roadstead 
Our barke did ride such a road sted that it was to be 
roarueiled . . . how she was able to abide it. 
Haklwjt'i Voyages, I. '276. 
road-steamer (rod'ste'mer), . A locomotive 
with broad wheels suitable for running on com- 
mon roads. 
roadster (rod'ster), . [< road + -ster.] 1. 
A horse driven or ridden on the road, used in 
driving for pleasure and for light work rather 
than for draft. 
The brown mare was as good a roadster as man might 
back. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, 1. 129. 
2. A person much accustomed to driving; a 
coach-driver. 
I ... entered into conversation with Walter,the "whip," 
a veteran roadster. Kimball, St. Leger, I. 7. 
3. In limiting, one who keeps to the road in- 
stead of riding across country. [Slang.] 
Once in a way the roadsters and shirken are distinctly 
favoured. The Field, April 4, 1885. (Encyc. Diet.) 
4. A tricycle or bicycle built strongly for road 
use, as distinguished from one intended for 
racing. 5. Naut., a vessel which works by 
tides, and seeks some known road to await turn 
of tide and change of wind. Also reader. Ad- 
miral Smyth. [Eng.] 
road-sulky (rod'sul'ki), M. A light convey- 
ance, which can accommodate only one person 
(whence the name). Also called sulky. 
road-surveyor (rod'ser-va/or), . A person 
who supervises roads and sees to their being 
kept in good order. 
roadway (r6d'wa),n. [< road + way.] A high- 
way; a road; particularly, the part of a road 
used by horses, carriages, etc. ; the road-bed. 
Thou art a blessed fellow to think as every man thinks : 
never a man's thought in the world keeps the road-way 
better than thine. Shalt., 2 Hen. IV., ii. 2. 63. 
Such a path as I doubt not ye will agree with me to be 
much fairer and more delightfull than the rode way I was 
in. Milton, Apology for Smectymnuus. 
"My caution has misled me," he continued, pausing 
thoughtfully when he was left alone in the roadway. 
W. Collins, The Yellow Mask, ii. 3. 
roadweed (rod'wed), n. A plant of the genus 
Plantago. 
Flantago major, minor, and lanceolata, called plantains, 
or road-weeds, are among the commonest of our weeds on 
roadsides, in meadows, and all undisturbed ground where 
the soil is not very light. 
Henfrey, Eleni. Botany. (Latham.) 
road-work (rod'werk), n. Work done in the 
making of roads. 
roadworthy (rod'wer'THi), a. Fit for the road ; 
likely to go well : applied to horses. 
I conclude myself road-worthy for fourteen days. 
Carlyle, in Froude, II. 188. 
roak (rok), x. [Perhaps same as roke. Cf. 
roaky for roky.] See the quotation. 
The [steell bar, if it was not burnt up in the fire, would 
be so full of the imperfections technically called ' ' seams " 
or roafcs as to be perfectly useless. 
Michaelis, tr. of Monthaye's Krupp and De Bange, p. 21. 
roaky, a. See roky. 
roam (rom), v. [Also dial, rome, ramble, rame, 
ream, mum, rawm, reach after; < ME. romen, 
rowmen, ramen, roam; cf. AS. romigan, strive 
after (occurring but once, in a passage imitated 
from OS.), = OS. romon, aim at, strive after, = 
OPries. ramia, strive after; OD. ramen, stretch 
(cloth), D. ramen, hit, plan, aim, = OHG. ra- 
men, MHG. ramen, aim at, strive after (ram, an 
aim), = Dan. ramme, hit, strike; erroneously 
associated with Home (cf . ME. Rome-rennere, a 
runner to Rome, a pilgrim; OF. romier = Sp. 
romero = It. romeo, one who goes to Rome, a 
pilgrim). Hence ult. ramble.] I. intrans. If. 
To walk; go; proceed. 
He rmneth to the carpenteres hous, 
And stille he stant under the shot wyndow. 
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, 1. 608. 
Win. Rome shall remedy this. 
War. Roam thither, then. 
Shah., 1 Hen. VI., iii. 1. 61. 
2. To wander; ramble; rove; walk or move 
about from place to place without any certain 
purpose or direction. 
Ac he may renne in arrerage, and rownu so fro home, 
And as a reneyed caityf recchelesly gon aboute. 
Piers Ploimnan (B), xt. 125. 
Up and down and side and slant they roamed. 
M. Arnold, Balder Dead. 
=Sm 2. Rove, Wander, etc. See ramble. 
II. trans. To range; wander over: as, to 
roam the woods. 
My imagination would conjure up all that I had heard 
or read of the watery world beneath me ; of the finny herds 
that roam its fathomless valleys. 
fniny, Sketch Book, p. 19. 
5200 
roam (rom), n. [< raam, i:] The act of wan- 
dering ; a ramble. 
The boundless space, through which these rovers take 
Their restless roam, suggests the sister thought 
Of boundless time. Young, Night Thoughts, ix. 
roamer (ro'mer), . [< ME. "romere. romare, 
rtiicme-r; < roam + -er 1 .] One who roams; a 
rover; a rambler; a vagrant. 
Ac now is Religioun a ryder, a rowmer bi stretes, . . . 
A priker on a palfray fro manere to manere. 
Piers Plowman (B), x. 306. 
roan 1 (ron), a. and n. [Early mod. E. also roen ; 
< OF. roan, roen, rouen, roan (clieval roue'n, a 
roan horse), F. rowan = Sp. ruano = Pg. ruSo 
= It. roano, rovano, roan, prob. < LL. or ML. 
"rufanus, reddish, < L. rufus, red : see rufous.'] 
1. a. Of a bay, sorrel, or chestnut color, with 
gray or white hairs more or less thickly inter- 
spersed: said chiefly of horses. A bright-red 
mixture is called strawberry-roan or red-roan. 
Give my roan horse a drench. 
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., ii. 4. 120. 
And the bridegroom led the flight on his red-roan steed 
of might. Mrs. Browning, Rhyme of Duchess May. 
He rode ahead, on his blue-roan Indian pony. 
Mary Ballade Foote, St. Nicholas, XIV. 733. 
Roan antelope, the blauwbok. Roan fleuk, the turbot. 
See rt*2, 1 (e). 
II. n. 1. An animal, especially a horse, of a 
roan color. 
What horse ? a roan, a crop-ear, is it not ? 
Skat., 1 Hen. IV., ii. 8. 72. 
As quaint a four-in-hand 
As you shall see three pyebalds and a roan. 
Tennyson, Walking to the Mall. 
2. A roan color; the color of a roan horse. 
Y schalle yeve the a nobylle stede, 
Also redd as ony roone. 
MS. Cantab. Ft. ii. 38, f. 66. (UattiweU.) 
3. A soft and flexible sheepskin, largely used 
by bookbinders, and often made in imitation of 
morocco. 
roan 2 (ron), n. Same as rotcan. 
roan 3 (ron), . [Origin obscure.] A clump of 
whins. HalUwell. [Prov. Eng.] 
roanedt (rond), . [ME. ronyd; perhaps for 
roined, scabbed (T), < roin + -erf 2 .] Scabbed; 
scurvy. 
A ronyd colte. BuryWillt(eA. Tymms), p. 132. (Skeat.) 
[He] had euer more pitty on one good paced mare then 
two roaned curtail es. 
Breton, Merry Wonders, p. 6. (Dories.) 
roanoke, roenoke (ro-a-nok', ro-e-nok'), . 
[Amer. Ind.] A kind of shell-money formerly 
used by the Indians in New England and Vir- 
ginia. See the quotation, and compare peay. 
They have also another sort [of money] which is as cur- 
rent among them, but of far less value ; and this is made 
of the Cockle shell, broke into small bits with rough 
edges, drill'd through in the same manner as Beads ; and 
this they call Roenoke, and use it as the Peak. 
Severity, Virginia, iii. IT 46. 
Roanoke chub. See Micropterus, 1. 
roan-tree (ron'tre), . [< roan 2 + tree.] Same 
as rowan-tree. 
A branch of the roan-tree is still considered good against 
evil influences in the Highlands of Scotland and Wales. 
SSr T. Dick Lander. 
roapy, . See ropy. 
roar (ror), v. [Early mod. E. rare; < ME. roren, 
roofen, raren, < AS. rdrian, roar, wail, lament, 
= MLG. rdren, reren, LG. reren = OHG. reren, 
MHG. reren, G. roliren, bellow; an imitative 
word, a reduplication of y rd, Skt. -\/ rd, bark ; 
cf. L. latrare, bark.] I. intrans. 1. To cry 
with a full, loud, continued sound ; bellow, as 
a beast. 
Will a lion roar in the forest when he hath no prey? 
Amos iii. 4. 
2. To cry aloud, as in distress or anger. 
He bygan benedicite with a bolke, and his brest knocked, 
And roxed and rored. Piers Plouman (B), v. 398. 
I am feeble and sore broken ; I have roared by reason of 
the disquietness of my heart. Ps. \\x\iii. 8. 
If you winna rock him, you may let him rair. 
Bwrd Ellen and Young Tamlane (Child's Ballads, I. 272X 
3. To make a loud, continued, confused sound, 
as winds, waves, a multitude of people shout- 
ing together, etc. ; give out a full, deep sound; 
resound. 
Whan it was day he broghte him to the halle, 
That roreth of the crying and the soun. 
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 2023. 
Th' Atlantic billows roared. Cowper, The Castaway. 
Down all the rocks the torrents roar, 
O'er the black waves incessant driven. 
Scott, Marmion, ii., Int. 
4. To laugh out loudly and continuously ; guf- 
faw. 
roaring 
And to hear Philip roar with laughter ! . . . You might 
have heard him from the Obelisk to the Etoile. 
Thackeray, Philip, xxiii. 
5f. To behave in a riotous and bullying man- 
ner. [Old London slang.] 
The gallant roares; roarers drinke oathes and gall. 
Dekker, Londons Tempe. 
6. To make a loud noise in breathing, as horses 
in a specific disease. See roariny, n., 2. 
Cox's most roomy fly, the mouldy green one, in which he 
insists on putting the roaring gray borse. 
Thackeray, Sketches, etc. , in London, A Night's Pleasure, i. 
= Syn. 1 and 2. To bawl, howl, yell. 3. To boom, re- 
sound, thunder, peal. 
II. trans. To cry aloud ; proclaim with loud 
noise; utter in a roar; shout: as, to roar out 
one's name. 
And that engenders thunder in his breast, 
And makes him roar these accusations forth. 
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., iii. 1. 40. 
roar (ror), . [< ME. rare, rar, < AS. gerdr, < 
rdrian, roar: see roar, v.] 1. A full, loud, and 
deep cry, as of the larger beasts. 
It was the roar 
Of a whole herd of lions. 
Shak., Tempest, ii. 1. 315. 
The great creature [a mastiff] does nothing but stand 
still . . . and roar yes, roar ; a long, serious, remonstra- 
tive roar. Dr. J. Brown, Rab. 
2. A loud, continued, confused sound; a clam- 
or; tumult; uproar. 
Why nyl I make at ones riche and pore 
To have ynough to done or that she go? 
Why nyl I brynge al Troie upon a rare f 
Chaucer, Troilus, v. 45. 
If by your art, my dearest father, you have 
Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them. 
Shak., Tempest, i. 2. 2. 
I hear the far-off curfeu sound, 
Over some wide-water'd shore, 
Swinging slow with sullen roar. 
Milton, II Penseroso, 1. 76. 
Arm ! arm ! it is it is the cannon's opening roar ! 
Byron, Childe Harold, iii. 22. 
3. The loud, impassioned cry of a person in 
distress, pain, anger, or the like ; also, a bois- 
terous outcry of joy or mirth: as, a roar of 
laughter. 
Where be your gibes now ? . . . your flashes of merri- 
ment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? 
Shak., Hamlet, v. 1. 211. 
Staniford gave a sort of roar of grief and pain to know 
how her heart must have been wrung before she could 
come to this. Howelli, The Lady of the Aroostook, xxvi. 
roarer (ror'er), n. One who or that which roars. 
Gon. Nay, good, be patient. 
Boats. When the sea is. Hence! What care these 
roarers for the name of king? Shak., Tempest, i. 1. 18. 
Specifically (at) A noisy, riotous person; a roaring boy 
or girl. See roariny, p. a. [Old London slang.) 
O strange ! 
A lady to turn roarer, and break glasses ! 
Massinger, Renegado, i. 3. 
A Gallant all in scarlet, ... a brave man, in a long 
horsemans Coat (or gown rather) down to his heels, daub'd 
thicke with gold Lace ; a huge Feather in his spangled 
hat, a Lock to his shoulders playing with the Winde, a 
Steeletto hanging at his girdle ; Belt and Sword embra- 
cing his body; and the ring of Bells you heare are his 
gingling Cathern-wheele spurs. He presently says: "I 
am a man of the Sword, a Battoon Gallant, one of your 
Dammees, a bouncing Boy, a kicker of Bawdes, a tyrant 
over Puncks, a terrour to Fencers, a mewer of Playes, a 
jeerer of Poets, a gallon-pot flinger in rugged English, a 
Roarer." The Wandering Jew (1640). 
('/) One who shouts or bawls. 
The Roarer is an enemy rather terrible than dangerous. 
He has no other qualification for a champion of contro- 
versy than a hardened front and strong voice. 
Johnson, Rambler, No. 144. 
(c) A broken-winded horse. See roaring, n., 2. 
If you set him cantering, he goes on like twenty sawyers. 
I never heard but one worse roarer in my life, and that 
was a roan. George Eliot, Middlemarch, xxlii. 
Ring-tailed roarer. See ring-tailed. 
roaring (ror'ing), . [< ME. rorynge, rarttnge, 
< AS. rdrung, verbal n. of rdrian, roar: see 
roar, v.] 1 . A loud, deep cry, as of a lion ; an 
outcry of distress, anger, applause, boisterous 
mirth, or the like ; loud continued sound, as of 
the billows of the sea or of a tempest. 
My roarings are poured out like the waters. Job iii. 24. 
I hear the roaring of the sea. Tennyson, Oriana. 
2. A disease of horses which causes them to 
make a singular noise in breathing under exer- 
tion; the act of making the noise so caused; 
also, this noise. The disease is due to paralysis and 
wasting of certain laryngeal muscles, usually of the left 
side ; this results in a narrowing of the glottis, giving rise 
to an unnatural inspiratory sound, manifested chiefly un- 
der exertion. 
Mr. has recently operated upon two army horses 
which were to have been cast for roaring. 
Set. Amer., N. S., LIX. 7. 
