Part 399

Room"y (?), a. Having ample room; spacious; large; as, a roomy mansion; a roomy deck. Dryden.

Roon (?), a. & n. Vermilion red; red. [R.]

Her face was like the lily roon.

J. R. Drake.

Roop (?), n. See Roup. [Prov. Eng.]

{ Roor"back, Roor"bach } (?), n. A defamatory forgery or falsehood published for purposes of political intrigue. [U.S.]

The word originated in the election canvass of 1844, when such a forgery was published, to the detriment of James K. Polk, a candidate for President, purporting to be an extract from the "Travels of Baron Roorbach."

Roo"sa oil` (?). The East Indian name for grass oil. See under Grass.

Roost (?), n. Roast. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Roost (?), v. t. See Roust, v. t.

Roost, n. [AS. hrst; akin to OD. roest roost, roesten to roost, and probably to E. roof. Cf. Roof.] 1. The pole or other support on which fowls rest at night; a perch.

He clapped his wings upon his roost.

Dryden.

2. A collection of fowls roosting together.

At roost, on a perch or roost; hence, retired to rest.

Roost, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Roosted; p. pr. & vb. n. Roosting.] 1. To sit, rest, or sleep, as fowls on a pole, limb of a tree, etc.; to perch. Wordsworth.

2. Fig.; To lodge; to rest; to sleep.

O, let me where thy roof my soul hath hid, O, let me roost and nestle there.

Herbert.

Roost"cock` (?), n. The male of the domestic fowl; a cock. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

Roost"er (?), n. The male of the domestic fowl; a cock. [U.S.]

Nor, when they [the Skinners and Cow Boys] wrung the neck of a rooster, did they trouble their heads whether he crowed for Congress or King George.

W. Irving.

Root (?), v. i. [AS. wrtan; akin to wrt a snout, trunk, D. wroeten to root, G. rüssel snout, trunk, proboscis, Icel. rta 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.

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

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

Root, n. [Icel. rt (for vrt); 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.

<! p. 1251 !>