roof
/ɹuːf/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms roofs rooves roofing roofed roofe
- noun (architecture) The external covering at the top of a building. “The roof was blown off by the tornado.”
- noun The top external level of a building. “Let's go up to the roof.”
- noun The upper part of a cavity. “The palate is the roof of the mouth.”
- noun (mining) The surface or bed of rock immediately overlying a bed of coal or a flat vein.
- noun (climbing) An overhanging rock wall.
- noun (slang, archaic) A hat.
- verb (transitive) To cover or furnish with a roof.
- verb To traverse buildings by walking or climbing across their roofs.
- verb (transitive, slang) To put into prison, to bird.
- verb (transitive) To shelter as if under a roof.
- proper noun (astronomy) A Chinese constellation located near Aquarius and Pegasus, one of the 28 lunar mansions and part of the larger Black Turtle.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English rhof, rof, roof, rooff, rufe, ruffe, from Old English hrōf (“roof; heaven, sky”), from Proto-West Germanic *hrōf, from Proto-Germanic *hrōfą (“roof”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱrapo- (“roof”), from *krāwə- (“to cover, heap”).
Cognate with Dutch roef (“cabin on a boat”), Faroese rógv (“roof”); also Czech, Polish, and Slovene strop (“ceiling”), Russian строп (strop, “attic, loft, roof”), Serbo-Croatian стро̏п, strȍp (“ceiling”).
From Middle English rofen, roven (“to roof”), from the noun (see above).
Calque of Mandarin 危宿 (Wēixiù).
* As an English surname, spelling variant of Rolfe.
* As a German surname, from a personal name ultimately derived from Proto-West Germanic *hrōþi (“fame, glory, renown”); also Americanized from Ruff, itself shortened from Rudolf (and from the same root).
Webster’s 1913
- noun The cover of any building, including the roofing (see Roofing) and all the materials and construction necessary to carry and maintain the same upon the walls or other uprights. In the case of a building with vaulted ceilings protected by an outer roof, some writers call the vault the roof, and the outer protection the roof mask. It is better, however, to consider the vault as the ceiling only, in cases where it has farther covering.
- noun That which resembles, or corresponds to, the covering or the ceiling of a house; as, the roof of a cavern; the roof of the mouth.
- verb To cover with a roof.
- verb To inclose in a house; figuratively, to shelter.
Etymology [OE. rof, AS. hr top, roof; akin to D. roef cabin, Icel. hr a shed under which ships are built or kept; cf. OS. hr roof, Goth. hr. Cf. Roost.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “roof”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details