roost 
Thousands of white gulls, gone to their nightly roost, 
rested on every ledge and cornice of the rock. 
B. Taylor, Northern Travel, p. 304. 
These roosts [of wild pigeons] have been known to extend 
for a distance of forty miles in length and several miles 
in breadth. Stand. Hat. Hist., IV. 251. 
Hence 2. A temporary abiding- or resting- 
place. 
No, the world has a million roosts for a man, but only one 
nest. 0. W. Holmes, Autocrat, vi. 
3. The fowls which occupy such a roost, collec- 
tively. A somewhat special application of the word 
(like rookery, 2) is to the roosts of some perching birds, 
which assemble in vast numbers, but not to breed, and for 
no obvious purpose that would not be as well attained with- 
out such congregation. Among conspicuous instances 
may be noted the roosts of the passenger-pigeon, some- 
times several miles in extent, and the winter roosts of 
many thousands of crows (see crow, 2), which in the breed- 
ing season are dispersed. It is not generally known that 
the common robin of the United States sometimes forms 
such roosts in summer. 
4. The inner roof of a cottage, composed of 
spars reaching from one wall to the other; a 
garret. Jamieson. (.Scotch.] Atroost, roosting; 
hence, in a state of rest or sleep. 
A fox spied out a cock at roost upon a tree. 
SV.fi. L' Estrange. 
roost 1 (rest), v. [= MD. roesten, roost ; from the 
noun.] I. intrans. 1. To occupy a roost; perch, 
as a bird. 
O let me, when Thy roof my soul hath hid, 
let me nmst and nestle there. 
G. Herbert, The Temper. 
So [IJ sought a Poet, roosted near the skies. 
Burns, Address spoken by Miss Fontenelle. 
The peacock in the broad ash-tree 
Aloft Is roosted for the night, 
Wordsworth, White Doe of Rylstone, iv. 
2. To stick or stay upon a resting-place ; cling 
or adhere to a rest, as a limpet on a rock. 
The larger number of limpets roost upon rocks. 
Nature, XXXI. 200. 
II. trans. To set or perch, as a bird on a 
roost: used reflexive! y. 
I wonder, 
How that profane nest of pernicious birds 
Dare roost themselves there in the midst of us, 
So many good and well-disposed persons. 
impudence ! Randolph, Muses' Looking-glass, 1.1. 
roost 2 (rost), n. and v. See roust 1 *. 
roost-COCk (rdst'kok), n. A cock; a rooster. 
[Prov. Eng.] 
Callus, that greatest roost-cock in the rout. 
The Mous-Trap (1600). (Halliwell, under porpentine. ) 
rooster (ros'ter), n. 1. The male of the domes- 
tic hen ; a cock, as distinguished from the fe- 
male or hen. [U. S.] 
A huge turkey gobbling in the road, a rooster crowing 
on the fence, and ducks quacking in the ditches. 
S. Judd, Margaret, ii. 1. 
2. Any bird that roosts ; a percher. See In- 
sessores. 
Almost all birds are roosters. 
B. G. White, Words and their Uses, p. 182. 
root 1 (rot or rut), n. [< ME. roote, rote, < late 
AS. rot (ace. pi. rota, occurring in connection 
with bare (see bark 2 ) in a fragment printed in 
AS. Leechdoms, 1. 378), < Icel. rot = Sw. Norw. 
rot = Dan. rod, a root, the lower part of a tree, 
a root in mathematics; prob. orig. with initial 
w (Icel. v, reg. lost before r), Icel. "vrot = AS. 
*wrot, a collateral form of wyrt = OHG. MHG. 
wurz, G. wurz, a plant, = Goth, wavrts, a root; 
prob. akin to W. gwreiddyn = OCorn. grueiten, 
a root, L. radix (\/ vrad), a root, = Gr. /idovf 
(/ Fpad), a branch, a root, l>%a (for "FpiSya, 
/ FpiS), a root : see wort 1 , and cf . radix, rhizome. 
See also root 2 .] 1. (a) In bot., a part of the body 
of a plant which, typically, grows downward 
into the soil, fixes the plant, and absorbs nutri- 
ment. A root may be either a descending axis originat- 
ing in germination from the lower end of the canlicle, and 
persisting as a tap-root, or one of a group of such roots in 
either case called primary; or a branch of such a root, the 
ultimate ramifications forming rootlets or root-fibrils; or a 
similar organ developed from some other part of the plant 
(adventitious), sometimes with special functions in the 
latter cases called secondary. The root differs from the 
stem in having no nodes and internodes, its branches ap- 
pearing in no regular order, and, normally, in giving rise 
to no other organs, though, as in the pear and poplar, it 
may develop buds and thence suckers. In mode of growth 
the root is peculiar in elongating only or chiefly at the ex- 
tremity, and at the same time in not building upon the 
naked apex, but in a stratum (the growing-point) just short 
of the apex under the protection of a cover or sheath the 
root-cap (which see). Aside from securing the plant in 
5224 
roots, however chiefly the tap-roots of biennials serve 
the special purpose of storing nutriment for a second sea- 
son, becoming thus much enlarged, as in the beet and tur- 
nip. Roots of this class must be distinguished from the 
rhizome, bulb, etc., which, though subterranean, are modi- 
fications of the stem. Numerous plants put forth aerial 
roots, eventually reaching the soil (banian, mangrove), 
This office is performed by imbibition through the cell- 
walls of the fresher root-surface, except that of the ex- 
treme tip, the absorbent surface being greatly increased 
by the production of root-hairs. (See root-hair.) Many 
Various Forms of Roots. 
I. Fibrous Roots of Poa annua. 3. Root of Daucus Carota : X. tap- 
root : r, r, rootlets. 3. Aerial Roots of OncidiHm cilintum, 4. Tuber- 
ous Rootsof*4*tfM0ifrAa/irr>0i<frs. 5. Root-hairs of Yucca florusa 
(highly magnified). 
serving as means of climbing (ivy, poison-ivy), or, in the 
case of epiphytes, part fastening the plant to a bough, 
part free in the air, whence they are capable of absorbing 
some moisture. The roots of a parasitic plant penetrate the 
tissues of the host-plant and draw their nutritive matter 
from it. True roots are confined to flowering plants and 
vascular cryptogams, the rhizoids of many lower plants in 
part taking their place. See annual, biennial, perennial. 
See also cuts under ivy, monocotyledonous, prothaUium, 
and rhizome. 
An oak whose antique root peeps out 
Upon the brook that brawls along this wood. 
Shale., As you Like it, ii. 1. 31. 
(b) Specifically, an esculent root, as a beet or 
a carrot. 
But his neat cookery ! he cut our roots 
In characters. Shak., Cymbeline, iv. 2. 49. 
2. That which resembles a root in shape, posi- 
tion, or function; that from which anything 
springs, (a) The part of anything that resembles the 
root of a plant in manner of growth, or as a source of 
nourishment, support, or origin ; specifically, in mint, and 
znol., some part or organ like or likened to the root of a 
plant ; the deepest or most ftxed part of something em- 
bedded in another ; a base, bottom, or supporting part : 
technically called radix: as, the root of a finger-nail or a 
tooth ; the root of a nerve or a hair : often used in the 
plural, though the thing in fact is singular: as, to drag 
out a nail by the runt*. 
The colde blode that was at our Ionics herte rote 
Fell within losephes sherte & lay on his chest. 
Joseph of Arimathie (E. B. T. 8.), p. 38. 
Each false [word] 
Be as a cauterizing to the root o' the tongue. 
Shak., T. of A., v. 1. 136. 
Hence (6) The bottom or lower part of anything ; foun- 
dation. 
Ther is at the west syde of Itaille, 
Doun at the roote of Vesulus the colde, 
A lusty playne, abundant of vitaille. 
Chaucer, Clerk's Tale, 1. 2. 
The Mount, which was a frame of wood built by Master 
More for a Watch-tower to looke out to Sea, was blowne 
up by the roots. 
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, II. 160. 
In the Domdaniel caverns, 
Under the Roots of the Ocean, 
Met the Masters of the Spell. 
Sauthey, Thalaba, ii. 2. 
(c) The origin or cause of anything ; source. 
Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote 
The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote. 
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 2. 
The love of money is the root of all [all kinds of, E. V.] 
evil. 1 Tim. vi. 10. 
< '/ ) The basis of anything ; ground ; support. 
The root of his opinion. Shak., W. T., ii. 3. 89. 
With a courage of unshaken root. 
Cowper, Table-Talk, I. 15. 
(e) In philol., an elementary notional syllable; that part 
of a word which conveys its essential meaning, as distin- 
guished from the formative parts by which this meaning 
is modified ; an element in a language, whether arrived 
at by analysis of words or existing uncombined, in which 
no formative element is demonstrable : thus, true may be 
regarded as the root of un-tru-th-ful-ness. 
root 
But we must beware of pushing the figure involved in 
root to the extent of regarding roots thus set up as the ele- 
ments out of which the language containing them has 
grown. A given root may be more modern than certain or 
than all of the formative elements with which it is com- 
bined. 
Whitney, Trans. Amer. Philol. Asa., XVII., App., p. xx. 
Equity and equal are from the same root; and equity 
literally means equalness. 
II. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 10f>. 
(/) The first ancestor; an early progenitor. 
Myself should be the root and father 
Of many kings. Shak., Macbeth, ill. 1. 5. 
(g) In math. : (1) The root of any quantity is such a quantity 
as, when multiplied into itself a certain number of times, 
will exactly produce that quantity. Thus, 2 is a root of 4, 
because when multiplied into itself it exactly produces 
4. Power and root are correlative terms : the power is 
named from the number of the factors employed in the 
multiplication, and the root is named from the power. 
Thus, if a quantity be multiplied once by itself, the pro- 
duct is called the second power, or square, and the quan- 
tity itself the sgtiare root, or second root of the product ; 
If the quantity be multiplied twice by itself, we obtain 
the ttiinl power, or cube, and the quantity is the cube 
root or third root; and so on. The character marking 
a root is y (a modification of r for radix, which has 
been used probably since the middle of the sixteenth 
century), and the particular root is Indicated by placing 
above the sign the figure which expresses the number 
of the root, which figure is called the index of the root. 
Thus, f 18 indicates the fourth root of 16 (that is, 2), and 
/4 the square root of 4 (that is, 2) the index in the case 
of the square root being usually omitted. The same is the 
case with algebraic quantities, as f(a 3 + Sa'b + Sab' + b 3 ) 
= a -f 6. Seepowwl, index, involution, evolution. (2) The 
root of an equation is a quantity which, substituted for 
the unknown quantity, satisfies the equation : thus, 2 + y 2 
is a root of the equation x 3 &P + 6z 2 = 0; for 
(2+i/2) 3 = 20 + 14 \fZ 
K2-rYM = 30 20^2 
+ 6(2 +^2) = 12+ 6^2 
-2 =-2, 
the sum of which is 0. Another root of the same equation U 
obviously 1 ; and the third root will be found to be 2^2. 
(A) In in n sir: (1) With reference to a compound tone or a 
series of harmonics, the fundamental, generator, or ground 
tone. (2) With reference to a chord, the fundamental tone 
that is, the tone from whose harmonics the tones of the 
chord are selected, or the tone on which they are conceived 
to he built up. Theorists are not agreed as to what consti- 
tutes a root of a chord, or whether a chord may have two 
roots ; and in many cases the term is used merely to des- 
ignate the lowest tone of a chord when arranged in its 
simplest or normal position, (t) In chron., the earliest 
time at which an event can take place, as a movable feast ; 
also, the time at which any progressive change begins. 
(j) In astrol., the state of things at the beginning of any 
time ; particularly, the figure of the heavens at the instant 
of birth, specifically called the root of nativity, a term also 
applied to the horoscope, or ascendant. Chaucer, in the 
passage below, has in mind the introduction to Zahel's 
treatise on Elections, where it is stated that elections of 
fortunate times for undertakings are not much to be de- 
pended upon, except in the case of kings, who have their 
roots o/ nativity (that is, in their case there is no doubt as 
to the precise aspect of the heavens at the moment of 
birth), which roots strengthen the inferences to be drawn, 
especially (at least so Chaucer understands the words) in 
the case of a journey. When the horoscope of birth was 
not known, astrologers were accustomed to determine 
elections chiefly by the place and phase of the moon, 
whose influence was, however, considered debile. It ap- 
pears that in the case of the lady of the story, the moon 
was impedited in the root of nativity (see Almansor, Prop. 
35 : "Cum in radice nativitatis impedietur luna," etc.), and 
Mars, a planet most unfavorable to journeys, was at azlr, 
or lord of the ascendant, at her birth, and was in the 
fourth, or darkest, house ; so that the omens of the Jour- 
ney were as gloomy as they well could be. 
Of viage is ther non eleccioun, 
Namely to folk of hey condicioun, 
Not whan a rote is of a birthe yknowe? 
Chaucer, Man of Law's Tale, 1. 216. 
() In hydraul. enyin., the end of a weir or dam where 
it is joined to the natural bank. E. H. Knight. 
3. In hort., a growing plant with its root ; also, 
a tuber or bulb. 
Your herb-woman ; she that sets seeds and roots. 
Shale., Pericles, iv. 6. 93. 
Perhaps the pleasantest of all cries in early spring is that 
of "All a-growing all a-blowing," heard for the first 
time in the season. It is that of the root-seller, who has 
stocked his barrow with primroses, violets, and daisies. 
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, 1. 138. 
4. Gross amount; sum total. HallitceJI Aerial 
roots. See def. 1. Bear's-paw root, the rhizome of the 
male f ern, Aspidium Filix-mas. Bengal root, the root of 
a species of ginger, Zinyiber Cassmnanar. Biquadrat- 
ic root. See biquadratic. Commensurable root, a root 
of an equation equal to a whole number or fraction. Con- 
jugate roots. See conjugate. Continuity of roots, the 
tact that the values of the roots of an algebraic equation 
vary continuously with the coefficients. Criterion for 
roots, a rule for deciding whether a solution is multiple 
or not, how many solutions are imaginary, and the like. 
Crop and root. See crop. Crown of a root. See 
crown. Cuboeubic root. See(6o/Wc. Demonstra- 
tive root. See deinnnstratiiv. Double root, in music, 
two tones assumed as the generatorsof one chord. Dutch 
roots or bulbs, a trade-name of certain ornamental flow- 
ering bulbs, especially tulips and hyacinths, exported from 
Holland. Equal roots, two or more roots of an equation 
having the same value. That is, if x\ is such a root, the 
equation is not only satisfied by putting arj for x, the un- 
known quantity, but this is also true after the equation 
(with all its terms equated to zero) has been divided by 
z xj. Fibrous roots, roots in the form of fibers the 
