Canadensis), with a red root and red sap, and bearing a pretty, white flower in early spring; -- called also puccoon, redroot, bloodwort, tetterwort, turmeric, and Indian paint. It has acrid emetic properties, and the rootstock is used as a stimulant expectorant. See Sanguinaria. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In England the name is given to the tormentil, once used as a remedy for dysentery. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) The root of a leguminous plant (Psoralea esculenta), found near the Rocky Mountains. It is usually oval in form, and abounds in farinaceous matter, affording sweet and palatable food. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ It is the Pomme blanche of Canadian voyageurs. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. the hard woody root of the briar Erica arborea. [ Also spelled brierroot. ] [ WordNet 1.5 ]

[ Written also cainca root. ] [ See Cahincic. ] (Bot.) The root of an American shrub (Chiococca racemosa), found as far north as Florida Keys, from which cahincic acid is obtained; also, the root of the South American Chiococca anguifuga, a celebrated antidote for snake poison. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

[ Tamil shāya. ] The root of the Oldenlandia umbellata, native in India, which yieds a durable red dyestuff. [ Written also choy root. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Tamil shuru&tsdot_;&tsdot_;u, prop., a roll. ] A kind of cigar, originally brought from Manila, in the Philippine Islands; now often made of inferior or adulterated tobacco. [ 1913 Webster ]

See Chay root. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a hairy Eurasian plant (Geum urbanum) with small yellow flowers and an astringent root formerly used medicinally.
Syn. -- herb bennet, wood avens, Geum urbanum. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A bitter American herb of the Bloodwort family, with the leaves all radical, and the small yellow or white flowers in a long spike (Aletris farinosa and Aletris aurea). Called sometimes star grass, blackroot, blazing star, and unicorn root. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a European bittercress (Dentaria bulbifera) having a knotted white rootstock.
Syn. -- coral-root bittercress, coralwort, Cardamine bulbifera, Dentaria bulbifera. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. an annual herb (Saussurea costus) of the eastern Himalayas (Kashmir) having purple florets and a fragrant root that yields a volatile oil used in perfumery and for preserving furs.
Syn. -- Saussurea costus, Saussurea lappa. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. a North American herb (Dentaria diphylla) with pungent scaly or toothed roots; -- called also toothwort.
Syn. -- pepper root, toothwort, Cardamine diphylla, Dentaria diphylla. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

{ or . [ So called after a Dr. Culver, who used it. ] (Bot.) The root of a handsome erect herb (Leptandra Virginica syn. Veronica Virginica) common in most moist woods of North America , used as an active cathartic and emetic; also, the plant itself. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

adj. well-established; as, deep-rooted prejudice.
Syn. -- deep-seated, fundamental, ingrained. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Disrooted; p. pr. & vb. n. Disrooting. ] To tear up the roots of, or by the roots; hence, to tear from a foundation; to uproot. [ 1913 Webster ]

A piece of ground disrooted from its situation by subterraneous inundations. Goldsmith. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To fix by the root; to fix fast; to implant deep. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. tall leafy European biennial or perennial (Digitalis purpurea) having spectacular clusters of large tubular pink-purple flowers; -- its leaves yield the drug digitalis and are poisonous to livestock.
Syn. -- common foxglove, fairy bell, fingerflower, Digitalis purpurea. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. The pungent rhizome of the common ginger plant; -- it is used fresh as a seasoning, especially in Oriental cookery.
Syn. -- ginger. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. The root of the mandrake plant; used medicinally or as a narcotic; as a substance it is also called mandrake. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. (Bot.) An American ranunculaceous plant (Hidrastis Canadensis), having a yellow tuberous root; -- also called yellowroot, golden seal, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To eradicate; to extirpate. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To root louder than; to applaud more noisily than. [ PJC ]

n. (Bot.) A tall herb (Caulophyllum thalictroides) of eastern North America and Asia having blue berrylike fruit and a thick knotty rootstock formerly used medicinally; the Cohosh. See also Cohosh.
Syn. -- blue cohosh, blueberry root, papoose root, squawroot, squaw root, Caulophyllum thalictrioides, Caulophyllum thalictroides. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. Same as Setterwort. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Med.) The root of Spigelia Marilandica, used as a powerful vermifuge; also, that of Spigelia Anthelmia. See definition 2 (below). [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) (a) A perennial North American herb (Spigelia Marilandica), sometimes cultivated for its showy red blossoms. Called also Carolina pink, Maryland pinkroot, and worm grass. (b) An annual South American and West Indian plant (Spigelia Anthelmia). [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Pref. pro- + Gr. &unr_;, &unr_;, an ear. ] (Anat.) In front of the auditory capsule; -- applied especially to a bone, or center of ossification, in the periotic capsule. -- n. A prootic bone. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) An American orchidaceous plant (Aplectrum hyemale) which flowers in early summer. Its slender naked rootstock produces each year a solid corm, filled with exceedingly glutinous matter, which sends up later a single large oval evergreen plaited leaf. Called also Adam-and-Eve. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) A name of several plants having red roots, as the New Jersey tea (see under Tea), the gromwell, the bloodroot, and the Lachnanthes tinctoria, an endogenous plant found in sandy swamps from Rhode Island to Florida. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Icel. rōt (for vrōt); akin to E. wort, and perhaps to root to turn up the earth. See Wort. ] 1. (Bot.) (a) 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. (b) 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An edible or esculent root, especially of such plants as produce a single root, as the beet, carrot, etc.; as, the root crop. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. 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. Specifically: (a) An ancestor or progenitor; and hence, an early race; a stem. [ 1913 Webster ]

They were the roots out of which sprang two distinct people. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

(b) 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. (c) The cause or occasion by which anything is brought about; the source. “She herself . . . is root of bounty.” Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. 1 Tim. vi. 10 (rev. Ver.) [ 1913 Webster ]

(d) (Math.) 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. (e) (Mus.) The fundamental tone of any chord; the tone from whose harmonics, or overtones, a chord is composed. Busby. [ 1913 Webster ]

(f) The lowest place, position, or part. “Deep to the roots of hell.” Milton. “The roots of the mountains.” Southey. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Astrol.) The time which to reckon in making calculations. [ 1913 Webster ]

When a root is of a birth yknowe [ known ]. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Aerial roots. (Bot.) (a) Small roots emitted from the stem of a plant in the open air, which, attaching themselves to the bark of trees, etc., serve to support the plant. (b) Large roots growing from the stem, etc., which descend and establish themselves in the soil. See Illust. of Mangrove. --
Multiple primary root (Bot.), a name given to the numerous roots emitted from the radicle in many plants, as the squash. --
Primary root (Bot.), the central, first-formed, main root, from which the rootlets are given off. --
Root and branch, every part; wholly; completely; as, to destroy an error root and branch. --
Root-and-branch men, radical reformers; -- a designation applied to the English Independents (1641). See Citation under Radical, n., 2. --
Root barnacle (Zool.), one of the Rhizocephala. --
Root hair (Bot.), one of the slender, hairlike fibers found on the surface of fresh roots. They are prolongations of the superficial cells of the root into minute tubes. Gray. --
Root leaf (Bot.), a radical leaf. See Radical, a., 3 (b). --
Root louse (Zool.), any plant louse, or aphid, which lives on the roots of plants, as the Phylloxera of the grapevine. See Phylloxera. --
Root of an equation (Alg.), that value which, substituted for the unknown quantity in an equation, satisfies the equation. --
Root of a nail (Anat.), the part of a nail which is covered by the skin. --
Root of a tooth (Anat.), the part of a tooth contained in the socket and consisting of one or more fangs. --
Secondary roots (Bot.), roots emitted from any part of the plant above the radicle. --
To strike root,
To take root, to send forth roots; to become fixed in the earth, etc., by a root; hence, in general, to become planted, fixed, or established; to increase and spread; as, an opinion takes root. “The bended twigs take root.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To turn up or to dig out with the snout; as, the swine roots the earth. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ AS. wrōtan; akin to wrōt a snout, trunk, D. wroeten to root, G. rüssel snout, trunk, proboscis, Icel. rōta to root, and perhaps to L. rodere to gnaw (E. rodent) or to E. root, n. ] 1. To turn up the earth with the snout, as swine. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence, to seek for favor or advancement by low arts or groveling servility; to fawn servilely. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Rooted; p. pr. & vb. n. Rooting. ] 1. To fix the root; to enter the earth, as roots; to take root and begin to grow. [ 1913 Webster ]

In deep grounds the weeds root deeper. Mortimer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To be firmly fixed; to be established. [ 1913 Webster ]

If any irregularity chanced to intervene and to cause misappehensions, he gave them not leave to root and fasten by concealment. Bp. Fell. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ Cf. Rout to roar. ] To shout for, or otherwise noisly applaud or encourage, a contestant, as in sports; hence, to wish earnestly for the success of some one or the happening of some event, with the superstitious notion that this action may have efficacy; -- usually with for; as, the crowd rooted for the home team. [ Slang or Cant, U. S. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

v. t. 1. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To tear up by the root; to eradicate; to extirpate; -- with up, out, or away. “I will go root away the noisome weeds.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Lord rooted them out of their land . . . and cast them into another land. Deut. xxix. 28. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) A mass of parenchymatous cells which covers and protects the growing cells at the end of a root; a pileorhiza. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having taken root; firmly implanted; fixed in the heart. “A rooted sorrow.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Root"ed*ly, adv. -- Root"ed*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, roots; one that tears up by the roots. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who roots, or applauds. [ Slang, U. S. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. A pile of roots, set with plants, mosses, etc., and used as an ornamental object in gardening. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Destitute of roots. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A radicle; a little root. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) A perennial underground stem, producing leafly stems or flower stems from year to year; a rhizome. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Full of roots; as, rooty ground. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) A fleshy-leaved herb (Rhodiola rosea); rosewort; -- so called because the roots have the odor of roses. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) Any one of several plants of different genera and species, most of which are (or were formerly) reputed to be efficacious as remedies for the bites of serpents; also, the roots of any of these. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The Virginia snakeroot is Aristolochia Serpentaria; black snakeroot is Sanicula, esp. Sanicula Marilandica, also Cimicifuga racemosa; Seneca snakeroot is Polygala Senega; button snakeroot is Liatris, also Eryngium; white snakeroot is Eupatorium ageratoides. The name is also applied to some others besides these. [ 1913 Webster ]