Chapter 47

Ro*man"tic (?), a. [F. romantique, fr. OF. romant. See Romance.] 1. Of or pertaining to romance; involving or resembling romance; hence, fanciful; marvelous; extravagant; unreal; as, a romantic tale; a romantic notion; a romantic undertaking.

Can anything in nature be imagined more profane and impious, more absurd, and undeed romantic, than such a persuasion?

South.

Zeal for the good of one's country a party of men have represented as chimerical and romantic.

Addison.

2. Entertaining ideas and expectations suited to a romance; as, a romantic person; a romantic mind.

3. Of or pertaining to the style of the Christian and popular literature of the Middle Ages, as opposed to the classical antique; of the nature of, or appropriate to, that style; as, the romantic school of poets.

4. Characterized by strangeness or variety; suggestive of adventure; suited to romance; wild; picturesque; -- applied to scenery; as, a romantic landscape.

Syn. -- Sentimental; fanciful; fantastic; fictitious; extravagant; wild; chimerical. See Sentimental.

The romantic drama. See under Drama.

Ro*man"tic*al (?), a. Romantic.

Ro*man"tic*al*y, adv. In a romantic manner.

Ro*man"ti*cism (?), n. [CF. It. romanticismo, F. romantisme, romanticisme.] A fondness for romantic characteristics or peculiarities; specifically, in modern literature, an aiming at romantic effects; -- applied to the productions of a school of writers who sought to revive certain medi&?;val forms and methods in opposition to the so-called classical style.

He [Lessing] may be said to have begun the revolt from pseudo-classicism in poetry, and to have been thus unconsciously the founder of romanticism.

Lowell.

Ro*man"ti*cist (?), n. One who advocates romanticism in modern literature. J. R. Seeley.

Ro*man"tic*ly (?), adv. Romantically. [R.] Strype.

Ro*man"tic*ness (?), n. The state or quality of being romantic; widness; fancifulness. Richardson.

Rom"a*ny (?), n. [Gypsy romano, romani, adj., gypsy; cf. rom husband.] 1. A gypsy.

2. The language spoken among themselves by the gypsies. [Written also Rommany.]

||Ro*man"za (?), n. [It.] See Romance, 5.

Ro*maunt" (?), n. [See Romance.] A romantic story in verse; as, the "Romaunt of the Rose."

O, hearken, loving hearts and bold, Unto my wild romaunt.

Mrs. Browning.

Rom"ble (?), v.& n. Rumble. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Rom*bow"line (?), n. [Etymol. uncertain.] (Naut.) Old, condemned canvas, rope, etc., unfit for use except in chafing gear. [Written also rumbowline.]

{ Ro"me*ine (?), Ro"me*ite (?), } n. [F. roméine. So calledafter the French mineralogist Romé L'Isle.] (Min.) A mineral of a hyacinth or honey-yellow color, occuring in square octahedrons. It is an antimonate of calcium.

Rome"kin (?), n. [CF. Rummer.] A drinking cup. [Written also romkin.] [Obs.] Halliwell.

{ Rome" pen`ny (?), or Rome" scot` (?) }. See Peter pence, under Peter.

Rome"ward (?), adv. Toward Rome, or toward the Roman Catholic Church.

Rome"ward, a. Tending or directed toward Rome, or toward the Roman Catholic Church.

To analyze the crisis in its Anglican rather than in its Romeward aspect.

Gladstone.

Rom"ic (?), n. A method of notation for all spoken sounds, proposed by Mr. Sweet; -- so called because it is based on the common Roman-letter alphabet. It is like the palæotype of Mr. Ellis in the general plan, but simpler.

Rom"ish (?), a. Belonging or relating to Rome, or to the Roman Catholic Church; -- frequently used in a disparaging sense; as, the Romish church; the Romish religion, ritual, or ceremonies.

Rom"ist, n. A Roman Catholic. [R.] South.

Romp (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Romped (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Romping.] [A variant of ramp. See Ramp to leap, Rampallian.] To play rudely and boisterously; to leap and frisk about in play.

Romp, n. 1. A girl who indulges in boisterous play.

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2. Rude, boisterous play or frolic; rough sport.

While romp-loving miss Is hauled about in gallantry robust.

Thomson.

Romp"ing (?), a. Inclined to romp; indulging in romps.

A little romping girl from boarding school.

W. Irving.

Romp"ing*ly, adv. In a romping manner.

Romp"ish, a. Given to rude play; inclined to romp.

--- Romp"ish, adv. -- Romp"ish*ness, n.

Rom"pu (?), a. [F. rompu, p. p. of rompre to breeak, L. rumpere. See Rupture.] (Her.) Broken, as an ordinary; cut off, or broken at the top, as a chevron, a bend, or the like.

Ron`ca*dor" (?), n. [Sp., a snorer, fr. roncar to snore. So called in allusion to the grunting noise made by them on being taken from the water. ] (Zoöl.) Any one of several species of California sciænoid food fishes, especially Roncador Stearnsi, which is an excellent market fish, and the red roncador (Corvina, or Johnius, saturna).

Ron"chil (?), n. [Cf. Sp. ronquillo slightly hoarse.] (Zoöl.) An American marine food fish (Bathymaster signatus) of the North Pacific coast, allied to the tilefish. [Written also ronquil.]

Ron"co (?), n. [Sp. ronco hoarse.] (Zoöl.) See Croaker, n., 2. (a). [Texas]

||Ron`dache" (?), n. [F.] (Anc. Armor.) A circular shield carried by ||foot soldiers.

||Ronde (?), n. [F.] (Print.) A kind of script in which the heavy ||strokes are nearly upright, giving the characters when taken together ||a round look.

Ron*deau" (?), n. [F. See Roundel.] [Written also rondo.] 1. A species of lyric poetry so composed as to contain a refrain or repetition which recurs according to a fixed law, and a limited number of rhymes recurring also by rule.

When the rondeau was called the rondel it was mostly written in fourteen octosyllabic lines of two rhymes, as in the rondels of Charles d'Orleans. . . . In the 17th century the approved form of the rondeau was a structure of thirteen verses with a refrain. Encyc. Brit.

2. (Mus.) See Rondo, 1.

Ron"del (?), n. [Cf. Rondeau, Roundel.] 1. (Fort.) A small round tower erected at the foot of a bastion. [Obs.]

2. [F.] (a) Same as Rondeau. (b) Specifically, a particular form of rondeau containing fourteen lines in two rhymes, the refrain being a repetition of the first and second lines as the seventh and eighth, and again as the thirteenth and fourteenth. E. W. Gosse.

||Ron`de*le"ti*a (?), n. [NL. So named after William Rondelet, a French ||naturalist.] (Bot.) A tropical genus of rubiaceous shrubs which often ||have brilliant flowers.

Ron"dle (?), n. [Cf. Rondel.] 1. A rondeau. [Obs.] Spenser.

2. A round mass, plate, or disk; especially (Metal.), the crust or scale which forms upon the surface of molten metal in the crucible.

Ron"do (?), n. [It. rondò, fr. F. rondeau. See Rondeau.] 1. (Mus.) A composition, vocal or instrumental, commonly of a lively, cheerful character, in which the first strain recurs after each of the other strains. "The Rondo-form was the earliest and most frequent definite mold for musical construction." Grove.

2. (Poetry) See Rondeau, 1.

Ron"dure (?), n. [Cf. F. rondeur roundness.] 1. A round; a circle. [Obs.] Shak.

2. Roundness; plumpness. [R.]

High-kirtled for the chase, and what was shown Of maiden rondure, like the rose half-blown.

Lowell.

Rong (?), obs. imp. & p. p. of Ring. Chaucer.

Rong, n. Rung (of a ladder). [Obs.] Chaucer.

||Ron`geur" (?), n. [F., fr. ronger to gnaw.] (Surg.) An instrument for ||removing small rough portions of bone.

{ Ron"ion, Ron"yon } (?), n. [F. rogne scab, mange.] A mangy or scabby creature.

"Aroint thee, with!" the rump-fed ronyon cries.

Shak.

Ron"ne (?), obs. imp. pl., and Ron"nen (&?;), obs. p. p. of Renne, to run. Chaucer.

Ront (?), n. [See Runt.] A runt. [Obs.] Spenser.

Rood (rd), n. [AS. rd a cross; akin to OS. rda, D. roede rod, G. ruthe, rute, OHG. ruota. Cf. Rod a measure.] 1. A representation in sculpture or in painting of the cross with Christ hanging on it.

Generally, the Trinity is represented, the Father as an elderly man fully clothed, with a nimbus around his head, and holding the cross on which the Son is represented as crucified, the Holy Spirit descending in the form of a dove near the Son's head. Figures of the Virgin Mary and of St. John are often placed near the principal figures.

Savior, in thine image seen Bleeding on that precious rood.

Wordsworth.

2. A measure of five and a half yards in length; a rod; a perch; a pole. [Prov. Eng.]

3. The fourth part of an acre, or forty square rods.

By the rood, by the cross; -- a phrase formerly used in swearing. "No, by the rood, not so." Shak. -- Rood beam (Arch.), a beam across the chancel of a church, supporting the rood. -- Rood loft (Arch.), a loft or gallery, in a church, on which the rood and its appendages were set up to view. Gwilt. -- Rood screen (Arch.), a screen, between the choir and the body of the church, over which the rood was placed. Fairholt. -- Rood tower (Arch.), a tower at the intersection of the nave and transept of a church; -- when crowned with a spire it was called also rood steeple. Weale. -- Rood tree, the cross. [Obs.] "Died upon the rood tree." Gower.

Roo"de*bok (?), n. [D. rood red + bok buck.] (Zoöl.) The pallah.

Rood"y (?), a. Rank in growth. [Prov. Eng.]

Roof (?), n. [OE. rof, AS. hr&?;f top, roof; akin to D. roef cabin, Icel. hr&?;f a shed under which ships are built or kept; cf. OS. hr&?;st roof, Goth. hr&?;t. Cf. Roost.] 1. (Arch.) 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.

2. 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.

The flowery roof Showered roses, which the morn repaired.

Milton.

3. (Mining.) The surface or bed of rock immediately overlying a bed of coal or a flat vein.

Bell roof, French roof, etc. (Arch.) See under Bell, French, etc. -- Flat roof. (Arch.) (a) A roof actually horizontal and level, as in some Oriental buildings. (b) A roof nearly horizontal, constructed of such material as allows the water to run off freely from a very slight inclination. -- Roof plate. (Arch.) See Plate, n., 10.

Roof (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Roofed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Roofing.] 1. To cover with a roof.

I have not seen the remains of any Roman buildings that have not been roofed with vaults or arches.

Addison.

2. To inclose in a house; figuratively, to shelter.

Here had we now our country's honor roofed.

Shak.

Roof"er (?), n. One who puts on roofs.

Roof"ing, n. 1. The act of covering with a roof.

2. The materials of which a roof is composed; materials for a roof. Gwilt.

3. Hence, the roof itself; figuratively, shelter. "Fit roofing gave." Southey.

4. (Mining) The wedging, as of a horse or car, against the top of an underground passage. Raymond.

Roof"less, a. 1. Having no roof; as, a roofless house.

2. Having no house or home; shelterless; homeless.

Roof"let (?), n. A small roof, covering, or shelter.

Roof"tree` (?), n. The beam in the angle of a roof; hence, the roof itself.

Now for me the woods may wither, now for me the rooftree fall.

Tennyson.

Roof`y (?), a. Having roofs. [R.] Dryden.

Rook (rk), n. Mist; fog. See Roke. [Obs.]

Rook, v. i. To squat; to ruck. [Obs.] Shak.

Rook, n. [F. roc (cf. Sp. roque), fr. Per. & Ar. rokh, or rukh, the rook or castle at chess, also the bird roc (in this sense perhaps a different word); cf. Hind. rath a war chariot, the castle at chess, Skr. ratha a car, a war car. Cf. Roll.] (Chess) One of the four pieces placed on the corner squares of the board; a castle.

Rook, n. [AS. hrc; akin to OHG. hruoh, ruoh, ruoho, Icel. hrkr, Sw. roka, Dan. raage; cf. Goth. hrukjan to crow.] 1. (Zoöl.) A European bird (Corvus frugilegus) resembling the crow, but smaller. It is black, with purple and violet reflections. The base of the beak and the region around it are covered with a rough, scabrous skin, which in old birds is whitish. It is gregarious in its habits. The name is also applied to related Asiatic species.

The rook . . . should be treated as the farmer's friend.

Pennant.

2. A trickish, rapacious fellow; a cheat; a sharper. Wycherley.

Rook, v. t. & i. [imp. & p. p. Rooked (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Rooking.] To cheat; to defraud by cheating. "A band of rooking officials." Milton.

Rook"er*y (?), n.; pl. Rookeries (&?;). 1. The breeding place of a colony of rooks; also, the birds themselves. Tennyson.

2. A breeding place of other gregarious birds, as of herons, penguins, etc.

3. The breeding ground of seals, esp. of the fur seals.

4. A dilapidated building with many rooms and occupants; a cluster of dilapidated or mean buildings.

5. A brothel. [Low]

Rook"y (-), a. [See Roky.] Misty; gloomy. [Obs.]

Light thickens, and the crow Makes wing to the rooky wood.

Shak.

Some make this Shakespearean word mean "abounding in rooks."

Room (rm), n. [OE. roum, rum, space, AS. rm; akin to OS., OFries. & Icel. rm, D. ruim, G. raum, OHG. rm, Sw. & Dan. rum, Goth. rms, and to AS. rm, adj., spacious, D. ruim, Icel. rmr, Goth. rms; and prob. to L. rus country (cf. Rural), Zend ravah wide, free, open, ravan a plain.] 1. Unobstructed spase; space which may be occupied by or devoted to any object; compass; extent of place, great or small; as, there is not room for a house; the table takes up too much room.

Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.

Luke xiv. 22.

There was no room for them in the inn.

Luke ii. 7.

2. A particular portion of space appropriated for occupancy; a place to sit, stand, or lie; a seat.

If he have but twelve pence in his purse, he will give it for the best room in a playhouse.

Overbury.

When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room.

Luke xiv. 8.

3. Especially, space in a building or ship inclosed or set apart by a partition; an apartment or chamber.

I found the prince in the next room.

Shak.

4. Place or position in society; office; rank; post; station; also, a place or station once belonging to, or occupied by, another, and vacated. [Obs.]

When he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judea in the room of his father Herod.

Matt. ii. 22.

Neither that I look for a higher room in heaven.

Tyndale.

Let Bianca take her sister's room.

Shak.

5. Possibility of admission; ability to admit; opportunity to act; fit occasion; as, to leave room for hope.

There was no prince in the empire who had room for such an alliance.

Addison.

Room and space (Shipbuilding), the distance from one side of a rib to the corresponding side of the next rib; space being the distance between two ribs, in the clear, and room the width of a rib. -- To give room, to withdraw; to leave or provide space unoccupied for others to pass or to be seated. -- To make room, to open a space, way, or passage; to remove obstructions; to give room.

Make room, and let him stand before our face.

Shak.

Syn. -- Space; compass; scope; latitude.

Room (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Roomed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Rooming.] To occupy a room or rooms; to lodge; as, they arranged to room together.

Room, a. [AS. rm.] Spacious; roomy. [Obs.]

No roomer harbour in the place.

Chaucer.

Room"age (?), n. [From Room. CF. Rummage.] Space; place; room. [Obs.] Sir H. Wotton.

Room"er (?), n. A lodger. [Colloq.]

Room"er (?), adv. [See Room, a.] At a greater distance; farther off. [Obs.] Sir J. Harrington.

Room"ful (?), a. Abounding with room or rooms; roomy. "A roomful house." [R.] Donne.

Room"ful, n.; pl. Roomfuls (&?;). As much or many as a room will hold; as, a roomful of men. Swift.

Room"i*ly (?), adv. Spaciously.

Room"i*ness, n. The quality or state of being roomy; spaciousness; as, the roominess of a hall.

Room"less, a. Being without room or rooms. Udall.

Room"mate` (?), n. One of twe or more occupying the same room or rooms; one who shares the occupancy of a room or rooms; a chum.

Room"some (?), a. Roomy. [Obs.] Evelyn.

Roomth (?), n. Room; space. [Obs.] Drayton.

Roomth"y (?), a. Roomy; spacious. [Obs.] Fuller.

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.

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2. An edible or esculent root, especially of such plants as produce a single root, as the beet, carrot, etc.; as, the root crop.

3. That which resembles a root in position or function, esp. as a source of nourishment or support; that from which anything proceeds as if by growth or development; as, the root of a tooth, a nail, a cancer, and the like. Specifically: (a) An ancestor or progenitor; and hence, an early race; a stem.

They were the roots out of which sprang two distinct people.

Locke.

(b) A primitive form of speech; one of the earliest terms employed in language; a word from which other words are formed; a radix, or radical. (c) The cause or occasion by which anything is brought about; the source. "She herself . . . is root of bounty." Chaucer.

The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.

1 Tim. vi. 10 (rev. Ver.)

(d) (Math.) That factor of a quantity which when multiplied into itself will produce that quantity; thus, 3 is a root of 9, because 3 multiplied into itself produces 9; 3 is the cube root of 27. (e) (Mus.) The fundamental tone of any chord; the tone from whose harmonics, or overtones, a chord is composed. Busby.

(f) The lowest place, position, or part. "Deep to the roots of hell." Milton. "The roots of the mountains." Southey.

4. (Astrol.) The time which to reckon in making calculations.

When a root is of a birth yknowe [known].

Chaucer.

Aërial roots. (Bot.) (a) Small roots emitted from the stem of a plant in the open air, which, attaching themselves to the bark of trees, etc., serve to support the plant. (b) Large roots growing from the stem, etc., which descend and establish themselves in the soil. See Illust. of Mangrove. -- Multiple primary root (Bot.), a name given to the numerous roots emitted from the radicle in many plants, as the squash. -- Primary root (Bot.), the central, first-formed, main root, from which the rootlets are given off. -- Root and branch, every part; wholly; completely; as, to destroy an error root and branch. -- Root-and-branch men, radical reformers; -- a designation applied to the English Independents (1641). See Citation under Radical, n., 2. -- Root barnacle (Zoöl.), one of the Rhizocephala. -- Root hair (Bot.), one of the slender, hairlike fibers found on the surface of fresh roots. They are prolongations of the superficial cells of the root into minute tubes. Gray. -- Root leaf (Bot.), a radical leaf. See Radical, a., 3 (b). -- Root louse (Zoöl.), any plant louse, or aphid, which lives on the roots of plants, as the Phylloxera of the grapevine. See Phylloxera. -- Root of an equation (Alg.), that value which, substituted for the unknown quantity in an equation, satisfies the equation. -- Root of a nail (Anat.), the part of a nail which is covered by the skin. -- Root of a tooth (Anat.), the part of a tooth contained in the socket and consisting of one or more fangs. -- Secondary roots (Bot.), roots emitted from any part of the plant above the radicle. -- To strike root, To take root, to send forth roots; to become fixed in the earth, etc., by a root; hence, in general, to become planted, fixed, or established; to increase and spread; as, an opinion takes root. "The bended twigs take root." Milton.

Root (rt), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Rooted; p. pr. & vb. n. Rooting.] 1. To fix the root; to enter the earth, as roots; to take root and begin to grow.

In deep grounds the weeds root deeper.

Mortimer.

2. To be firmly fixed; to be established.

If any irregularity chanced to intervene and to cause misappehensions, he gave them not leave to root and fasten by concealment.

Bp. Fell.

Root, v. t. 1. To plant and fix deeply in the earth, or as in the earth; to implant firmly; hence, to make deep or radical; to establish; -- used chiefly in the participle; as, rooted trees or forests; rooted dislike.

2. To tear up by the root; to eradicate; to extirpate; -- with up, out, or away. "I will go root away the noisome weeds." Shak.

The Lord rooted them out of their land . . . and cast them into another land.

Deut. xxix. 28.

Root"cap` (rt"kp`), n. (Bot.) A mass of parenchymatous cells which covers and protects the growing cells at the end of a root; a pileorhiza.

Root"ed, a. Having taken root; firmly implanted; fixed in the heart. "A rooted sorrow." Shak.

-- Root"ed*ly, adv. -- Root"ed*ness, n.

Rooter (?), n. One who, or that which, roots; one that tears up by the roots.

Root"er*y, n. A pile of roots, set with plants, mosses, etc., and used as an ornamental object in gardening.

Root"less, a. Destitute of roots.

Root"let (?), n. A radicle; a little root.

Root"stock` (?), n. (Bot.) A perennial underground stem, producing leafly s&?;ems or flower stems from year to year; a rhizome.

Root"y (?), a. Full of roots; as, rooty ground.

Ro*pal"ic (?), a. See Rhopalic.