a part of the body of a plant that develops, typically, from the radicle and grows downward into the soil, anchoring the plant and absorbing nutriment and moisture.
2.
a similar organ developed from some other part of a plant, as one of those by which ivy clings to its support.
3.
any underground part of a plant, as a rhizome.
4.
something resembling or suggesting the root of a plant in position or function: roots of wires and cables.
5.
the embedded or basal portion of a hair, tooth, nail, nerve, etc.
6.
the fundamental or essential part: the root of a matter.
7.
the source or origin of a thing: The love of money is the root of all evil.
8.
a person or family as the source of offspring or descendants.
9.
an offshoot or scion.
10.
Mathematics.
a.
Also called nth root. a quantity that, when multiplied by itself a certain number of times, produces a given quantity: The number 2 is the square root of 4, the cube root of 8, and the fourth root of 16.
b.
rth root, the quantity raised to the power 1/r: The number 2 is the 1/3root of 8.
c.
a value of the argument of a function for which the function takes the value zero.
11.
Grammar.
a.
a morpheme that underlies an inflectional or derivational paradigm, as dance, the root in danced, dancer, or ten-, the root of Latin tendere “to stretch.”
b.
such a form reconstructed for a parent language, as *sed-, the hypothetical proto-Indo-European root meaning “sit.”
12.
roots,
a.
a person's original or true home, environment, and culture: He's lived in New York for twenty years, but his roots are in France.
b.
the personal relationships, affinity for a locale, habits, and the like, that make a country, region, city, or town one's true home: He lived in Tulsa for a few years, but never established any roots there.
c.
personal identification with a culture, religion, etc., seen as promoting the development of the character or the stability of society as a whole.
13.
Music.
a.
the fundamental tone of a compound tone or of a series of harmonies.
b.
the lowest tone of a chord when arranged as a series of thirds; the fundamental.
14.
Machinery.
a.
(in a screw or other threaded object) the narrow inner surface between threads. Compare crest(def. 18), flank(def. 7).
b.
(in a gear) the narrow inner surface between teeth.
15.
AustralianInformal. an act of sexual intercourse.
16.
Shipbuilding. the inner angle of an angle iron.
–verb (used without object)
17.
to become fixed or established.
–verb (used with object)
18.
to fix by or as if by roots: We were rooted to the spot by surprise.
19.
to implant or establish deeply: Good manners were rooted in him like a second nature.
20.
to pull, tear, or dig up by the roots (often fol. by up or out).
21.
to extirpate; exterminate; remove completely (often fol. by up or out): to root out crime.
—Idioms
22.
root and branch, utterly; entirely: to destroy something root and branch.
23.
take root,
a.
to send out roots; begin to grow.
b.
to become fixed or established: The prejudices of parents usually take root in their children.
[Origin: bef. 1150; (n.) ME; late OE rōt < ON rōt; akin to OE wyrt plant, wort2, G Wurzel, L rādīx (see radix), Gk rhíza (see rhizome); (v.) ME roten, rooten, deriv. of the n.]
root, in botany, the descending axis of a plant, as contrasted with the stem, the ascending axis. In most plants the root is underground, but in epiphytes the roots grow in the air and in hydrophytes (e.g., cattails and water lilies) they grow in water or marshes. Roots function to absorb water and dissolved minerals from the soil, to anchor the plant, and often to store food. There are two main types of root system: the tap-root system, in which there is a main primary root larger than the other branching roots; and the diffuse (or fibrous) root system, in which there are many slender roots with numerous smaller root branches. Tap roots are characteristic of most trees and of many other plants, including the carrot, parsnip, radish, beet, and dandelion. The grasses (e.g., corn, rye, and alfalfa) have diffuse roots; in the sweet potato some of the larger fibrous roots swell to store food—although these should not be confused with the tuber of the Irish potato, which is a modified underground stem. Root systems often far exceed in mass the aboveground portions of the plant: alfalfa roots sometimes reach 40 ft (12 m) in length, and the combined length of all the roots of a mature rye plant has been measured at 380 mi (612 km). These ramified root systems are important agents in preventing soil erosion. Roots grow primarily in length; only the older roots may develop a cambium layer that increases their diameter. Protecting the constantly growing tip of the root is a cap of cells that break off as the root probes through the soil; they are replaced by new cells from a layer of meristematic tissue just behind them. In the center of the root the cells formed earlier by the embryonic cells of this layer differentiate into storage tissue and xylem and phloem vessels to conduct sap upward to the leaves and back down to nourish the root cells. On the surface of the epidermis of the growing portion of the root, tiny cellular projections called root hairs extend into the soil to absorb water and minerals. Although root hairs are less than 1/3 in. (.84 cm) long, their great number enables the plant to collect enormous quantities of water, most of which is promptly lost into the air by transpiration. In spite of their slenderness and delicate structure, the spiraling forward thrust of the root tips and the pressure of their expanding cells is sufficient to split solid rock.
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