roof

English

Wikipedia has an article on:

Wikipedia

Tiled roofs covering buildings

Etymology

From Middle English rof, from Old English hrōf (“roof, ceiling; top, summit; heaven, sky”), from Proto-Germanic *hrōfą (“roof”), from Proto-Indo-European *krāpo- (“roof”), from Proto-Indo-European *krāwǝ- (“to cover, heap”). Cognate with Scots ruif (“roof”), Dutch roef (“a cabin, wooden cover, deckhouse”), Low German rof (“roof”), Icelandic hróf (“a shed under which ships are built or kept, roof of a boathouse”).

Pronunciation

Noun

roof (plural roofs or rooves)

  1. The cover at top of a building.
  2. The upper part of a cavity.
    The palate is the roof of the mouth.
    Archaeologists discovered that the cave's roof was decked with paintings.
    • 2011 October 1, John Sinnott, “Aston Villa 2 - 0 Wigan”, BBC Sport:
      As Bent pulled away to the far post, Agbonlahor opted to go it alone, motoring past Gary Caldwell before unleashing a shot into the roof of the net.

Usage notes

  • The plural rooves is uncommon and is usually considered incorrect in American English, though it is parallel to more common plurals like hooves and staves.
  • In referring to the top of a building, refers both to the object itself (“the roof was blown off in the tornado”) and to the location of being on the roof (“it can be dangerous to go on the roof to fix the antenna”). In the later sense (of “location”) it is often used attributively, largely interchangeably with rooftop.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Terms derived from roof (noun)

Translations

the cover at the top of a building
the upper part of a cavity

Verb

roof (third-person singular simple present roofs, present participle roofing, simple past and past participle roofed)

  1. To cover or furnish with a roof.

Derived terms

Translations

to cover or furnish with a roof
↑Jump back a section

Dutch

Pronunciation

Noun

roof m (plural roven, diminutive roofje)

  1. robbery, robbing, banditry, rapine

Derived terms

Related terms

Verb

roof

  1. first-person singular present indicative of roven
  2. imperative of roven
↑Jump back a section
Last modified on 10 May 2013, at 18:35