ROOT, n. [L. radix. A root is a shoot, and only a different application of rod, L. radius.]

1. That part of a plant which enters and fixes itself in the earth, and serves to support the plant in an erect position, while by means of its radicles, it imbibes nutriment for the stem, branches and fruit. There are six distinct organs which are capable of entering into the composition of a root, viz. the radicle, the fibril, the soboles, the bulb, the tuber, and the rhizoma.
2. The part of any thing that resembles the roots of a plant in manner of growth; as, the roots of a cancer, of teeth, &c.
3. The bottom or lower part of any thing. Deep to the roots of hell. – Milton. Burnet uses root of a mountain, but we now say base, foot or bottom. See Job xxviii. 9.
4. A plant whose root is esculent or the most useful part; as beets, carrots, &c.
5. The original or cause of any thing. The love of money is the root of all evil. – 1 Tim. vi.
6. The first ancestor. They were the roots out of which sprung two distinct people. – Locke.
7. In arithmetic and algebra, 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.
8. Means of growth. “He hath no root in himself;” that is, no soil in which grace can grow and flourish. – Matth. xiii.
9. In music, the fundamental note of any chord. – Busby. Root of bitterness, in Scripture, any error, sin or evil that produces discord or immorality. To take root, to become planted or fixed; or to be established; to increase and spread. To take deep root, to be firmly planted or established; to be deeply impressed. – Dryden.

1. To fix the root; to enter the earth, as roots. In deep grounds, the weeds root deeper. – Mortimer.
2. To be firmly fixed; to be established. The multiplying brood of the ungodly shall not take deep rooting. – Wisdom.
3. To sink deep. If any error chanced … to cause misapprehensions, he gave them not leave to root and fasten by a concealment. – Fell.

To turn up the earth with the snout, as swine. Swine root to find worms; they root the ground wherever they come. To root up or out, to eradicate; to extirpate; to remove or destroy root and branch; to exterminate. – Deut. xxix. Job xxxi.

1. To plant and fix deep in the earth; used chiefly in the participle; as, rooted trees or forests. – Dryden.
2. To plant deeply; to impress deeply and durably. Let the leading truths of the Gospel be rooted in the mind; let holy affections be well rooted in the heart.
3. In Scripture, to be rooted and grounded in Christ, is to be firmly united to him by faith and love, and well established in the belief of his character and doctrines. – Eph. iii.

1. To turn up the earth with the snout, as swine.
2. To turn up or to dig out with the snout; as, the swine roots the earth.
3. 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)
4. 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.

5. 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.
6. To shout for, or otherwise noisly applaud or encourage, a contestant, as in sports; hence, to wish earnestly for the success of some one or the happening of some event, with the superstitious notion that this action may have efficacy; -- usually with for; as, the crowd rooted for the home team.
   
   
   [Slang or Cant, U. S.]
7. Hence, to seek for favor or advancement by low arts or groveling servility; to fawn servilely.
8. An edible or esculent root, especially of such plants as produce a single root, as the beet, carrot, etc.; as, the root crop.
9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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)
12. 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.