ROAD, noun [Latin gradior. See Grade.]

1. An open way or public passage; ground appropriated for travel, forming a communication between one city, town or place and another. The word is generally applied to highways, and as a generic term it includes highway, street and lane. The military roads of the Romans were paved with stone, or formed of gravel or pebbles, and some of them remain to this day entire.

2. A place where ships may ride at anchor at some distance from the shore; sometimes called roadstead, that is, a place for riding, meaning at anchor.

3. A journey. [Not used, but we still use ride as a noun; as a long ride; a short ride; the same word differently written.]

4. An inroad; incursion of an enemy. [Not in use.]

On the road passing; traveling.

ROADER,

ROADSTEAD. [See Road.]

ROADSTEAD. [See Road.]

ROADSTER, noun Among seamen, a vessel riding at anchor in a road or bay.

ROADWAY, noun A highway.

ROAM, verb intransitive [If m is radical, this word seems to be connected with ramble, Latin ramus.]

To wander; to ramble; to rove; to walk or move about from place to place without any certain purpose or direction. The wolf and the savage roam in the forest.

Daphne roaming through a thorny wood.

ROAM, verb transitive To range; to wander over; as, to roam the woods; but the phrase is elliptical.

ROAMER, noun A wanderer; a rover; a rambler; a vagrant.

ROAMING, participle present tense Wandering; roving.

ROAMING, noun The act of wandering.

ROAN, adjective A roan horse is one that is of a bay, sorrel or dark color, with spots of gray or white thickly interspersed.

ROAR, verb intransitive

1. To cry with a full, loud, continued sound; to bellow, as a beast; as a roaring bull; a roaring lion.

2. To cry aloud, as in distress.

The suff'ring chief roar'd out for anguish.

3. To cry aloud; to bawl; as a child.

4. To cause a loud continued sound. We say, the sea or the wind roars; a company roar in acclamation.

5. To make a loud noise.

The brazen throat of war had ceas'd to roar

ROAR, noun

1. A full loud sound of some continuance; the cry of a beast; as the roar of a lion or bull.

2. The loud cry of a child or person in distress.

3. Clamor; outcry of joy or mirth; as a roar of laughter. he set the company in a roar

4. The loud continued sound of the sea in a storm, or the howling of a tempest.

5. Any loud sound of some continuance; as the roar of cannon.

ROARER, noun One that roars, man or beast.

ROARING, participle present tense Crying like a bull or lion; uttering a deep loud sound.

ROARING, noun The cry of a lion or other beast; outcry of distress, Job 3:24; loud continued sound of the billows of the sea or of a tempest. Isaiah 5:29.

ROARY, adjective Dewy; more properly rory.

ROAST, verb transitive [If the verb is from the noun, the sense is to dress or cook on a gridiron or grate, and rist, rost, coincide in elements with Latin rastellum, a rake. If the verb is the root, the sense probably is to contract or crisp, or to throw or agitate, hence to make rough.]

1. To cook, dress or prepare meat for the table by exposing it to heat, as on a spit. In a bake-pan, in an oven or the like. We now say, to roast meat on a spit, in a pan, or in a tin oven, etc.; to bake meat in an oven; to broil meat on a gridiron.

2. To prepare for food by exposure to heat; as, to roast apples or potatoes; to roast eggs.

3. To heat to excess; to heat violently.

ROASTed in wrath and fire.

4. To dry and parch by exposure to heat; as, to roast coffee.

5. In metallurgy, to dissipate the volatile parts of ore by heat.

6. In common discourse, to jeer; to banter severely.

ROAST, noun That which is roasted.

ROAST, adjective [for roasted.] Roasted; as roast beef.

ROAST, noun In the phrase, to rule the roast this word is a corrupt pronunciation.

ROASTED, participle passive Dressed by exposure to heat on a spit.

ROASTER, noun

1. One that roasts meat; also, a gridiron.

2. A pig for roasting.

ROASTING, participle present tense

1. Preparing for the table by exposure to heat on a spit; drying and parching.

2. Bantering with severity.

ROASTING, noun A severe teasing or bantering.

ROB, noun

The inspissated juice of ripe fruit, mixed with honey or sugar to the consistence of a conserve.

ROB, verb transitive

1. In law, to take from the person of another feloniously, forcibly and by putting him in fear; as, to rob a passenger on the road.

2. To seize and carry from any thing by violence and with felonious intent; as, to rob a coach; to rob the mail.

3. To plunder; to strip unlawfully; as, to rob an orchard; to rob a man of his just praise.

4. To take away by oppression or by violence.

ROB not the poor because he is poor. Proverbs 22:22.

5. To take from; to deprive. A large tree robs smaller plants near it of their nourishment.

6. In a loose sense, to steal; to take privately without permission of the owner.

7. To withhold what is due. Malachi 3:8.

ROBAL'LO, noun A fish found in Mexico, which affords a most delicate food.

ROB'BE, noun The sea dog or seal.

ROB'BED, participle passive Deprived feloniously and by violence; plundered; seized and carried away by violence.

ROB'BER, noun

1. In law, one that takes goods or money from the person of another by force or menaces, and with a felonious intent.

2. In a looser sense, one who takes that to which he has no right; one who steals, plunders or strips by violence and wrong.

ROB'BERY, noun

1. In law, the forcible and felonious taking from the person of another any money or goods, putting him in fear, that is, by violence or by menaces of death or personal injury. robbery differs from theft, as it is a violent felonious taking from the person or presence of another; whereas theft is a felonious taking of goods privately from the person, dwelling, etc. of another. These words should not be confounded.

2. A plundering; a pillaging; a taking away by violence, wrong or oppression.

ROB'BING, participle present tense Feloniously taking from the person of another; putting him in fear; stripping; plundering; taking from another unlawfully or by wrong or oppression.

ROB'BINS,

ROBE, noun

1. A kind of gown or long loose garment worn over other dress, particularly by persons in elevated stations. The robe is properly a dress of state or dignity, as of princes, judges, priests, etc. See Exodus 29:5. 1 Samuel 24:4. Matthew 27:28.

2. A splendid female gown or garment. 2 Samuel 13:1.

3. An elegant dress; splendid attire.

4. In Scripture, the vesture of purity or righteousness, and of happiness. Job 29:1. Luke 15:1.

ROBE, verb transitive

1. To put on a robe; or to dress with magnificence; to array.

2. To dress; to invest, as with beauty or elegance; as fields robed with green.

Such was his power over the expression of his countenance, that he could in an instant shake off the sternness of winter, and robe it in the brightest smiles of spring.

ROBE, n.

ROBE, v.t.

RO'BED, participle passive Dressed with a robe; arrayed with elegance.

ROB'ERSMAN,

ROB'ERT,

HERB-ROBERT, noun A plant of the genus Geranium; stork's bill.

ROB'ERT,

ROB'ERTINE, noun One of an order of monks, so called from Robert Flower, the founder, adjective D. 1187.

ROB'ERTSMAN, noun In the old statutes of England, a bold stout robber or night thief, said to be so called from Robinhood, a famous robber.

ROB'IN, noun [Latin rubecula, from rubeo, to be red.]

1. A bird of the genus Motacilla, called also redbreast. This is the English application of the word.

2. In the United States, a bird with a red breast, a species of Turdus.

ROB'ORANT, adjective [Latin roborans, roboro.] Strengthening.

ROB'ORANT, noun A medicine that strengthens; but corroborant is generally used.

ROBORA'TION, noun [from Latin roboro, from robur, strength.]

A strengthening. [Little used.]

ROBO'REOUS, adjective [Latin roborcus, from robur, strength, and an oak.]

Made of oak.

ROBUST', adjective [Latin robustus, from robur, strength.]

1. Strong; lusty; sinewy; muscular; vigorous; forceful; as a robust body; robust youth. It implies full flesh and sound health.

2. Sound; vigorous; as robust health.

3. Violent; rough; rude.

Romp loving miss is haul'd about in gallantry robust

4. Requiring strength; as robust employment.

[Note. This is one of the words in which we observe a strong tendency in practice to accentuate the first syllable, as in access; and there are many situations of the word in which this is the preferable pronunciation. Robustious is extremely vulgar, and in the United States nearly obsolete.]

ROBUST'NESS, noun Strength; vigor, or the condition of the body when it has full firm flesh and sound health.

ROC'AMBOLE,

ROCHE-ALUM, noun

Rock-alum, a purer kind of alum.

Rochelle salt, tartrate of potash and soda.

ROCH'ET, noun

A surplice; the white upper garment of a priest worn while officiating.

ROCH'ET, noun A fish, the roach, which see.

ROCK, noun [Gr., Latin rupes, from the root of rumpo, to break or burst. If this is not the origin of rock I know not to what root to assign it.]

1. A large mass of stony matter, usually compounded of two or more simple minerals, either bedded in the earth or resting on its surface. Sometimes rocks compose the principal part of huge mountains; sometimes hugh rocks lie on the surface of the earth, in detached blocks or masses. Under this term, mineralogists class all mineral substances, coal, gypsum, salt, etc.

2. In Scripture, figuratively, defense; means of safety; protection; strength; asylum.

The Lord is my rock 2 Samuel 22:2.

3. Firmness; a firm or immovable foundation. Psalms 28:1.

Matthew 7:24. Matthew 16:18.

4. A species of vulture or condor.

5. A fabulous bird in the Eastern tales.

ROCK, noun

A distaff used in spinning; the staff or frame about which flax is arranged, from which the thread is drawn in spinning.

ROCK, verb transitive

1. To move backward and forward, as a body resting on a foundation; as, to rock a cradle; to rock a chair; to rock a mountain. It differs from shake, as denoting a slower and more uniform motion, or larger movements. It differs from swing, which expresses a vibratory motion of something suspended.

A rising earthquake rock'd the ground.

2. To move backwards and forwards in a cradle, chair, etc.; as, to rock a child to sleep.

3. To lull to quiet.

Sleep rock thy brain. [Unusual.]

ROCK, verb intransitive To be moved backwards and forwards; to reel.

The rocking town supplants their footsteps.

ROCK'ED, participle passive [from rock, the verb.] Moved one way and the other.

ROCK'ER, noun One who rocks the cradle; also, the curving piece of wood on which a cradle or chair rocks.

ROCK'ET, noun

An artificial fire-work, consisting of a cylindrical case of paper, filled with a composition of combustible ingredients, as niter, charcoal and sulphur. This being tied to a stick and fired, ascends into the air and bursts.

ROCK'ET, noun [Latin eruca.] A plant of the genus Brassica. There is also the bastard rocket of the genus Reseda; the corn rocket and the sea rocket of the genus Bunias; the marsh rocket the water rocket and the winter rocket of the genus Sisymbrium; and the dame's violet rocket of the genus Hesperis.

ROCK'-FISH, noun A species of Gobius.

ROCK'INESS, noun [from rocky.] State of abounding with rocks.

ROCK'ING, participle present tense Moving backwards and forwards.

ROCK'LESS, adjective Being without rocks.

ROCK'-OIL, noun Another name for petrol or petroleum.

ROCK'-PIGEON, noun A pigeon that builds her nest on a rock.

ROCK'Y, adjective [from rock.]

1. Full of rocks; as a rocky mountain; rocky shore.

2. Resembling a rock; as the rocky orb of a shield.

3. Very hard; stony; obdurate; insusceptible of impression; as a rocky bosom.

ROD, noun [Latin radius, ray, radix, root.]

1. The shoot or long twig of any woody plant; a branch, or the stem of a shrub; as a rod of hazle, of birch, of oak or hickory. Hence,

2. An instrument of punishment or correction; chastisement.

I will chasten him with the rod of men. 2 Samuel 7:14. Proverbs 10:13.

3. Discipline; ecclesiastical censures. 1 Corinthians 4:21.

4. A king of scepter.

The rod and bird of peace.

5. A pole for angling; something long and slender.

6. An instrument for measuring; but more generally, a measure of length containing five yards, or sixteen feet and a half; a pole; a perch. In many parts of the United States, rod is universally used for pole or perch.

7. In Scripture, a staff or wand. 1 Samuel 14:27.

8. Support.

Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Psalms 23:4.

9. A shepherd's crook. Leviticus 27:32.

10. An instrument for threshing. Isaiah 28:27.

11. Power; authority. Psalms 125:3.

12. A tribe or race. Psa 74.

ROD of iron, the mighty power of Christ. Revelation 19:15. Psa 2.

RODE, preterit tense of ride; also, a cross. [See Rood.]

ROD'OMONT, noun

A vain boaster.

ROD'OMONT, adjective Bragging; vainly boasting.

RODOMONTA'DE, noun [See Rodomont.]

Vain boasting; empty bluster or vaunting; rant.

I could show that the rodomontades of Almanzor are neither so irrational nor impossible.

RODOMONTA'DE, verb intransitive To boast; to brag; to bluster; to rant.

RODOMONT'ADIST,

RODOMONTA'DOR, noun A blustering boaster; one that brags or vaunts.

RODOMONTA'DOR, n. A blustering boaster; one that brags or vaunts.

ROE,

RO'E-STONE, noun Called also oolite, which see.

ROEBUCK, noun

1. A species of deer, the Cervus capreolus, with erect cylindrical branched horns, forked at the summit. This is one of the smallest of the cervine genus, but of elegant shape and remarkably nimble. It prefers a mountainous country, and herds in families.

2. Roe, the female of the hart.

ROE, noun

The seed or spawn of fishes. The roe of the male is call soft roe or milt; that of the female, hard roe or spawn.

ROGA'TION, noun [Latin rogatio; rogo, to ask.]

1. Litany; supplication.

He perfecteth the rogations or litanies before in use.

2. In Roman jurisprudence, the demand by the consuls or tribunes, of a law to be passed by the people.

ROGUE, noun rog. [Gr., Eng. rogue by transposition of letters. The word arga, in the laws of the Longobards, denotes a cuckold.]

1. In law, a vagrant; a sturdy beggar; a vagabond. Persons of this character were, by the ancient laws of England, to be punished by whipping and having the ear bored with a hot iron.

2. A knave; a dishonest person; applied now, I believe, exclusively to males. This word comprehends thieves and robbers, but is generally applied to such as cheat and defraud in mutual dealings, or to counterfeiters.

The rogue and fool by fits is fair and wise.

3. A name of slight tenderness and endearment.

Alas, poor rogue I think indeed she loves.

4. A wag.

ROGUE, verb intransitive rog.

1. To wander; to play the vagabond. [Little used.]

2. To play knavish tricks. [Little used.]

ROGUERY, noun

1. The life of a vagrant. [Not little used.]

2. Knavish tricks; cheating; fraud; dishonest practices.

Tis no scandal grown, for debt and roguery to quit the town.

3. Waggery; arch tricks; mischievousness.

ROGUESHIP, noun The qualities or personage of a rogue.

ROGUISH, adjective

1. Vagrant; vagabond. [Nearly obsolete.]

2. Knavish; fraudulent; dishonest. [This is the present sense of the word.]

3. Waggish; wanton; slightly mischievous.

ROGUISHLY, adverb Like a rogue; knavishly; wantonly.

ROGUISHNESS, noun

1. The qualities of a rogue; knavery; mischievousness.

2. Archness; sly cunning; as the roguishness of a look.

ROGUY, adjective Knavish; wanton. [Not in use.]

ROIL, verb transitive

1. To render turbid by stirring up the dregs or sediment; as, to roil wine, cider or other liquor in casks or bottles.

2. To excite some degree of anger; to disturb the passion of resentment. [These senses are in common use in New England, and locally in England.]

3. To perplex. [Local in England.]

ROIL'ED, participle passive Rendered turbid or foul by disturbing the lees or sediment; angered slightly; disturbed in mind by an offense.

ROIL'ING, participle present tense Rendering turbid; or exciting the passion of anger.

[Note. This word is as legitimate as any in the language.]

ROINT, [See Aroynt.]

ROIST,

ROIST'ER, verb intransitive

To bluster; to swagger; to bully; to be bold, noisy, vaunting or turbulent. [Not in use.]

ROIST'ER, v.i.

ROIST'ER,

ROIST'ERER, noun A bold, blustering, turbulent fellow. [Not in use.]

ROK'AMBOLE, noun A sort of wild garlic, the Allisum scorodoprasum, growing naturally in Denmark and Sweden. It has a heart-shaped root at the side of the stalk.

RO'KY, adjective [See Reek.] Misty; foggy; cloudy. [Not in use.]

ROLL, verb transitive [It is usual to consider this word as formed by contraction from the Latin rotula, a little wheel, from rota.]

1. To move by turning on the surface, or with a circular motion in which all parts of the surface are successively applied to a plane; as, to roll a barrel or puncheon; to roll a stone or ball. Sisyphus was condemned to roll a stone to the top of a hill, which, when he had done so, rolled down again, and thus his punishment was eternal.

2. To revolve; to turn on its axis; as, to roll a wheel or a planet.

3. To move in a circular direction.

To dress, to troll the tongue and roll the eye.

4. To wrap round on itself; to form into a circular or cylindrical body; as, to roll a piece of cloth; to roll a sheet of paper; to roll parchment; to roll tobacco.

5. To enwrap; to bind or involve in a bandage or the like.

6. To form by rolling into round masses.

7. To drive or impel any body with a circular motion, or to drive forward with violence or in a stream. The ocean rolls its billows to the shore. A river rolls its water to the ocean.

8. To spread with a roller or rolling pin; as, to roll paste.

9. To produce a periodical revolution.

Heav'n shone and roll'd her motions.

10. To press or level with a roller; as, to roll a field.

To roll one's self, to wallow. Micah 1:10.

ROLL, verb intransitive

1. To move by turning on the surface, or with the successive application of all parts of the surface to a plane; as, a ball or a wheel rolls on the earth; a body rolls on an inclined plane.

2. To move, turn or run on an axis; as a wheel. [In this sense, revolve is more generally used.

3. To run on wheels.

And to the rolling chair is bound.

4. To revolve; to perform a periodical revolution; as the rolling year. Ages roll away.

5. To turn; to move circularly.

And his red eyeballs roll with living fire.

6. To float in rough water; to be tossed about.

Twice ten tempestuous nights I roll'd -

7. To move, as waves or billows, with alternate swells and depressions. Waves roll on waves.

8. To fluctuate; to move tumultuously.

What diff'rent sorrows did within thee roll

9. To be moved with violence; to be hurled.

Down they fell by thousands, angel on archangel roll'd.

10. To be formed into a cylinder or ball; as, the cloth rolls well.

11. To spread under a roller or rolling pin. The paste rolls well.

12. To wallow; to tumble; as, a horse rolls.

13. To rock or move from side; as, a ship rolls in a calm.

14. To beat a drum with strokes so rapid that they can scarcely be distinguished by the ear.

ROLL, noun

1. The act of rolling, or state of being rolled; as the roll of a ball.

2. The thing rolling.

3. A mass made round; something like a ball or cylinder; as a roll of fat; a roll of wool.

4. A roller; a cylinder of wood, iron or stone; as a roll to break clods.

5. A quantity of cloth wound into a cylindrical form; as a roll of woolen or satin; a roll of lace.

6. A cylindrical twist of tobacco.

7. An official writing; a list; a register; a catalogue; as a muster-roll; a court roll

8. The beating of a drum with strokes so rapid as scarcely to be distinguished by the ear.

9. Rolls of court, of parliament, or of any public body, are the parchments on which are engrossed, by the proper officer, the acts and proceedings of that body, and which being kept in rolls, constitute the records of such public body.

10. In antiquity, a volume; a book consisting of leaf, bark, paper, skin or other material on which the ancients wrote, and which being kept rolled or folded, was called in Latin volume, from volvo, to roll Hence.

11. A chronicle; history; annals.

Nor names more noble graced the rolls of fame.

12. Part; office; that is, round of duty, like turn. obsolete

ROLLED, participle passive Moved by turning; formed into a round or cylindrical body; leveled with a roller, as land.

ROLLER, noun

1. That which rolls; that which turns on its own axis; particularly, a cylinder of wood, stone or metal, used in husbandry and the arts. Rollers are of various kinds and used for various purposes.

2. A bandage; a fillet; properly, a long and broad bandage used in surgery.

3. A bird of the magpie kind, about the size of a jay.

A bird of the genus Coracias, found in Europe; called also the German parrot.

ROLLING, participle present tense Turning over; revolving; forming into a cylinder or round mass; leveling, as land.

ROLLING, noun The motion of a ship from side to side.

ROMAGE, noun Bustle; tumultuous search. [See Rummage.]

ROMAL, noun romaul'. A species of silk handkerchief.

RO'MAN, adjective [Latin Romanus, from Roma, the principal city of the Romans in Italy. Rome is the oriental name Ramah, elevated, that is, a hill; for fortresses and towns were often placed on hills for security; Heb. to be high, to raise.]

1. Pertaining to Rome, or to the roman people.

2. Romish; popish; professing the religion of the pope.

Roman catholic, as an adjective, denoting the religion professed by the people of Rome and of Italy, at the head of which is the pope or bishop of Rome; as a noun, one who adheres to the papal religion.

RO'MAN, noun

1. A native of rome.

2. A citizen of Rome; one enjoying the privileges of a roman citizen.

3. One of the christian church at Rome to which Paul addressed an epistle, consisting of converts from Judaism or paganism.

ROMANCE, noun romans', ro'mans.

1. A fabulous relation or story of adventures and incidents, designed for the entertainment of readers; a tale of extraordinary adventures, fictitious and often extravagant, usually a tale of love or war, subjects interesting the sensibilities of the heart, or the passions of wonder and curiosity. romance differs from the novel, as it treats of great actions and extraordinary adventures; that is, according to the Welch signification, it vaults or soars beyond the limits of fact and real life, and often of probability.

The first romances were a monstrous assemblage of histories, in which truth and fiction were blended without probability; a composition of amorous adventures and the extravagant ideas of chivalry.

2. A fiction.

ROMANCE, verb intransitive romans', ro'mans. To forge and tell fictitious stories; to deal in extravagant stories.

ROMAN'CER,

RO'MANCER, noun

1. One who invents fictitious stories.

2. A writer of romance.

ROMAN'CING,

RO'MANCING, participle present tense Inventing and telling fictitious tales; building castles in the air.

ROMAN'CY, adjective Romantic. [Not proper.]

RO'MANISM, noun The tenets of the church of Rome.

RO'MANIST, noun An adherent to the papal religion; a Roman catholic.

RO'MANIZE, verb transitive

1. To latinize; to fill with Latin words or modes of speech.

2. To convert to the Roman catholic religion, or to papistical opinions.

RO'MANIZE, verb intransitive To conform to Romish opinions, customs or modes of speech.

RO'MANIZED, participle passive Latinized.

ROMANSH', noun The language of the Grisons in Switzerland, a corruption of the Latin.

ROMAN'TIC, adjective

1. Pertaining to romance, or resembling it; wild; fanciful; extravagant; as a romantic taste; romantic notions; romantic expectations; romantic zeal.

2. Improbably or chimerical; fictitious; as a romantic tale.

3. Fanciful; wild; full of wild or fantastic scenery; as a romantic prospect or landscape; a romantic situation.

ROMAN'TICALLY, adverb Wildly; extravagantly.

ROMAN'TICNESS, noun

1. Wildness; extravagance; fancifulness.

2. Wildness of scenery.

ROMAN'ZOVITE, noun A recently discovered mineral of the garnet kind, of a brown or brownish yellow color; named from count Romanzoff.

ROMEPENNY,

ROMESCOT, noun A tax of a penny on a house, formerly paid by the people of England to the church of Rome.

RO'MISH, adjective [from Rome.] Belonging or relating to Rome, or to the religion professed by the people of Rome and of the western empire, of which Rome was the metropolis; catholic; popish; as the romish church; the romish religion, ritual or ceremonies.

RO'MIST, noun A papist.

ROMP, noun [a different spelling of ramp. See Ramp and Romance.]

1. A rude girl who indulges in boisterous play.

2. Rude play or frolic.

ROMP loving miss is haul'd about in gallantry robust.

ROMP, verb intransitive To play rudely and boisterously; to leap and frisk about in play.

ROMPEE', noun [Latin rumpo, to break.] In heraldry, an ordinary that is broken, or a chevron, a bend or the like, whose upper points are cut off.

ROMP'ING, participle present tense Playing rudely; as a noun, rude boisterous play.

ROMP'ISH, adjective Given to rude play; inclined to romp.

ROMP'ISHNESS, noun Disposition to rude boisterous play; or the practice of romping.

ROM'PU,

RONDEAU, 'DO, noun

1. A kind of poetry, commonly consisting of thirteen verses, of which eight have one rhyme, and five another. It is divided into three couplets, and at the end of the second and third, the beginning of the rondeau is repeated in an equivocal sense, if possible.

2. In music, the rondo, vocal or instrumental, generally consists of three strains, the first of which closes in the original key, while each of the others is so constructed in modulation as to reconduct the ear in an easy and natural manner to the first strain.

3. A kind of jig or lively tune that ends with the first strain repeated.

RONDEAU, 'DO, n.

RON'DLE, noun [from round.] A round mass. [Not in use.]

RON'DURE, noun A round; a circle. [Not in use.]

RONG, the old preterit tense and participle passive of ring, now rung.

RONION, noun run'yon. A fat bulky woman. [Not in use.]

RONT, noun An animal stinted in its growth. [Now written and pronounced runt.]

ROOD, noun [a different orthography of rod, which see.]

1. The fourth part of an acre, or forty square rods. [See Acre.]

2. A pole; a measure of five yards; a rod or perch. [Not used in America, and probably local in England.]

ROOD, noun The cross; or an image of Christ, of the virgin Mary and a saint or St. John, on each side of it.

ROOD'LOFT, noun A loft or gallery in a church on which relics and images were set to view.

ROOF, noun

1. The cover or upper part of a house or other building, consisting of rafters covered with boards, shingles or tiles, with a side or sides sloping from the ridge, for the purpose of carrying off the water that falls in rain or snow. In Asia, the roofs of houses are flat or horizontal. The same name, roof is given to the sloping covers of huts, cabins and ricks; to the arches of ovens, furnaces, etc.

2. A vault; an arch; or the interior of a vault; as the roof of heaven.

3. The vault of the mouth; the upper part of the mouth; the palate.

If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth. Psalms 137:6.

ROOF, verb transitive

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.

2. To inclose in a house; to shelter.

Here had we now our country's honor roof'd.

ROOF'ED, participle passive Furnished or covered with a roof or arch.

ROOF'ING, participle present tense Covering with a roof.

ROOF'ING, noun The materials of which a roof is composed; or materials for a roof.

ROOF'LESS, adjective

1. Having no roof; as a roofless house.

2. Having no house or home; unsheltered.

ROOF'Y, adjective Having roofs.

ROOK, noun [Latin graculus; probably from its voice. See Crow and Croak.]

1. A fowl of the genus Corvus, the fowl mentioned by Virgil under this name. This fowl resembles the crow, but differs from it in not feeding on carrion, but on insects and grain. In crows also the nostrils and root of the bill are clothed with feathers, but in rooks the same parts are naked, or have only a few bristly hairs. The rook is gregarious.

2. A cheat; a trickish, rapacious fellow.

ROOK, noun A common man at chess.

ROOK, verb intransitive To cheat; to defraud.

ROOK, verb transitive To cheat; to defraud by cheating.

ROOK, verb intransitive To squat. [See Ruck.]

ROOK'ERY, noun

1. A nursery of rooks.

2. In low language, a brothel.

ROOK'Y, adjective Inhabited by rooks; as the rooky wood.

ROOM, noun

1. Space; compass; extent of place, great or small. Let the words occupy as little room as possible.

2. Space or place unoccupied.

Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room Luke 14:8.

3. Place for reception or admission of any thing. In this case, there is no room for doubt or for argument.

4. Place of another; stead; as in succession or substitution. One magistrate or king comes in the room of a former one. We often place one thing in the room of another. 1 Kings 20:24.

5. Unoccupied opportunity. The eager pursuit of wealth leaves little room for serious reflection.

6. An apartment in a house; any division separated from the rest by a partition; as a parlor, drawing room or bed-room; also an apartment in a ship, as the cook-room, bread-room, gun-room, etc.

7. A seat. Luke 14:8.

To make room to open a way or passage; to free from obstructions.

To make room to open a space or place for any thing.

To give room to withdraw; to leave space unoccupied for others to pass or to be seated.

ROOM, verb intransitive To occupy an apartment; to lodge; an academic use of the word. A B rooms at No. 7.

ROOM'AGE, noun [from room.] Space; place. [Not used.]

ROOM'FUL, adjective Abounding with rooms.

ROOM'INESS, noun Space; spaciousness; large extent of space.

Roomth, space, and roomthy, spacious, are ill formed words and not used in the United States.

ROOM'Y, adjective Spacious; wide; large; having ample room; as a roomy mansion; a roomy deck.

ROOST, noun

The pole or other support on which fowls rest at night.

He clapp'd his wings upon his roost

At roost in a state for rest and sleep.

ROOST, verb intransitive

1. To sit, rest or sleep, as fowls on a pole, tree or other thing at night.

2. To lodge, in burlesque.

ROOST'ING, participle present tense Sitting for rest and sleep at night.

ROOT, noun [Latin radix. A root is a shoot, and only a different application of rod, Latin 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 fibrils it imbibes nutriment for the stem, branches and fruit.

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, etc.

3. The bottom or lower part of any thing.

Deep to the roots of hell -

Burnet uses root of a mountain, but we now say base, foot or bottom. See Job 28:9.

4. A plant whose root is esculent or the most useful part; as beets, carrots, etc.

5. The original or cause of any thing.

The love of money is the root of all evil. 1 Timothy 6:10.

6. The first ancestor.

They were the roots out of which sprung two distinct people -

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. Matthew 13:6.

9. In music, the fundamental note of any chord.

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.

ROOT, verb intransitive

1. To fix the root; to enter the earth, as roots.

In deep grounds, the weeds root deeper.

2. To be firmly fixed; to be established.

The multiplying brood of the ungodly shall not take deep rooting.

3. To sink deep.

If any error chanced - to cause misapprehensions, he gave them not leave to root and fasten by concealment.

ROOT, verb transitive

1. To plant and fix deep in the earth; used chiefly in the participle; as rooted trees or forests.

2. To plant deeply; to impress deeply and durably. Let the leading truths of the gospel be deeply 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. Ephesians 3:17.

ROOT, verb intransitive or t.

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. Deuteronomy 29:18. Job 31:12.

ROOT'-BOUND, adjective Fixed to the earth by roots.

ROOT'-BUILT, adjective Built of roots.

ROOT'ED, participle passive Having its roots planted or fixed in the earth; hence, fixed; deep; radical; as rooted sorrow; rooted aversion; rooted prejudices.

ROOT'EDLY, adverb Deeply; from the heart.

ROOT'ER, noun One that roots; or one that tears up by the roots.

ROOT'-HOUSE, noun A house made of roots.

ROOT'ING, participle present tense Striking or taking root; turning up with the snout.

ROOT'-LEAF, noun A leaf growing immediately from the root.

ROOT'LET, noun A radicle; the fibrous part of a root.

ROOT'Y, adjective Full of roots; as rooty ground.

ROPAL'IC, adjective [Gr. a club.] Club-formed; increasing or selling towards the end.

ROPE, noun

1. A large string or line composed of several strands twisted together. It differs from cord, line and string, only in its size; being the name given to all sorts of cordage above an inch in circumference. Indeed the smaller ropes, when used for certain purposes, are called lines.

ROPEs are by seamen ranked under two descriptions, cable-laid, and hawser-laid; the former composed of nine strands, or three great strands, each consisting of three small ones; the latter made with three strands, each composed of a certain number of rope-yarns.

2. A row or string consisting of a number of things united; as a rope of onions.

3. Ropes, the intestines of birds.

ROPE of sand, proverbially, feeble union or tie; a band easily broken.

ROPE, verb intransitive To draw out or extend into a filament or thread, by means of any glutinous or adhesive quality. Any glutinous substance will rope considerably before it will part.

RO'PERY, noun

1. A place where ropes are made. [Not used in the United States.]

2. A trick that deserves the halter.

RO'PINESS, noun [from ropy.] Stringiness, or aptness to draw out in a string or thread without breaking, as of glutinous substances; viscosity; adhesiveness.

RO'PY, adjective [from rope.] Stringy; adhesive; that may be drawn into a thread; as a glutinous substance; viscous; tenacious; glutinous; as ropy wine; ropy lees.

ROQ'UELAUR, noun A cloak for men.

RO'RAL, adjective [Latin roralis, from ros, dew.]

Pertaining to dew or consisting of dew; dewy.

RORA'TION, noun [Latin roratio.] A falling of dew. [Not used.]

RO'RID, adjective [Latin roridus.] Dewy.

RORIF'EROUS, adjective [Latin ros, dew, and fero, to produce.] Generating or producing dew.

RORIF'LUENT, adjective [Latin ros, dew, and fluo, to flow.] Flowing with dew. [Not used.]

ROSA'CEOUS, a s as z. [Latin rosaceus. See Rose.]

Rose-like; composed of several petals, arranged in a circular form; as a rosaceous corol.

RO'SARY, noun s as z. [Latin rosarium. See Rose.]

1. A bed of roses, or place where roses grow.

2. A chaplet.

3. A string of beads used by Roman catholics, on which they count their prayers.

ROSAS'IC, adjective The rosasic acid is obtained from the urine of persons affected with intermitting and nervous fevers.

ROS'CID, adjective [Latin roscidus, from ros, dew.]

Dewy; containing dew, or consisting of dew. [Not used.]

ROSE, noun s as z. [Latin , Gr. from the root of red, ruddy. See Red.]

1. A plant and flower of the genus Rosa, of many species and varieties, as the wild canine or dog-rose, the white rose the red rose the cinnamon rose the eglantine or sweet briar, etc. There are five petals; the calyx is urceolate, quinquefid, and corneous; the seeds are numerous, hispid, and fixed to the inside of the calyx.

2. A knot of ribbon in the form of a rose used as an ornamental tie of a shoe.

Under the rose in secret; privately; in a manner that forbids disclosure.

ROSE of Jericho, a plant growing on the plain of Jericho, the Anastatica hierochuntica.

ROSE, preterit tense of rise.

RO'SEAL, adjective [Latin roseus.] Like a rose in smell or color.

RO'SEATE, adjective

1. Rosy; full of roses; as roseate bowers.

2. Blooming; of a rose color; as roseate beauty.

RO'SEBAY, noun A plant, the Nerium oleander. The dwarf rosebay is the rhododendron.

RO'SED, A crimsoned; flushed.

RO'SEMARY, noun [Latin rosmarinus, sea-rose; rosa and marinus.]

A verticillate plant of the genus Rosmarinus, growing naturally in the southern part of France, Spain and Italy. It has a fragrant smell and a warm pungent bitterish taste.

RO'SET, noun A red color used by painters.

ROSICRU'CIAN, noun [Latin ros, dew, and crux, cross; dew, the most powerful dissolvent of gold, according to these fanatics, and cross, the emblem of light.]

The Rosicrucians were a sect or cabal of hermetical philosophers, or rather fanatics, who sprung up in Germany in the fourteenth century, and made great pretensions to science; and among other things, pretended to be masters of the secret of the philosopher's stone.

ROSICRU'CIAN, adjective Pertaining to the Rosicrucians, or their arts.

ROSIER, n ro'zhur. A rose bush. [Not in use.]

ROS'IN, noun s as z. [This is only a different orthography of resin. Latin resina. See Resin.]

1. Inspissated turpentine, a juice of the pine.

2. Any inspissated matter of vegetables that dissolves in spirit of wine.

ROS'IN, verb transitive To rub with rosin

RO'SINESS, noun s as z. The quality of being rosy, or of resembling the color of the rose.

ROS'INY, adjective Like rosin, or partaking of its qualities.

ROS'LAND, noun

Heathy land; land full of ling; moorish or watery land.

ROS'PO, noun A fish of Mexico, perfectly round, without scales, and good for food.

ROSS, noun The rough scaly matter on the surface of the bark of certain trees.

ROSS'EL, noun Light land. [Not used in America.]

ROSS'ELLY, adjective Loose; light. [Not in use.]

ROS'SET, noun The large ternate bat.

ROS'SIGNOL, noun The nightingale.

ROS'TEL, noun [Latin rostellum, dim of rostrum, a beak.]

In botany, the descending plane part of the coracle or heart, in the first vegetation of a seed.

ROS'TER, noun In military affairs, a plan or table by which the duty of officers is regulated.

In Massachusetts, a list of the officers of a division, brigade, regiment or battalion, containing under several heads their names, rank, the corps to which they belong, date of commission and place of abode. These are called division rosters, brigade rosters, regimental or battalion rosters.

The word is also used frequently instead of register, which comprehends a general list of all the officers of the state, from the commander in chief to the lowest in commission, under the same appropriate heads, with an additional column for noting the alterations which take place.

ROS'TRAL, adjective [from Latin rostrum, beak.]

1. Resembling the beak of a ship.

2. Pertaining to the beak.

ROS'TRATE,

ROS'TRATED, adjective [Latin rostratus.]

1. In botany, beaked; having a process resembling the beak of a bird.

2. Furnished or adorned with beaks; as rostrated galleys.

ROS'TRATED, a. [L. rostratus.]

ROS'TRUM, noun [Latin]

1. The beak or bill of a bird.

2. The beak or head of a ship.

3. In ancient Rome, a scaffold or elevated place in the forum, where orations, pleadings funeral harangues, etc., were delivered.

4. The pipe which conveys the distilling liquor into its receiver, in the common alembic.

5. A crooked pair of scissors, used by surgeons for dilating wounds.

RO'SY, adjective [from rose.]

1. Resembling a rose in color or qualities; blooming; red; blushing; charming.

While blooming youth and gay delight sit on thy rosy check contest.

The rosy morn resigns her light.

2. Made in the form of a rose.

ROT, verb intransitive

To lose the natural cohesion and organization of parts, as animal and vegetable substances; to be decomposed and resolved into its original component parts by the natural process, or the gradual operation of heat and air; to putrefy.

ROT, verb transitive To make putrid; to cause to be decomposed by the natural operation of air and heat; to bring to corruption.

ROT, noun

1. A fatal distemper incident to sheep, usually supposed to be owing to wet seasons and moist pastures. The immediate cause of the mortality of sheep, in this disease, is found to be a great number of small animals, called flukes, (Fascida, ) found in the liver, and supposed to be produced from eggs swallowed with their food.

2. Putrefaction; putrid decay.

3. Dry rot in timber, the decay of the wood without the access of water.

RO'TA, noun [Latin rota See Rotary.]

1. An ecclesiastical court of Rome, composed of twelve prelates, of whom one must be a German, another a Frenchman, and two Spaniards; the other eight are Italians. This is one of the most august tribunals in Rome, taking cognizance of all suits in the territory of the church by appeal, and of all matters beneficiary and patrimonial.

2. In English history, a club of politicians, who, in the time of Charles I. contemplated an equal government by rotation.

RO'TALITE, noun A genus of fossil shells.

RO'TARY, adjective [Latin rota, a wheel. Latin curro.]

Turning, as a wheel on its axis; as rotary motion.

RO'TATE, adjective In botany, wheel-shaped; monopetalous, spreading flat, without any tube, or expanding into a flat border, with scarcely any tube; as a rotate corol.

RO'TATED, adjective [Latin rotatus.] Turned round, as a wheel.

ROTA'TION, noun [Latin rotatio, from roto, to turn; rota, a wheel.]

1. The act of turning, as a wheel or solid body on its axis, as distinguished from the progressive motion of a body revolving round another body or a distant point. Thus the daily turning of the earth on its axis, is a rotation; its annual motion round the sun is a revolution.

2. Vicissitude of succession; the course by which officers or others leave their places at certain times and are succeeded by others; applied also to a change of crops.

RO'TATIVE, adjective Turning, as a wheel; rotary. [Little used.]

ROTA'TOR, noun [Latin] That which gives a circular or rolling motion; a muscle producing a rolling motion.

RO'TATORY, adjective [from rotator.]

1. Turning on an axis, as a wheel; rotary.

2. Going in a circle; following in succession; as rotatory assemblies.

[This word is often used, probably by mistake, for rotary. It may be regularly formed from rotator, but not with the exact sense in which it is used. With rotator for its original, it would signify causing rather than being in a circular motion. The true word is rotary.]

ROTE, noun A kind of violin or harp. obsolete

ROTE, noun [Latin rota, a wheel.]

Properly, a round of words; frequent repetition of words or sounds, without attending to the signification, or to principles and rules; a practice that impresses words in the memory without an effort of the understanding, and without the aid of rules. Thus children learn to speak by rote; they often repeat what they hear, till it becomes familiar to them. So we learn to sing by rote as we hear notes repeated, and soon learn to repeat them ourselves.

ROTE, verb transitive To fix in the memory by means of frequent repetition ourselves, or by hearing the repetition of others, without an effort of the understanding to comprehend what is repeated, and without the aid of rules or principles. [Little used.]

ROTE, verb intransitive To go out by rotation or succession. [Little used.]

ROTH'OFFITE, noun A variety of grenate, brown or black, found in Sweden. It has a resemblance to melanite, another variety, but differs from it in having a small portion of alumin.

RO'TOCO, noun An eastern weight of 5 pounds.

ROTTEN, adjective rot'n.

1. Putrid; carious; decomposed by the natural process of decay; as a rotten plank.

2. Not firm or trusty; unsound; defective in principle; treacherous; deceitful.

3. Defective in substance; not sound or hard.

4. Fetid; ill smelling.

ROT'TENNESS, noun State of being decayed or putrid; cariousness; putrefaction; unsoundness.

ROTUND', adjective [Latin rotundus, probably formed on rota, a wheel, as jocundus on jocus.]

1. Round; circular; spherical.

2. In botany, circumscribed by one unbroken curve, or without angles; as a rotund leaf.

ROTUNDIFO'LIOUS, adjective [Latin rotundus, round, and folium, a leaf.] Having round leaves.

ROTUND'ITY, noun Roundness; sphericity; circularity; as the rotundity of a globe.

ROTUND'O, noun A round building; any building that is round both on the outside and inside. The most celebrated edifice of this kind is the Pantheon at Rome.

ROUCOU, noun roo'coo. A substance used in dyeing; the same as anotta.

ROGUE, a roozh. Red.

ROUGE, noun roozh. Red paint; a substance used for painting the cheeks.

ROUGE, verb intransitive [supra.] To paint the face, or rather the cheeks.

ROUGE, verb transitive [supra.] To paint, or tinge with red paint.

ROUGH, adjective [Latin raucus. Eng. rye, that is rough Latin ruga, a wrinkle. Gr. to snore. Latin ruga, a wrinkle, a ridge. See Ridge. The primary sense is to stretch or strain; but applied to roughness or wrinkling, it is to draw or contract, a straining together.]

1. Having inequalities, small ridges or points on the surface; not smooth or plane; as a rough board, a rough stone; rough cloth.

2. Stony; abounding with stones and stumps; as rough land; or simply with stones; as a rough road.

3. Not wrought or polished; as a rough diamond.

4. Thrown into huge waves; violently agitated; as a rough sea.

5. Tempestuous; stormy; boisterous; as rough weather.

6. Austere to the taste; harsh; as rough wine.

7. Harsh to the ear; grating; jarring; unharmonious; as rough sounds; rough numbers.

8. Rugged of temper; severe; austere; rude; not mild or courteous.

A fiend, a fury, pitiless and rough

9. Coarse in manners; rude.

A surly boatman, rough as seas and wind.

10. Harsh; violent; not easy; as a rough remedy.

11. Hard featured; not delicate; as a rough visage.

12. Harsh; severe; uncivil; as rough usage.

13. Terrible; dreadful.

On the rough edge of battle, ere it join'd, Satan advanc'd.

14. Rugged; disordered in appearance; coarse.

ROUGH from the tossing surge Ulysses moves.

15. Hairy; shaggy; covered with hairs, bristles and the like.

ROUGHEN, verb intransitive ruf'n. [from rough.] To make rough.

ROUGHEN, verb intransitive ruf'n. To grow or become rough.

ROUGHINGS, noun ruf'ings. Grass after mowing or reaping. [Local.]

ROUGHLY, adverb ruf'ly.

1. With uneven surface; with asperities on the surface.

2. Harshly; uncivilly; rudely; as, to be treated roughly

3. Severely; without tenderness; as, to blame too roughly

4. Austerely to the taste.

5. Boisterously; tempestuously.

6. Harshly to the ear.

7. Violently; not gently.

ROUGHNESS, noun ruf'ness.

1. Unevenness of surface, occasioned by small prominences; asperity of surface; as the roughness of a board, of a floor, or of a rock.

2. Austereness to the taste; as the roughness of sloes.

3. Taste of astringency.

4. Harshness to the ear; as the roughness of sounds.

5. Ruggedness of temper; harshness; austerity.

6. Coarseness of manners or behavior; rudeness.

Severity breedeth fear; but roughness breedeth hate.

7. Want of delicacy or refinement; as military roughness

8. Severity; harshness or violence of discipline.

9. Violence of operation in medicines.

10. Unpolished or unfinished state; as the roughness of a gem or a draught.

11. Inelegance of dress or appearance.

12. Tempestuousness; boisterousness; as of winds or weather.

13. Violent agitation by wind; as the roughness of the sea in a storm.

14. Coarseness of features.

ROUGHT, for raught; preterit tense of reach. obsolete

ROULEAU, noun roolo'. A little roll; a roll of guineas in paper.

ROUN, verb intransitive To whisper. obsolete

ROUN, verb transitive To address in a whisper. obsolete

ROUNCE, noun rouns'. The handle of a printing press.

ROUN'CEVAL, noun A variety of pea, so called.

ROUND, adjective

1. Cylindrical; circular; spherical or globular. round is applicable to a cylinder as well as to a globe or sphere. We say, the barrel of a musket is round; a ball is round; a circle is round

2. Full; large; as a round sum or price.

3. Full; smooth; flowing; not defective or abrupt.

In his satires, Horace is quick, round and pleasant.

His style, though round and comprehensive -

4. Plain; open; candid; fair.

ROUND dealing is the honor of man's nature.

Let her be round with him.

5. Full; quick; brisk; as a round trot.

6. Full; plump; bold; positive; as a round assertion.

A round number, is a number that ends with a cipher, and may be divided by 10 without a remainder; a complete or full number. It is remarkable that the W. cant, a hundred, the Latin centum, and Sax. hund, signify properly a circle, and this use of round may have originated in a like idea.

ROUND, noun

1. A circle; a circular thing, or a circle in motion.

With rounds of waxen tapers on their heads.

Knit your hands, and beat the ground in a light fantastic round

2. Action or performance in a circle, or passing through a series of hands or things and coming to the point of beginning; or the time of such action.

Women to cards may be compared; we play a round or two; when used, we throw away.

The feast was serv'd; the bowl was crown'd; to the king's pleasure went the mirthful round

So we say, a round of labors or duties.

We run the daily round

3. Rotation in office; succession in vicissitude.

4. A rundle; the step of a ladder.

All the rounds like Jacob's ladder rise.

5. A walk performed by a guard or an officer round the rampart of a garrison, or among sentinels, to see that the sentinels are faithful and all things safe. Hence the officer and men who perform this duty are called the rounds.

6. A dance; a song; a roundelay, or a species of fugue.

7. A general discharge of fire-arms by a body of troops, in which each soldier fires once. In volleys, it is usual for a company or regiment to fire three rounds.

A round of cartridges and balls, one cartridge to each man; as, to supply a regiment with a single round or with twelve rounds of cartridges.

ROUND, adverb

1. On all sides.

Thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round Luke 19:43.

2. Circularly; in a circular form; as, a wheel turns round

3. From one side or party to another; as, to come or turn round Hence these expressions signify to change sides or opinions.

4. Not in a direct line; by a course longer than the direct course. The shortest course is not the best; let us go round

All round in common speech, denotes over the whole place, or in every direction.

ROUND about is tautological.

ROUND, preposition

1. On every side of; as, the people stood round him; the sun sheds light round the earth. In this sense, around is much used, and all is often used to modify the word. They stood all round or around him.

2. About; in a circular course, or in all parts; as, to go round the city. He led his guest round his fields and garden. he wanders round the world.

3. Circularly; about; as, to wind a cable round the windlass.

To come or get round one, in popular language, is to gain advantage over one by flattery or deception; to circumvent.

ROUND, verb transitive

1. To make circular, spherical or cylindrical; as, to round a silver coin; to round the edges of any thing.

Worms with many feet, that round themselves into balls, are bred chiefly under logs of timber.

2. To surround; to encircle; to encompass.

Th' inclusive verge of golden metal that must round my brow.

Our little life is rounded with a sleep.

3. To form to the arch or figure of the section of a circle.

The figures on our modern medals are raised and rounded to very great perfection.

4. To move about any thing; as, the sun, in polar regions, rounds the horizon.

5. To make full, smooth and flowing; as, to round periods in writing.

To round in, among seamen, to pull upon a slack rope, which passes through one or more blocks in a direction nearly horizontal.

ROUND, verb intransitive

1. To grow or become round

The queen, your mother, rounds space.

2. To go round as a guard.

- They nightly rounding walk.

To round to, in sailing, is to turn the head of the ship towards the wind.

ROUND, verb intransitive To whisper; as, to round in the ear. obsolete

ROUND'ABOUT, adjective [round and about.]

1. Indirect; going round; loose.

Paraphrase is a roundabout way of translating.

2. Ample; extensive; as roundabout sense.

3. Encircling; encompassing.

[In any sense, this word is inelegant.]

ROUND'ABOUT, noun A large strait coat.

ROUND'EL,

ROUND'ELAY,

ROUND'ER, noun [See Rondure.] Circumference; inclosure. [Not in use.]

ROUND'ELAY,

ROUND'ER, n. [See Rondure.] Circumference; inclosure. [Not in use.]

ROUND'HEAD, noun [round and head.] A name formerly given to a puritan, from the practice which prevailed among the puritans of cropping the hair round.

ROUND'HEADED, adjective Having a round head or top.

ROUND'HOUSE, noun

1. A constable's prison; the prison to secure persons taken up by the night-watch, till they can be examined by a magistrate.

2. In a ship of war, a certain necessary near the head, for the use of particular officers.

3. In large merchantmen and ships of war, a cabin or apartment in the after part of the quarter-deck, having the poop for its roof; sometimes called the coach. It is the master's lodging room.

ROUND'ING, participle present tense

1. Making round or circular.

2. Making full, flowing and smooth.

ROUND'ING, adjective Round or roundish; nearly round.

ROUND'ING, noun Among seamen, old ropes wound about the part of the cable which lies in the hawse, or athwart the stem, to prevent its chafing.

Rounding in, a pulling upon a slack rope, which passes through one or more blocks in a direction nearly horizontal. rounding up is a pulling in like manner, when a tackle hangs in a perpendicular direction.

ROUND'ISH, adjective Somewhat round; nearly round; as a roundish seed; a roundish figure.

ROUND'ISHNESS, noun The state of being roundish.

ROUND'LET, noun A little circle.

ROUND'LY, adverb

1. In a round form or manner.

2. Openly; boldly; without reserve; peremptorily.

He affirms every thing roundly

3. Plainly; fully. He gives them roundly to understand that their duty is submission.

4. Briskly; with speed.

When the mind has brought itself to attention, it will be able to cope with difficulties and master them, and then it may go on roundly

5. Completely; to the purpose; vigorously; in earnest.

ROUND'NESS, noun

1. The quality of being round, circular, spherical, globular or cylindrical; circularity; sphericity; cylindrical form; rotundity; as the roundness of the globe, of the orb of the sun, of a ball, of a bowl, etc.

2. Fullness; smoothness of flow; as the roundness of a period.

3. Openness; plainness; boldness; positiveness; as the roundness of an assertion.

ROUND'O, noun

1. A sort of ancient poem, consisting of thirteen verses, of which eight are in one kind of rhyme and five in another. It is divided into couplets; at the end of the second and third of which, the beginning of the poem is repeated, and that, if possible, in an equivocal or punning sense.

2. A round form or figure. [Not used.]

ROUND'RIDGE, verb transitive [round and ridge.] In tillage, to form round ridges by plowing.

ROUND'ROBIN, noun

A written petition, memorial or remonstrance signed by names in a ring or circle.

ROUNDS, noun plural

1. [See Round, noun No. 5.]

2. Round-top. [See Top.]

ROUSE, verb transitive rouz. [This word, written also arouse, seems to belong to the family of raise or rush. See Raise.]

1. To wake from sleep or repose. Genesis 49:9.

2. To excite to thought or action from a state of idleness, languor, stupidity or inattention.

3. To put into action; to agitate.

Blust'ring winds that rous'd the sea.

4. To drive a beast from his den or place of rest.

ROUSE, verb intransitive

1. To awake from sleep or repose.

Morpheus rouses from his bed.

2. To be excited to thought or action from a state of indolence, sluggishness, languor or inattention.

ROUSE, verb intransitive In seamen's language, to pull together upon a cable, etc. without the assistance of tackles or other mechanical power.

ROUSE, noun rouz.

A full glass of liquor; a bumper in honor of a health. obsolete

ROUS'ED, participle passive Awakened from sleep; excited to thought or action.

ROUS'ER, noun One that rouses or excites.

ROUS'ING, participle present tense

1. Awaking from sleep; exciting; calling into action.

2. adjective Having power to awaken or excite.

3. Great; violent; as a rousing fire. [Vulgar.]

ROUT, noun

1. A rabble; a clamorous multitude; a tumultuous crowd; as a rout of people assembled.

The endless routs of wretched thralls.

2. In law, a rout is where three persons or more meet to do an unlawful act upon a common quarrel, as forcibly to break down fences on a right claimed of common or of way, and make some advances towards it.

3. A select company; a party for gaming.

ROUT, noun [This is a corruption of the Latin ruptus, from rumpo, to break.]

The breaking or defeat of an army or band of troops, or the disorder and confusion of troops thus defeated and put to flight.

ROUT, verb transitive To break the ranks of troops and put them to flight in disorder; to defeat and throw into confusion.

The king's horse - routed and defeated the whole army.

ROUT, verb intransitive To assemble in a clamorous and tumultuous crowd. [Not in use.]

ROUT, noun [It belongs to the family of ride and Latin gradior; properly a going or passing.]

The course or way which is traveled or passed, or to be passed; a passing; a course; a march.

Wide through the furzy field their rout they take.

ROUT and road are not synonymous.

We say, to mend or repair a road, but not to mend a rout We use rout for a course of passing, and not without reference to the passing of some person or body of men; but rout is not the road itself.

ROUT, verb intransitive To snore. obsolete

ROUT, verb transitive [for root.] To turn up the ground with the snout; to search. [Not in use.]

ROUTINE, noun rootee'n. [Latin rota, a wheel.]

1. A round of business, amusements or pleasure, daily or frequently pursued; particularly, a course of business or official duties, regularly or frequently returning.

2. Any regular habit or practice not accommodated to circumstances.

ROVE, verb intransitive [Latin rapio.]

To wander; to ramble; to range; to go, move or pass without certain direction in any manner, by walking, riding, flying or otherwise.

For who has power to walk, has power to rove

ROVE, verb transitive To wander over; as roving a field; roving the town. This is an elliptical form of expression, for roving over, through or about the town.

ROVE, verb transitive To draw a thread, string or cord through an eye or aperture.

RO'VER, noun

1. A wanderer; one who rambles about.

2. A fickle or inconstant person.

3. A robber or pirate; a freebooter. [So corsair is from Latin cursus, curro, to run.

At rovers, without any particular aim; at random; as shooting at rovers.

[I never heard this expression in the United States.]

RO'VING, participle present tense Rambling; wandering; passing a cord through an eye.

ROW, noun

A series of persons or things arranged in a continued line; a line; a rank; a file; as a row of trees; a row of gems or pearls; a row of houses or columns.

Where the bright Seraphim in burning row

ROW, verb transitive [Gr. to row an oar. If the noun is the primary word, ruder and rother, an oar, may be from the root of rod, Latin radius, or from the root of rado, to rub, grate, sweep. If the verb is the primary word, the sense is to sweep, to urge, drive, impel. See Rudder.]

1. To impel, as a boat or vessel along the surface of water by oars; as, to row a boat.

2. To transport by rowing; as, to row the captain ashore in his barge.

ROW, verb intransitive To labor with the oar; as, to row well; to row with oars muffled.

ROWABLE, adjective Capable of being rowed or rowed upon. [Not in use.]

ROWED, participle passive Driven by oars.

ROW'EL, noun [Latin rota.]

1. The little wheel of a spur, formed with sharp points.

2. Among farriers, a roll of hair or silk, used as an issue on horses, answering to a seton in surgery.

3. A little flat ring or wheel of plate or iron on horses' bits.

ROW'EL, verb intransitive To insert a rowel in; to pierce the skin and keep open the wound by a rowel

ROW'EN, noun [Heb. to be green, to thrive.]

Rowen is a field kept up till after Michaelmas, that the corn left on the ground may sprout into green.

Turn your cows that give milk into your rowens, till snow comes.

In New England, the second growth of grass in a season. We never apply the word to a field, nor to a growth of corn, after harvest, nor is the word ever used in the plural. The first growth of grass for mowing is called the first crop, and the second rowen

ROWER, noun One that rows or manages an oar in rowing.

ROWING, participle present tense Impelling, as a boat by oars.

ROY'AL, adjective [Latin regalis, from rex, king. See Reck and Right.]

1. Kingly; pertaining to a king; regal; as royal power or prerogative; a royal garden; royal domains; the royal family.

2. Becoming a king; magnificent; as royal state.

3. Noble; illustrious.

How doth that royal merchant, good Antonio?

ROY'AL, noun

1. A large kind of paper. It is used as a noun or an adjective.

2. Among seamen, a small sail spread immediately above the top-gallant-sail; sometimes termed the top-gallant-royal.

3. One of the shoots of a stag's head.

4. In artillery, a small mortar.

5. In England, one of the soldiers of the first regiment of foot, called the royals, and supposed to be the oldest regular corps in Europe.

ROY'ALISM, noun Attachment to the principles or cause of royalty, or to a royal government.

ROY'ALIST, noun An adherent to a king, or one attached to a kingly government.

Where Candish fought, the royalist prevail'd.

ROY'ALIZE, verb transitive To make royal.

ROY'ALLY, adverb In a kingly manner; like a king; as becomes a king.

His body shall be royally interr'd.

ROY'ALTY, noun

1. Kingship; the character, state or office of a king.

Royalty by birth was the sweetest way of majesty.

2. Royalties, plural emblems of royalty; regalia.

3. Rights of a king; prerogatives.

ROYNE, verb transitive To bite; to gnaw. [Not in use.]

ROYN'ISH, adjective

Mean; paltry; as the roynish clown. [Not in use.]

ROY'TELET, noun A little king. [Not in use.]

ROY'TISH, adjective Wild; irregular. [Not in use.]