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单词 roof
释义

roofn.

Brit. /ruːf/, /rʊf/, U.S. /ruf/, /rʊf/
Inflections: Plural roofs Brit. /ruːfs/, /rʊfs/, U.S. /rufs/, /rʊfs/, rooves Brit. /ruːvz/, U.S. /ruvs/.
Forms:

α. Old English–early Middle English hrof, Old English–Middle English rof, early Middle English rhof ( Ormulum), Middle English–1500s roef, Middle English–1500s roff, Middle English–1600s rofe, Middle English–1600s roffe, Middle English–1600s roofe, Middle English–1600s rooff, Middle English–1600s rooffe, Middle English–1600s rouf, Middle English–1600s roufe, Middle English–1600s rowfe, Middle English– roof, late Middle English rosse (transmission error), 1500s roughe, 1500s rowff, 1500s rowffe, 1500s–1600s rouffe, 1600s rouff; Scottish pre-1700 rofe, pre-1700 roffe, pre-1700 roiff, pre-1700 rooff, pre-1700 rooffe, pre-1700 rouf, pre-1700 roufe, pre-1700 rouff, pre-1700 rouffe, pre-1700 rowf, pre-1700 1700s roofe, pre-1700 1700s– roof, pre-1700 (1800s Shetland) roff.

β. Old English roue (dative, rare), Middle English roovis (plural), Middle English–1500s roue, Middle English–1500s rove, Middle English–1600s rooues (plural), late Middle English rone (transmission error); Scottish pre-1700 rowis (plural); N.E.D. (1909) also records forms Middle English roaues (plural), late Middle English roauys (plural).

γ. Middle English rufe, Middle English–1500s ruffe, Middle English–1500s (1600s–1800s nonstandard) ruff, 1500s rwffe, 1800s raif (Irish English (northern)), 1800s– reuf (English regional (north-eastern)); Scottish pre-1700 ruef, pre-1700 ruf, pre-1700 ruff, pre-1700 ruffe, pre-1700 ruft, pre-1700 ruife, pre-1700 ruiffe, pre-1700 ruufe, pre-1700 ruuys (plural), pre-1700 ruves (plural), pre-1700 ruvis (plural), pre-1700 ruyf, pre-1700 ruyff, pre-1700 rwf, pre-1700 rwff, pre-1700 rwffe, pre-1700 rwif, pre-1700 rwife, pre-1700 rwiff, pre-1700 rwys (plural), pre-1700 1700s– ruif, pre-1700 1800s– rufe, pre-1700 1900s– ruiff, 1700s– reef (chiefly north-eastern), 1800s– riff, 1800s– rüf (Shetland), 1900s– roef (Shetland), 1900s– röf (Shetland), 1900s– röff (Shetland), 1900s– rüff (Shetland).

Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.
Etymology: Cognate with Old Frisian hrōf (West Frisian roef ), Middle Dutch roof , rouf , roef , also in sense ‘ship's cabin’ (Dutch roef ship's cabin, coffin lid), Middle Low German rōf (German regional (Low German) rōf ), all in sense ‘external upper covering of a house or other building’, Old Icelandic hróf boat-shed < the same Indo-European base as Old Church Slavonic stropŭ , in same sense (which shows palatalization of the initial Indo-European voiceless velar plosive and development of epenthetic -t- ), and perhaps also Irish cró crew n.2, although the latter poses semantic problems. Among the Germanic languages, only English has retained the word in a general sense, while the other languages (at least in modern use) use cognates of thack n.The β. forms show voicing of intervocalic -f- , which is also seen in the plural form rooves . The γ. forms for the most part show the regular development in northern Middle English and Scots of long close ō , i.e. fronting and (in some instances) unrounding. Some of the α. and γ. forms reflect shortening of Middle English long close ō , but the spelling is not usually a reliable indicator of the presence of a short realization. In the U.S., a short-vowel pronunciation /rʊf/ is recorded by Dict. Amer. Regional Eng. chiefly from New England and the Upper Midwest (compare the similar situation at root n.1), which also records as old-fashioned a pronunciation /rʌf/ (showing the same development as in e.g. blood n.) from the same areas (compare the form ruff at γ. forms). Among 18th- and 19th-cent. dictionaries, only Perry (1788) records a pronunciation with a short vowel. With sense 8 compare West Frisian roef, in the same sense. The historic plural form with a voiced consonant /v/ is superseded in the early 17th cent. in standard usage by the analogical form with f (already attested, at least as a spelling, in the 15th cent.); rooves appears sporadically in the 19th cent., but remains relatively unusual in print until the later 20th cent., and is treated as nonstandard or regional (or is passed over in silence) by many 20th cent. grammars and usage guides. Compare:1773 S. Johnson Dict. Eng. Lang. (ed. 4) at Roof In the plural Sidney has rooves; now obsolete.1850 R. G. Latham Gram. Eng. Lang. for Comm. Schools iii. 78 The practice is now divided; some saying hoofs, roofs, other [sic] saying hooves, rooves.1921 H. L. Mencken Amer. Lang. (ed. 2) vii. 219 Rooves seems to be extinct in the written speech as the plural of roof, but it certainly survives in spoken American.1926 H. W. Fowler Dict. Mod. Eng. Usage 687/2 Roof. No v forms.
I. Senses relating to the upper covering of a house or similar structure.
1.
a. The external upper covering of a house or other building; the framing structure on top of a building supporting this. Also: a rooftop.The various styles of roof, the materials of which roofs are made, and other significant and incidental aspects, are indicated by the compounds in which the word is used (see at the first element): barrel, curb-, dormer-, flat-, hip-roof; dirt-, pantile, shingle, slate roof, etc.; see also convent-, house-, temple-roof, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > covering > [noun] > one who or that which covers
roofOE
coverer1393
shroudera1591
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > roof > [noun]
roofOE
thackOE
heelinga1325
coverture1382
house-copa1425
covering1459
housetop1526
rooftop1564
house heada1600
tecture1624
α.
OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Luke xii. 3 Quod in aurem locuti estis in cubiculis, praedicabitur in tectis : þætte in eare sprecend gie woeron in cottum aboden bið on hrofum.
OE Crist I 14 Nu is þam weorce þearf þæt se cræstga [read cræftga] cume ond se cyning sylfa, ond þonne gebete, nu gebrosnad is, hus under hrofe.
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 1st Ser. (Royal) (1997) xxii. 358 Hit getimode..þæt entas woldon aræran ane burh & ænne stypel swa heahne þæt his hrof astige oð heofon.
OE Beowulf (2008) 926 He to healle geong.., geseah steapne hrof golde fahne.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 11351 Þe deofell..sette himm heȝhe upp o þe rhof.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) 1446 Vppen..Appollones temple..þe king feol on þene rof.
c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 2082 (MED) A rof shal hile us boþe o-niht.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) ii. 2947 (MED) The Sparke fyred Up in the Rof..for a throwe Lith hidd.
1471 in J. T. Gilbert Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889) I. 347 And put a roffe of oke tymber therupon.
a1500 ( Vision E. Leversedge in Notes & Queries Somerset & Dorset (1905) 9 33 (MED) My good ange..smot iij gret strokes in the mydil of the seid chirch in the rofe.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) 2 Kings xxiii. 12 The altares vpon the rofe of Achabs perler, which the kynges of Iuda had made.
1600 J. Pory tr. J. Leo Africanus Geogr. Hist. Afr. vii. 286 The walles of their houses are built of chalke, and the roofes are couered with strawe.
1671 J. Milton Paradise Regain'd iv. 58 Thou may'st behold Outside and inside both, pillars and roofs Carv'd work. View more context for this quotation
1796 R. Southey Joan of Arc v The shatter'd roofs Allow'd the dews of night free passage.
1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art I. 254 Among the ancients, in those countries where it seldom rained, roofs were made quite flat.
1872 J. Yeats Techn. Hist. Commerce 132 Most houses in mediæval times were built high and narrow, with steep pointed roofs.
1903 R. Hall Pine Grove House 12 The tin roof blew off the extension one windy night.
1948 Life June 74/2 (advt.) Huge aluminum discs suspended from cantilevers and held by wires, form the roofs of terrace and carport, create a strangely Martian appearance.
1961 R. Dutton in S. Sitwell Great Houses of Europe 71 One emerges onto the roof into a riot of stone decoration and carved ornament.
2007 I. McDonald Brasyl 154 The roof was the reason she had bought this ugly, clattery, strange-smelling apartment... She had been sleeping on the roof for the past three nights.
β. a1225 (c1200) Vices & Virtues (1888) 95 Cariteð..arist up anon to ðe roue, forðan to hire bieð ifastned all ðe raftres of ðe hali mihtes.a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Psalms cxxviii. 6 Be thei maad as hey of rooues; that beforn it be pullid out, it ful out driede.c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Luke xii. 3 This that ȝe han spoken in eere in the cowchis schal be prechid in rooues.c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) iv. 6345 (MED) Þe roves huge Couered with leed..Were now..bare & bareyne y-maked.c1450 (c1380) G. Chaucer House of Fame (Fairf. 16) (1878) l. 1948 On the rove [1483 Caxton roof] men may yet seen A thousand holes.c1503 Nutbrown Maid in R. Arnold Chron. f. lxxvi And vs a bowe, noon other roue, but a brake bussh or twayne.c1540 Image Ipocrysy i, in J. Skelton Poet. Wks. (1843) II. 415 To runne in att the rove.1607 G. Markham tr. P. Desportes Rodomonths Infernall sig. B5 The sillie Doues, Who in the mild aire playing the sands vpon, By stormes are driuen [printed drinen] to shrowd in houses roues.1903 Dial. Notes 2 352 Roof, n. pl. rooves. Common plural in Mass.1938 C. Himes Black on Black (1973) 165 W'en de panic cum an' de Lawd tek yo' food an' yo' clothes an' de rooves off'n yo' haids, den laff.1939 ‘G. Orwell’ Coming up for Air iv. i. 219 Several acres of bright red rooves all exactly alike. A big Council housing estate, by the look of it.1990 J. Berger Lilac & Flag (1992) 93 All over Troy, the rain of the summer's end was pouring down rooves: rooves of tile, concrete,..schist,..polyester.γ. c1440 Prose Life Alexander (Thornton) (1913) 99 (MED) Hir palace was wonder ryalle..all þe ruffe þare-of schane wit golde.c1480 (a1400) St. Machor 60 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) II. 2 He saw angelis..one þe ruf of þat house lycht.a1522 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid (1957) iv. xii. l. 47 Of greting..The ruffis dyd resound.a1522 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid (1957) iv. viii. l. 112 The nycht owle, Heich on the rufe.1570 P. Levens Manipulus Vocabulorum sig. Piiv/1 Ye Ruffe of a house, culmen.1572 (a1500) Taill of Rauf Coilȝear (1882) 672 The rufe reulit about in reuall of Reid.1633 Extr. Rec. Stirling (1887) 169 To repair thair grammer scoole..and putt on ane new ruiff thairon.1695 in R. Renwick Extracts Rec. Burgh Glasgow (1908) IV. 157 For building ane sufficient house of stonework, with a sclait ruife.1882 G. Gow Unravelled Skeins 57 He was a wricht an' fell aff the ruif of a hoose.1988 J. J. Graham & J. Tait Shetland Folk Bk. VIII. 50 Some o da attackers wan ipo da teekit ruif o da böd, töre a hol trow da strae, poans, an da ovie, wan in dat wye, an stöl a lok o da floor.1995 P. J. Ritch Mother Wave (rev. ed.) 25 Does du tink du'll smore an shock, ida croft lang cleared o fock Wi da reekin taekit ruifs o burnin strae.
b. The interior overhead surface of a room or other covered part of a house, building, etc.; the ceiling. Also: the upper internal surface of a cave or other structure.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > roof > ceiling > [noun]
roofeOE
firstOE
first-roofOE
silour1424
siling1483
ceiling1535
loftingc1540
loft1596
floor1600
plafond1664
top1709
ceil1840
planchment1874
laquearia1922
overhead1942
eOE Cleopatra Gloss. in W. G. Stryker Lat.-Old Eng. Gloss. in MS Cotton Cleopatra A.III (Ph.D. diss., Stanford Univ.) (1951) 268 Lacunar, flode, hrof... Lacunar, hushefen uel heofenhrof.
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 1st Ser. (Royal) (1997) xxxiv. 468 Se hrof eac swilce hæfde mislice heahnysse; on sumre stowe hine man mihte mid heafde geræcan, on sumre mid handa earfoðlice.
c1300 St. Vincent (Laud) l. 99 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 187 (MED) Is blod spreinde In þe rof an heiȝ.
c1440 Sir Degrevant (Thornton) (1949) 1441 (MED) Þare was a ryalle roffe [v.r. rooffe] In þat chambir a-boffe.
c1500 Melusine (1895) 297 She made it to touche..the rouf of the chambre that was ryght hye.
1665 J. Crowne Pandion & Amphigenia 176 In this Garb he conveys him into the room, through a secret passage, like a trap-door, made in the roof of the Chamber.
1717 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 18 Apr. (1965) I. 349 The Roof was painted with all sort of Flowers.
1794 Ann. Reg. 1777 (ed. 4) 114/1 A small perforation through the wall at the roof of the room.
1832 Mem. Wernerian Nat. Hist. Soc. 6 367 They ejected a line upwards, which its buoyancy, if the spider was small, carried up to the roof of the room, or to a high part of the wall.
1895 Northeastern Reporter 41 179/1 Appellee entered the ladle oven, and while therein the roof of the oven fell in, partially.
1914 E. Gilliat-Smith St Clare of Assisi ix. 99 What he had conceived in his mind he was not able to carry out, for the roof of his chamber overwhelmed him, and so he died.
1999 O. F. Cook in E. Hoyt & T. Schultz Insect Lives (2002) 173 Usually the same general direction is kept, along the roof of the cave, but there is sometimes a simple curve and return.
c. The internal space immediately beneath the roof or amid the rafters of a building; the attic, the loft. Frequently in in (also into) the roof.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > room > types of room by situation > [noun] > upper room or loft
sollarc897
roostOE
loftc1385
cellara1400
roofc1405
garret1483
solier1483
hall of stage1485
coploft1571
cockloftc1580
tallet1586
cotloft1642
chamber1644
kitchen loft1648
vance-roof1655
sky-parlour1777
attic1818
soleret1851
overhead1949
dormer room1951
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Miller's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 649 He hadde yboght hym knedyng tubbes thre And hadde hem hanged in the roof aboue And þt he preyed hem for goddes loue To sitten in the roof per compaignye.
c1454 R. Pecock Folewer to Donet 91 (MED) Þou ouȝtist sette þee no lower þan in þe roof of an house forto defende þee fro greete flodis.
1584 W. Warner Pan his Syrinx vii Entering into an inner roome,..looking vp by chaunce into the roofe, they espie hanging smocke-dyed three quarters of a man, as it seemed to them, not long before so dismembred.
1631 J. Weever Anc. Funerall Monuments 527 These two Couents had but one Church in common, the Nunnes had their Church aloft in the roofe, and the brethren beneath vpon the ground.
1685 C. Cotton tr. M. de Montaigne Ess. I. xxx. 370 Their Beds are of Cotton, hung swinging in the Roof, like our Seamens Hammocks.
1749 W. Halfpenny New Syst. Archit. Delineated 20/1 The cellars are intended under the body of the house and there may be garrets in the roof.
1785 Crit. Rev. Sept. 173 A stair-case that led up to the rooms in the roof.
1849 C. Dickens David Copperfield (1850) x. 107 I..passed the night at Peggotty's, in a little room in the roof.
1882 Cent. Mag. Feb. 512/1 Others live in a single room in the roof.
1905 Antiquary Sept. 387/2 Climbing into the roof, or exploring the crypt, one can gain an idea of the fresco work with which it [sc. the church]..was once covered.
1921 E. F. Stevens Amer. Hosp. of 20th Cent. (rev. ed.) xii. 239/1 The roof contains the animal houses and experimentation laboratories.
1993 Collins Compl. DIY Man. (new ed.) viii. 349/2 Cold-water storage cistern... Positioned in the roof, it provides sufficient ‘head’ or pressure to feed the whole house.
2008 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 15 Jan. (Sport section) 23 I like my work as a pest controller. I've been called out for snakes, rats in roofs and lofts.
2. By synecdoche: †(a) a house, a chamber (obsolete, chiefly poetic); (b) a home, a household; a dwelling place; (also) a place of temporary accommodation. Also figurative. Cf. a roof over one's head at Phrases 1.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > dwelling place or abode > a dwelling > a house > [noun]
houseeOE
homeOE
houseOE
roofa1382
housinga1400
bike1508
dwelling-house1530
firehouse1530
standing house?1532
mansion house1533
maisonc1540
beinga1616
smoke-housea1687
drum1846
khazi1846
casa1859
shack1910
kipsie1916
machine for living (in)1927
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > dwelling place or abode > [noun] > home
homeOE
homesteadOE
house and homelOE
hearthstone1659
home dwelling1743
establishment1803
hearth and home1822
roof1853
yard1865
down home1920
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1969) Jer. xxx. 18 Lo, I shal conuerte þe conuerting of þe tabernaclis of iacob, & to his rooues I shal han merci.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 1 (1623) ii. iii. 56 I tell you Madame, were the whole Frame here,..Your Roofe were not sufficient to contayn't. View more context for this quotation
a1617 S. Hieron Penance for Sinne in Wks. (1620) II. 370 What is my heart, that Thou shouldest come within the roofe thereof?
a1626 J. Fletcher & W. Rowley Maid in Mill ii. ii, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Aaaa4v/2 My dwelling, Sir? 'Tis a poor Yeomans roof, scarce a league off.
1718 N. Rowe tr. Lucan Pharsalia vi. 244 From Towns, and Hospitable Roofs she flies.
1757 T. Gray Ode II ii. i, in Odes 16 Shrieks of death, thro' Berkley's roofs that ring.
a1822 P. B. Shelley Cyclops in Posthumous Poems (1824) 332 Whence come they,..approaching in ill hour The inhospitable roof of Polypheme?
1853 C. Brontë Villette I. iii. 29 The evening, by restoring Graham to the maternal roof (his days were passed at school), brought us an accession of animation.
1912 H. Church Poems 29 Thus would my wandered heart achieve (So far outborne on wayward tide) A still roof in thy heart, to hide Shielded from lonely Night.
1922 D. L. Sayers Let. 18 Dec. in J. Brabazon Dorothy L. Sayers (1981) ix. 96 He simply has not a red cent or a roof.
1979 J. Rathbone Euro-killers iii. 34 She had been happy to give them a free roof until they got work.
1994 J. Kelman How Late it Was 140 As a favour to the ones he done the business for this name-guy in Glasgow gave him a roof.
†3. A storey or floor in a house. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > [noun] > floor or storey
stagea1300
storeyc1384
loft1526
floor1585
sollar1585
contignation1592
roof1600
flat1801
piano1835
row1873
level1968
1600 R. Chambers Palestina 27 Full west from this porch was a building 60. cubits long from east to west, and 20. cubits broad from south to north, it had 3. roofes one ouer another, all which togither contained in height 120. cubits.
1617 F. Moryson Itinerary i. 112 The houses of the City are foure roofes high.
1652 P. Heylyn Cosmographie iii. sig. Fffv The building of it low, but of one Roof high, (as in most Towns of Syria) with a plain topp plastered to walk upon.
II. Extended and figurative uses.
4.
a. Something (esp. something immaterial) regarded as forming a shelter or covering like that of the roof of a building.
ΚΠ
eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) (2009) I. xxv. 499 Swa swa ælces huses wa[h] bið fæst ægðer ge on ðære flore ge on ðæm hrofe, swa bið ælc good on Gode fæst, forðæm he is ælces godes ægðer ge hrof ge flor.
OE Homily (Hatton 115) in D. G. Scragg Vercelli Homilies & Related Texts (1992) 169 Þonne is seo feorþe hell [i.e. hella onlicnes her on worulde] byrgen genemned; þæs huses hrof is genyþrod for þon hit him siteþ onufan on þæm breostum.
c1200 (?OE) Grave (1890) l. 10 Ðe helewaȝes beoð laȝe, sidwaȝes unheȝe; Þe rof bið ibyld þire broste ful neh.
a1275 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 47 Þin hus is sone ibuld þer þu salt wonien inne..þe rouf scal liggen uppon þin chinne.
?c1335 Erthe upon Erthe (Harl. 913) (1911) 2 (MED) When erþ is in erþe, þe rof is on þe chynne.
c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xix. 324 Of al holywrit..made a rofe..And called þat hous vnite.
1609 W. Shakespeare Sonnets x. sig. B3 Seeking that beautious roofe to ruinate Which to repaire should be thy chiefe desire. View more context for this quotation
1781 W. Cowper Table Talk 625 The mind..Flew to its first position with a spring That made the vaulted roofs of pleasure ring.
1857 A. Smith City Poems 179 A haunting face Disturbed me with its beauty, and at night It looked upon me through the roof of dreams.
a1926 E. Gore-Booth Poems (1929) l. 12 Under my storm-swept roof of dreams the singer entereth.
1995 M. O'Neill Politics European Integration (1996) 142 The painfully constructed roof of interdependence shakes. The balance of power still depends on the thrust and counter-thrust of the nation states.
b. The canopy of heaven, the upper air, etc., regarded as covering the earth; the sky.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > sky, heavens > [noun]
roofeOE
welkinc825
heaveneOE
heightOE
heavenOE
liftOE
loftOE
welkin1122
skies?a1289
firmamentc1290
skewa1300
spherea1300
skewsc1320
hemispherec1374
cope of heavenc1380
clouda1400
skya1425
elementc1485
axle-treea1522
scrowc1540
pole1572
horizona1577
vaulta1586
round?1593
the cope1596
pend1599
floor1600
canopy1604
cope1609
expansion1611
concameration1625
convex1627
concave1635
expansum1635
blue1647
the expanse1667
blue blanket1726
empyrean1727
carry1788
span1803
overhead1865
eOE (Northumbrian) Cædmon Hymn (Cambr. Kk.5.16) 6 He aerist scop aelda barnum heben til hrofe, haleg scepen.
OE Crist I 60 Sioh nu sylfa þe geond þas sidan gesceaft, swylce rodores hrof rume geondwlitan ymb healfa gehwone.
OE Judith 67 Þenden he on ðysse worulde wunode under wolcna hrofe.
c1200 Serm. in Eng. & Germanic Stud. (1961) 7 62 He feol fran heuene rof into helle flor.
a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 101 It [sc. đe firmament] mai ben hoten heuene rof.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 22170 Na land þat man kan neuen Under þe rof o crists heuen.
c1400 (?a1300) Kyng Alisaunder (Laud) (1952) 514 (MED) He shal be kynges alle aboue Bitwene þis and heuen-roue.
c1475 (c1399) Mum & Sothsegger (Cambr. Ll.4.14) (1936) iii. l. 248 Iche rewme vndir roff of þe reyne-bowe.
1597 Bp. J. King Lect. Ionas xi. 153 Heaven as the roofe of that beautiful house wherein man was placed.
1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet ii. ii. 303 This most excellent Canopie the ayre,..this maiesticall roofe . View more context for this quotation
1638 T. Nabbes Springs Glorie sig. B3 First I'le leave To be immortall, and my selfe bereave Of all that I can claime above the skye, Or under heavens archt roofe.
1701 T. Knaggs Serm. against Atheism 6 Behold the stately Roof of Heaven.
1789 H. Rowe Pindaric Poem 12 A ballance fell From heaven's fair roof.
1821 P. B. Shelley Epipsychidion 28 Under the roof of blue Ionian weather.
1825 J. Wilson Noctes Ambrosianae xix, in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Mar. 366 Aneath the marbled roof of clouds.
1908 J. Barlow Mockers 46 I gazed, and doubting spied A sheeny mote, sunk deep in heaven's domed roof.
1947 H. E. Read Innocent Eye i. viii. 34 A choir had come from York Minster, and sang a Te Deum between the ruined arches; their sweet voices echoing strangely under the roof of the sky.
1990 T. Clark Fractured Karma 13 Some half Dozing flier alerted in turbulence to glance Out over the roof of heaven toward a fleeing Grainy horizon.
c. Something material which in form or function is regarded as comparable to the covering of a house.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > high position > overhanging > [noun] > that which overhangs > like a roof
roofOE
pavilionc1225
leveselc1386
celurec1400
cyllowrec1440
testera1500
celuring1558
tent1599
canopya1616
hood1867
OE Beowulf (2008) 1030 Ymb þæs helmes hrof heafodbeorge wirum bewunden walan [prob. read walu] utan heold.
OE Beowulf (2008) 2755 Ða ic snude gefrægn sunu Wihstanes..hringnet beran, brogdne beadusercean urder [read under] beorges hrof.
OE Exodus 572 Life gefe[g]on þa hie oðlæded hæfdon feorh of feonda dome, þeah ðe hie hit frecne geneðdon, weras under wætera hrofas.
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1961) Num. iv. 25 Þis is þe office of þe meyne gersonytys, þat þei beryn þe cortynys of þe tabernacle & þe roof of þe boond of pees.
1537 in J. Robertson Illustr. Topogr. & Antiq. Aberdeen & Banff (1857) III. 17 Fra that to a carn callit the Leurok carn upon the north side of the roof of the Bog hill.
?1611 G. Chapman tr. Homer Iliads xvii. 326 The cruel steel afflicting all, the strongest did not dwell Unhurt within their iron roofs.
1645 J. Milton Arcades in Poems 55 Under the shady roof Of branching Elm Star-proof.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iv, in tr. Virgil Wks. 124 Nor Bees are lodg'd in Hives alone, but..Their vaulted Roofs are hung in Pumices. View more context for this quotation
1710 R. Sibbald Hist. Fife & Kinross iv. i. 126 The arch or roof is an iron-stone, which in its concave produceth much vitriol.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth VIII. 98 To prevent the earth from falling..they make a sort of roof with their gluey substance.
1817 P. B. Shelley Laon & Cythna vii. xi. 161 In that roof of crags a space was riven.
1840 Gen. Mercer in R. J. Macdonald Hist. Dress Royal Regiment Artillery (1899) 54 This elegant coiffure was ornamented with..a cockade in front of the roof.
1931 E. Linklater Juan in Amer. iv. iii. 289 On either side of the pavilion were seats for privileged people..while before it, making a half-moon in the plaza, stretched a huge amphicircle of benches almost covered by a black roof of umbrellas.
1976 Newmarket Jrnl. 16 Dec. Left-back Mickey Fordham latched on to a pass from Eley to fire home a third into the roof of the net.
1997 T. Mackintosh-Smith Yemen (1999) viii. 241 Two columns supported a roof of irregular branches fitted together with great skill, and in the corners squinches were formed from wishbone-shaped boughs.
d. Mining and Geology. The stratum lying immediately above a coal seam, orebody, or other formation; the top of a working or gallery.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > minerals > mineral deposits > features of stratum or vein > [noun] > material above > above coal
roof1575
wark1707
top rock1803
wash1882
the world > the earth > minerals > mineral deposits > features of stratum or vein > [noun] > material above > above other minerals
muck1883
roof1931
1575 in H. Taylor Parish Reg. Almondbury (1974) I. i. 102 Thomas Boothe by sodeyne mischaunce was slayne in a cole pytte the roofe falling upon hym.
?1644 G. Hopkinson Laws & Customs Mines Wappentake of Wirksworth (1948) 5/1 A Pipe is a Vein of Lead ore, incompassed with a Lidstone or Roof.
1664 H. Power Exper. Philos. iv. 172 The Roof and Seat is the Top and Bottom of the Works, wherein they get Coles.
1686 R. Plot Nat. Hist. Staffs. iii. 147 A roof of loose rotten stone without any certain beding or diping.
1708 J. C. Compl. Collier 11 in T. Nourse Mistery of Husbandry Discover'd (ed. 3) Leave perhaps about a Foot thick of the Coal top for a Roof.
1778 W. Pryce Mineralogia Cornubiensis 79 When the Miners dig down or along in a large Lode, then the roof, i.e. the upper, the hanging wall, or incumbent wall of the Lode or Fissure, is..over their heads.
1845 J. Phillips & C. G. B. Daubeny Geol. in Encycl. Metrop. VI. 590/2 This coal seam is covered by a ‘roof’ unlike that of any other coal bed above the mountain limestone in the British Islands.
1883 Law Rep.: Queen's Bench Div. 10 553 Without leaving any pillars of coal or other support for the roof of the mine.
1931 M. S. Buchanan Prospecting for Opal in Austral. 8 Almost all the sheet of potch containing opal lies within two ft. from the roof.
1988 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) A. 326 294 Another way of providing some room for the granite is by arching the roof of the pluton.
2004 Financial Mail (Johannesburg) (Nexis) 3 Dec. 10 The Jackpot [device] prestresses timber mine props at the time of installation, and so provides an immediate, active support to the roof of the mine.
e. Mountaineering. The underside of an overhanging ledge.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > landscape > high land > crag > [noun] > overhanging > underside of
roof1963
1963 A. Greenbank Instr. Rock Climbing ix. 98 On the lip of an overhang which has no footholds immediately below... You jockey one boot up the rock, pressing on the flat face, then throw a knee over the edge of the ‘roof’.
1972 D. Haston In High Places viii. 94 After an easy first pitch there was a series of overlapping roofs leading to a big ledge, followed by a line of cracks and chimneys to the top.
1988 High July 27/1 The roof's about eight feet in extent and plumb horizontal.
1998 G. Child Postcards from Ledge (2000) 91 In the afternoon, as Greg climbs around a small roof and launches up a groove, a cloud appears out of nowhere and spills a deluge of graupel.
5.
†a. The highest point or summit of something. Obsolete.Later related uses include sense 5d and the roof and crown of (something) at Phrases 2, but there is no evidence of continuity of use.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > prosperity > advancement or progress > [noun] > state of or advanced condition > highest point
prickOE
heighta1050
full1340
higha1398
pointc1400
roofa1500
top-castle1548
ruff1549
acmea1568
tip1567
noontide1578
high tide1579
superlative1583
summity1588
spring tide1593
meridian1594
period1595
apogee1600
punctilio1601
high-water mark1602
noon1609
zenith1610
auge1611
apex1624
culmination1633
cumble1640
culmen1646
climax1647
topc1650
cumulus1659
summit1661
perigeum1670
highest1688
consummation1698
stretch1741
high point1787
perihelion1804
summary1831
comble1832
heading up1857
climacteric1870
flashpoint1878
tip-end1885
peak1902
noontime1903
Omega point1981
eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) (2009) I. vi. 405 Ic eow mæg..gereccan hw[æt se] hrof [i]s ealra gesælða.
OE Genesis A (1931) 2899 Gestah þa stiðhydig steape dune up.., swa him se eca bebead, þæt he on hrofe gestod hean landes.
OE Bede Glosses (Copenhagen Gl. Kgl. Sam. 2034) in H. D. Meritt Old Eng. Glosses (1945) 18/1 [Mortalis] culminę [pompae] : hrofe.
a1225 (c1200) Vices & Virtues (1888) 95 (MED) Ðe faste hope hafð hire stede up an heih, for ði hie is rof and wrikð alle ðe hire bieð beneðen.
a1500 (c1477) T. Norton Ordinal of Alchemy (BL Add.) (1975) 484 (MED) Blesside is he that makith dewe profe, For that is rote of connyng and roffe.
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. CCCiiiv The rofe that couereth al, is the theologicall vertue, hope.
1588 A. King tr. P. Canisius Cathechisme or Schort Instr. 80 Ye perfectione and ruif of ye haill wark is Charitie.
b. The highest part (of a region); a high mountain range or plateau. Cf. the roof of the world at Phrases 3.
ΚΠ
1863 Macmillan's Mag. Aug. 318/2 In the Breadalbane range it forms the roof of Scotland, the highest uniformly-elevated land in Britain.
1892 M. A. Howe tr. O. Réclus View of World 304 Isolated from the Roof of Asia by the fissure through which flows the Kabul, a violent tributary of the Indus.
1902 D. G. Hogarth Nearer East 31 The course of this ridge in the Anatolian roof..determines the parting of all the waters.
1959 Listener 15 Jan. 140/3 If you want to give yourself a test of stamina and skill in map reading you can walk the Roof of Wales.
1973 Guardian 20 Oct. 13/3 Identification of Church and State in Tibetan Buddhism dates from the 1640s. But the feel of an independent way of life on the battlemented roof of Asia is immensely older.
1986 Observer 20 July 45/3 We drove across the roof of Sweden to the hamlet of Bjorkliden.
2005 Independent 21 Mar. (Review section) 21/3 For this documentary, the reporter Euan McIlwraith travels to the mountain known as ‘the roof of Africa’ to find out why the glaciers are melting so fast.
c. Aeronautics. = ceiling n. 6b. rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > air or space travel > a means of conveyance through the air > aeroplane > qualities and parameters of aircraft > [noun] > maximum altitude
ceiling1917
roof1917
absolute ceiling1918
1917 Jane's All the World's Aircraft 9a/4 The extreme height to which an aircraft will rise,..familiarly known as the ‘ceiling’ or ‘roof’ of that particular machine.
1940 S.P.E. Tract lv. 193 Roof is the zenith of a plane's ascent.
1948 Pop. Sci. Monthly May 99 (title) New balloons explore roof of the airways.
d. Of prices, expenditure, etc.: = ceiling n. 6d. Cf. earlier roofless adj. 4.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > monetary value > price > [noun] > specific price level
trigger-point1891
support level1906
ceiling1934
roof1939
floor1941
support floor1942
the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > [noun] > the greatest amount or quantity > quality of being maximal > maximum
maximity1651
maximum1663
outside1699
max1911
upper bound1917
ceiling1934
roof1939
1939 Richmond (Va.) Times-Disp. 16 Aug. 17/8 Spokesmen for the shellers contended that since the price pegging program put a ‘roof’ on the price they must pay for peanuts they were entitled to a ‘floor’ against possible losses from ‘innocent’ over-buying.
1947 Forum (Johannesburg) 24 May 15/3 The Labour Party continues to snipe at the Government for refusing to take the roof off the maize price.
1965 New Statesman 16 July 101/4 (advt.) Starting salary £2,185–£2,445 according to relevant experience and qualifications rising to a roof of £2,835.
1991 F. S. Lee & W. J. Samuels Heterodox Econ. G. C. Means (1992) xiii. 201 What would place a roof on excessive earnings? Would strong labor unions prevent too high rates of earnings.
6.
a. In full roof of the mouth. The upper surface of the oral cavity; the palate.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > digestive or excretive organs > digestive organs > mouth > [noun] > palate
gumc825
roofOE
palatea1382
palacea1450
OE Antwerp Gloss. (1955) 169 Palatum uel uranon, goma uel hrof þæs muðes.
OE Prudentius Glosses (Boulogne 189) in H. D. Meritt Old Eng. Prudentius Glosses (1959) 33 Palati et faucium : hrofes & gomena.
OE Aldhelm Glosses (Royal 5 E.xi) in H. D. Meritt Old Eng. Glosses (1945) 2/2 Palato : muþes roue.
a1325 Gloss. W. de Bibbesworth (Cambr.) (1929) 67 En la bouche amount est palet [glossed] rof [v.r. rof of the mouth].
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1869) II. 257 Men of myddel londes [sowneþ her wordes] in þe roof of þe mouþ.
c1450 in T. Austin Two 15th-cent. Cookery-bks. (1888) 78 Kutte a Swan in the rove of the mouthe.
a1475 Bk. Hawking (Harl. 2340) f. 14 (MED) Wasch his hedde þerwith & do sum in the ruffe of his mouthe.
a1500 in J. Evans & M. S. Serjeantson Eng. Mediaeval Lapidaries (1933) 78 If a man have..sor teeþ or sor in þe rofe of þe mowþe þat be full of bleders, take þe wyȝt corall & g[r]inde him small, [etc.].
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Job xxix. 9 When their tonges cleued to the rofe of their mouthes.
a1586 Sir P. Sidney tr. Psalms (1963) xxii. ix. 47 My cleaving tongue, close to my roofe doth bide.
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Aluette,..a little peece of flesh in the roofe of the mouth.
1644 Z. Boyd Garden of Zion II. 102 The tongues of all did cleave unto their roof.
1726 A. Monro Anat. Humane Bones ii. 141 The Base of the Nostrils and Roof of the Mouth.
1737 H. Bracken Farriery Improved xl. 549 An old Horse's Mouth being naturally harsh and thin of Flesh upon the Roof.
1847 W. C. L. Martin Ox 56/1 The roof of the mouth and the tongue are black.
1868 Daily News 26 Aug. A gold roof for false teeth.
1917 Nature 4 Oct. 96/1 Palatography..consists in using a special kind of artificial palate, in order to find out what parts of the roof of the mouth are touched by the tongue in the production of different speech sounds.
1982 N.Y. Times 9 Aug. c16/2 The fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth.
2004 C. P. Shaw Whisky (new ed.) 59 Apart from the anatomical meaning—the roof of the mouth—a palate refers to the sense of taste, but the roof of the mouth does play an important role in discerning a taste.
b. The upper surface of any of various other cavities or structures of the human or animal body.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > part of body > [noun] > top or covering
roof1793
the world > life > biology > physical aspects or shapes > specific areas or structures > [noun] > top
roof1793
1793 J. Bell Anat. Bones, Muscles, & Joints 88 This thin plate is the roof of the great cavity, which occupies this bone entirely.
1805 Edinb. Med. & Surg. Jrnl. 1 225 The seventh plate is principally intended to give distinct and complete views of a well-formed orbit, along with the arteries of the roof of the orbit.
1832 Jrnl. Franklin Inst. 9 New Ser. 23 A probe was readily passed up the nostrils to the roof of the cranium.
1872 E. Coues Key to N. Amer. Birds 29 The scale forms the floor instead of the roof of the nostrils.
1888 P. H. Pye-Smith Fagge's Princ. & Pract. Med. (ed. 2) I. 56 The thinning of the roof of an abscess which is about to ‘point’.
1913 J. W. Jenkinson Vertebr. Embryol. i. 12 Alterations of thickness, by increase..or by decrease, as in the roof of the thalamencephalon and medulla, or in the outer wall of the lens.
1930 H. G. Newth Marshall & Hurst's Junior Course Pract. Zool. (ed. 11) xii. 275 From the hinder part of the roof arises the pineal body, a slender tubular process which..ends in a slightly dilated knob attached to the membranous roof of the skull.
1994 D. Tulchinsky & A. B. Little Maternal–Fetal Endocrinol. (ed. 2) vii. 120/1 The roof of the sella turcica is formed from dura (diaphragm sellae).
2001 Outside Oct. 118/3 Embedded in the roof of the right atrium is the heart's own pacemaker, a bundle of muscle fibers called the sinoatrial node that generates its own electrical charges.
7.
a. Originally Scottish. A canopy, esp. one over a bed; = tester n.1 1.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > furniture and fittings > covers or hangings > [noun] > hangings > canopy
canopya1382
coverture1382
silour1394
celurec1400
covering1459
filoura1475
roof1478
seele1485
cyllc1503
paviliona1509
trimmer1518
1478 in T. Thomson Acts Lords Auditors (1839) 67/1 The ruf of a bed.
1505 Exch. Rolls Scot. XII. 673 Tua bosteris, vj werdoris, tua ruffis of carsay red and gren.
1533 in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1905) VI. 182 To lyn the rufe of the said curtingis, iij elnis bukrame.
1602 Accts. Treasurer Scotl. f.96 Taffatie..to cover the ruiff of the bed.
1634 Bp. J. Hall Contempl. Hist. New Test. (STC 12640.7) i. 52 There was a Paralyticke, whom Faith and Charitie brought to our Saviour, and let down thorow the uncovered roofe, in his Bed.
1648 R. Herrick Hesperides 137 Over-head A Spinners circle is bespread, With Cob-web-curtains: from the roof So neatly sunck.
1710 G. Stubbes Laurel & Olive 11 Gay Plenty, leaning on a flow'ry Bed, Soft o'er the Roof her yellow Mantle spread.
1791 E. Darwin Bot. Garden: Pt. I 143 What avails the cradle's damask roof, The eider bolster, and embroider'd woof!
1808 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. at Rance The fore-part of the roof of a bed.
1880 P. H. Chavasse Adv. to Mother (new ed.) iii. 238 The roof of the bed should be left open—that is to say, the top of the bedstead ought not to be covered with bed furniture.
1920 M. Symonds Child of Alps ii. xvi. 197 The roof of the bed was made of cedar-wood, and was, unlike the rest of the wood-work, absolutely plain.
1957 Yang Hsien-Yi & G. Yang tr. Ching-Tzu Wu Scholars xxvii. 373 Wailing loudly, she tried to climb on the wooden roof of the bed, and began to sing snatches of opera.
2000 J. Windle Crossfire xii. 221 Sara groped for the post that held up the canopied roof of the bed, dizzy with shock and horror.
b. The (internal or external) upper surface of the travelling compartment of vehicle (now esp. of a motor vehicle); the top of a carriage, coach, or other covered vehicle. See also Compounds 1c and cf. coach-roof at coach n. and adv. Compounds 3a, sunroof n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > parts and equipment of vehicles generally > [noun] > roof or canopy
roof1665
canopy1895
pop-top1966
1665 G. Havers tr. P. della Valle Trav. E. India 62 We were fain to stand upright and hold fast by the roof of the Coaches.
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Roof, the top of a..Coach.
1787 J. Cobb First Floor i. i. 8 Psha! psha! 'tis only my not being us'd to ride on the roof of the coach that made me giddy.
1806 J. Beresford Miseries Human Life I. vi. 136 Seeing and hearing the roof of a crazy coach groan, crack, and bend, over your head.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. iii. 379 The passengers..were all seated in the carriage. For..it would have been most perilous to mount the roof.
1913 G. W. Hills John Bull Ltd. (1914) ii. 28 The place to enjoy a 'bus-ride is on the roof, as previously stated..but the narrow winding stairway leading thereto is certainly a trial to fat people.
1945 J. Dos Passos First Encounter vi. 83 The rain fell endlessly, rattling on the roof of the car, dancing silver in the coffee-coloured puddles of the road.
1990 P. Ustinov Old Man & Mr Smith ii. 25 At that moment, a car with a blue light on the roof squealed round the corner ahead of them.
2001 I. Frazier On Rez 235 On the roof of the bus, SuAnne and the other girls danced.
†8. The back or ridge (of a bull). Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > bull > [noun] > parts of
gorgea1626
roof1802
morrillo1925
1802 A. F. M. Willich Domest. Encycl. I. 388/1 The roof [of a bull] ought to be wide, particularly over the chine and hooks [= hips].
9. slang.
†a. An umbrella. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > umbrella or protection against bad weather > [noun]
umbrella1634
umbrell1816
mush1821
gingham1838
mushroom1839
roof1844
Gamp1855
1844 E. Hall Diary in O. A. Sherrard Two Victorian Girls (1966) xi. 106 [A] family roof [sc. umbrella] and a great blanket shawl.
b. A hat. Cf. tile n.1 3. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > headgear > [noun] > hat
hateOE
nab-cheat?1536
nab1673
kelp1736
mitre1807
tile1813
gossamer1836
cady1846
roof1857
roofer1859
pancake1875
lid1896
nudger1902
tit for tat1925
titfer1927
sky1944
1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days i. v. 99 Equipped in his go-to-meeting roof.
1926 G. H. Maines & B. Grant Wise-crack Dict. 7/1 Dropping one's roof, losing one's hat.
1949 R. M. Howe Gross's Criminal Investigation (ed. 4) viii. 162 Titfa, roof, bonnet or tile, hat.
†c. The head. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > external parts of body > head > [noun]
nolleOE
headOE
topa1225
copc1264
scalpa1300
chiefc1330
crownc1330
jowla1400
poll?a1400
testea1400
ball in the hoodc1400
palleta1425
noddle?1507
costard?1515
nab?1536
neck1560
coxcomb1567
sconce1567
now1568
headpiece1579
mazer1581
mazardc1595
cockcomb1602
costrel1604
cranion1611
pasha1616
noddle pate1622
block1635
cranium1647
sallet1652
poundrel1664
nob1699
crany?1730
knowledge box1755
noodle1762
noggin1769
napper1785
garret1796
pimple1811
knowledge-casket1822
coco1828
cobbra1832
coconut1834
top-piece1838
nut1841
barnet1857
twopenny1859
chump1864
topknot1869
conk1870
masthead1884
filbert1886
bonce1889
crumpet1891
dome1891
roof1897
beanc1905
belfry1907
hat rack1907
melon1907
box1908
lemon1923
loaf1925
pound1933
sconec1945
nana1966
1897 A. R. Marshall ‘Pomes’ from Pink 'Un 70 He..was bald upon the roof.
1909 C. B. Chrysler White Slavery ix. 70 Takin' a chance on gettin' his ‘roof blowed off’.

Phrases

P1. colloquial. a roof over one's head: a place to live, a home; shelter.
ΚΠ
1635 A. Stafford Femall Glory 143 Though he [sc. Christ] have a hoomely roofe over his head, the East observes his approach.
1766 O. Goldsmith Vicar of Wakefield I. Pref. p. x He..was a his wits'-end how to wipe off the score and keep a roof over his head.
1898 Cosmopolitan Aug. 402/2 It will keep a genteel roof over my head here in London, or a small house and a pony-trap in the country.
1937 ‘G. Orwell’ Road to Wigan Pier iv. 52 People will put up with anything..simply to get a roof over their heads.
1995 I. Banks Whit (1996) xiv. 230 Putting three decades of swart and toil into the place for no more reward than a roof over their heads and food in their bellies.
P2. the roof and crown of (something): the crowning glory or pinnacle of; cf. crown n. 27. In later use in allusion to Tennyson (see quot. 1832).
ΚΠ
1832 Ld. Tennyson Lotos-eaters: Choric Song ii, in Poems (new ed.) 112 Why should we only toil, the roof and crown of things?
1891 Eagle Mar. 463 Man is the roof and crown of things. Cambridge, it is generally allowed, is the roof and crown of man.
1904 Eclectic Rev. 80 669/2 The roman policier is not the roof and crown of the art of fiction.
2002 N. Prasad Personal Bias in Literary Crit. iii. 54 That is why art is ‘the roof and crown of culture’ and without art life would be empty.
P3. the roof of the world: (a description applied to) a range of mountains, or a place, regarded as the highest or most elevated in the world (originally applied to the Pamir Mountains in Central Asia, later also to Tibet or the Himalayas); cf. sense 5b. [After Persian bām-i dunyā < bām roof (compare Pahlavi bān, further etymology uncertain) + i of + dunyā world ( < Arabic dunyā (feminine of adnā, elative of danī near, low) in al-dār al-dunyā the lower abode (i.e. the earth, as opposed to the sky; also (in Islamic theological use) this world, as opposed to the hereafter), and similar phrases).]
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > landscape > high land > mountain > [noun] > type of > spec
pike1555
the roof of the world1840
Munro1903
1840 Lit. Gaz. 13 June 379/1 We stood (to use the native expression) upon the Bami-Dúniah or ‘roof of the world’.
1876 T. E. Gordon (title) The roof of the world, being the narrative of a journey over the high plateau of Tibet to the Russian frontier and the Oxus sources on Pamir.
1889 G. N. Curzon Russia in Central Asia v. 144 Descending from the hidden ‘Roof of the world’, its waters tell of forgotten peoples and whisper secrets of unknown lands.
1932 Punch 23 Nov. 564/3 When I saw ‘climbed’ I make no reference to those inexplicable creatures who, lashed together, enjoy clambering about the roof of the world for the mere fun of not falling off.
1956 G. N. Patterson God's Fool i. 13 I sat there in that remote valley in Tibet where no white man had ever been, fifteen thousand feet above sea-level on the roof of the world.
1979 Yale Alumni Mag. Apr. 2/3 (advt.) Snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas along the roof of the world.
2004 P. Southern Craze xxiv. 178 They swayed gently on the roof of the world, waiting for passengers to alight, cradle by cradle.
P4. under (a person's) roof.
a. In or into a person's house, esp. with reference to hospitality; also †under roof, under one roof, under the same roof, and in non-personal application. Similarly with beneath, †underneath, †within, etc.
ΚΠ
eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL Add.) (1980) ii. iv. 42 To þon..þæt hie [sc. the senate] bewisten eal þæt licgende feoh under anum hrofe.., þæt hie hit siþþan mehten him eallum gemænelice to nytte gedon.
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 1st Ser. (Royal) (1997) viii. 244 Drihten, neom ic wyrðe þæt ðu infare under minum hrofe [L. sub tectum meum].
c1225 (?OE) Soul's Addr. to Body (Worcester) (Fragm. C) l. 24 [Nol]dest þu on þine huse herborwen þeo wrecchen, ne mihten heo under [þin]e roue none reste finden.
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Matt. viii. 8 That thou entre vndir my roof.
a1450 ( tr. Vegetius De Re Militari (Douce) f. 52 (MED) Þey vsed to occupie her foot-men in dedes of armes in þe feld in mery wedir and vndir roof in housynge y-made þerfore in stormes and in foule wedir.
a1500 tr. A. Chartier Quadrilogue (Rawl.) (1974) 244 Flyes that make hony..keping togedir their assemble and by their litill pollicey [c1475 Univ. Oxf. polecie] to kepe the lordship of their kyng þat regnith among them vndir a litill praty roofe.
1596 J. Dalrymple tr. J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1888) I. 31 Thay nevir thair heid sett vndir the ruffe of ony hous.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) iv. iii. 25 Vnderneath that consecrated roofe, Plight me the full assurance of your faith. View more context for this quotation
1651 Bp. J. Taylor XXVIII Serm. xvi. 200 For so it is fit that a guide should point out every turning, if he be to teach a childe or a fool to return under his fathers roof.
1657 Bp. J. Taylor Disc. Friendship 61 There is very often a likenesse of natural temper, and there is a social life under the same roof.
1701 Cramond Kirk Session IV. 4 July A woman which he calles his neice stayes under roofe with him in the night time.
1744 J. Thomson Winter in Seasons (new ed.) 212 Beneath his low illustrious Roof, Sweet Peace and happy Wisdom smooth'd his Brow.
1782 F. Burney Cecilia III. vi. i. 228 That, since you were now under my roof, I could not refuse to receive their proposals.
1790 in Guide Mus. Pract. Geol. (1859) 98 About 90 painters..and about 200 throwers, turners, &c., were employed under one roof.
1837 J. G. Lockhart Mem. Life Scott I. ix. 317 They had both seen Scott frequently under their own roofs.
1888 J. W. Burgon Lives Twelve Good Men I. iii. 302 For about two years they lived..under the roof of their father's youngest sister.
1920 E. Wharton Age of Innocence xvii. 156 The overcoats were in fact the very strangest he had ever seen under a polite roof.
1952 T. Armstrong Adam Brunskill iii. 69 Beneath Ambrose Pedley's roof, breakfast invariably consisted of ‘gulls’—oatmeal with a little milk—and barley bread, the other meals being of the same calibre.
1987 N. Sibal Yatra i. 100 She came to Dagra to kill herself under my roof. As if the fact of her death would not be painful enough for me otherwise.
2007 Church Times 30 Nov. 23/2 We now have three houses knocked together, with ten adults and six children all living under the same roof.
b. figurative and in extended use.
ΚΠ
c1508 Want of Wyse Men (Chepman & Myllar) in Poems R. Henryson (1908) III. 171 Rycht, na resone vnder na rufe has rest.
1622 Bp. J. Hall Contempl. VI. xvii. 225 That thou who art the God of peace, maist take pleasure to dwell vnder the quiet roofe of our hearts.
1642 T. Fuller Holy State iv. xxi. 353 Some maintain that Princes are too high to come under the roof of any Laws.
1739 D. Bellamy tr. N. A. Pluche Nature Delineated I. xii. 247 These beavers are social Creatures, and a whole Body of them will sometimes reside together under one Roof.
1885 Cent. Mag. May 6/2 There have never before been shown under one roof the products of the mines, fields, orchards, and forests of all our American commonwealths.
1920 Contemp. Rev. Oct. 495 The Spanish Court ladies were sheltered..under the vaulted roof of Latinism.
1996 Economist 26 Oct. 127/2 When deal-making and trading were combined under the same roof, it became easier.
P5. colloquial through the roof.
a. Esp. of bids, prices, sales, etc.: beyond the expected limit, to extreme heights. Chiefly to go through the roof.
ΚΠ
1946 E. Hodgins Mr. Blandings builds his Dream House viii. 118 The Knapp sales curves were going through the roof.
1972 Times 24 Oct. 10/3 Only a few special treasures were bid through the roof.
1973 Times 30 Oct. 19/6 On lots that were rare and undamaged they [sc. prices] went through the roof.
1988 Sea Angling Q. Summer 5/2 Dave makes the package attractive by incorporating an extending head without pushing the price through the roof.
1999 H. Redknapp & D. McGovern 'Arry (new ed.) xv. 240 The sales of Perugia shirts in Japan have gone through the roof.
2005 M. M. Frisby Wifebeater ii. 8 My energy level was through the roof like one of them overhyped rappers on the MTV awards. How ironic.
b. to go through the roof: to become very angry. Cf. to hit the roof at Phrases 9.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > anger > [verb (intransitive)] > become angry
wrethec900
wrothc975
abelghec1300
to move one's blood (also mood)c1330
to peck moodc1330
gremec1460
to take firea1513
fumec1522
sourdc1540
spitec1560
to set up the heckle1601
fire1604
exasperate1659
to fire up1779
to flash up1822
to get one's dander up1831
to fly (occasionally jump, etc.) off (at) the handle1832
to have (also get) one's monkey up1833
to cut up rough, rusty, savage1837
rile1837
to go off the handle1839
to flare up1840
to set one's back up1845
to run hot1855
to wax up1859
to get one's rag out1862
blow1871
to get (also have) the pricker1871
to turn up rough1872
to get the needle1874
to blaze up1878
to get wet1898
spunk1898
to see red1901
to go crook1911
to get ignorant1913
to hit the ceiling1914
to hit the roof1921
to blow one's top1928
to lose one's rag1928
to lose one's haira1930
to go up in smoke1933
hackle1935
to have, get a cob on1937
to pop (also blow) one's cork1938
to go hostile1941
to go sparec1942
to do one's bun1944
to lose one's wool1944
to blow one's stack1947
to go (also do) one's (also a) dingerc1950
rear1953
to get on ignorant1956
to go through the roof1958
to keep (also blow, lose) one's cool1964
to lose ita1969
to blow a gasket1975
to throw a wobbler1985
the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > be great in quantity, amount, or degree [verb (intransitive)] > become very great in quantity, amount, or degree
to go through the roof1958
society > trade and finance > monetary value > price > fluctuation in price > [verb (intransitive)] > rise (of prices) > suddenly or rapidly
starta1661
zoom1928
soar1929
rocket1931
to take off1935
to go through the roof1958
shoot1968
1958 Spectator 25 July 133/1 Would it have hurt if someone had done it to you before? You'd have gone through the roof?
1975 J. Symons Three Pipe Probl. xviii. 179 The company are simply wild. They have gone through the roof.
1985 D. Lucie Hard Feelings ii. iv, in Progress & Hard Feelings 83/1 Dad..wants to see this place looking good. If anything's not right, he'll go through the roof.
1993 A. Higgins Lions of Grunewald xxxi. 200 Now wasn't that nice? Nancy went through the roof. She let loose her blood-curdling abandon-ship scream, calculated to stop the heart. Mallorca! (Gomorrah!). Arty-Farty-Murnane (Sodom!).
P6. colloquial to raise (also lift) the roof: to create an uproar, to make a resounding noise.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > resonance or sonority > resound [verb (intransitive)]
singc897
shillc1000
warblea1400
resoundc1425
dun1440
reird1508
rolla1522
rerea1525
peal1593
diapason1608
choir1838
alarm1839
to raise (also lift) the roof1845
whang1854
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > loudness > confused sound > [verb (intransitive)] > uproar or tumult
clamourc1400
rumblec1405
shout1513
racket1617
to keep a (bad, etc.) quarter1632
to raise a dust1649
obstreperate1765
row1797
uproar1834
to raise Cain1840
to raise the mischief1840
to raise (also lift) the roof1845
steven1855
tow-row1877
1845 T. D. McGee Story O'Sullivan Beare in Nation (Dublin) 6 Dec. 121/1 His father, mother, brother, his lovely sisters twain, Tis they would raise the roof with joy to see him back from Spain.
1852 G. Trask Thoughts & Stories on Tobacco 65 With a full fiendish gaze in my face, he cried out, Tobacco! Tobacco! with an unearthly scream, that seemed to well nigh raise the roof!
1894 ‘M. Twain’ in Cent. Mag. June 233/1 She was here to watch the trial now, and was going to lift up just one ‘hooraw’ over it... ‘When dat verdic’ comes, I's gwine to lif' dat roof, now, I tell you.
1905 Eng. Dial. Dict. V. 147/2 Oxf. Do be quiet, or you'll raise the roof (G.O.).
1922 P. G. Wodehouse Girl on Boat xvi. 253 I couldn't get within ten feet of that dog without its lifting the roof off.
1959 Times 19 Jan. 3/3 A good song to raise the roof.
1972 J. W. Thompson in W. King Black Short Story Anthol. 255 She flew from the kitchen like a startled sparrow, her hands perched nervously upon her hips—all set to raise the roof!
1998 Friends of WNO Newsletter (Welsh National Opera) Feb. 7/3 The wonderful singing almost raised the roof.
2000 J. Griffiths Grip on Thin Air 21 The sun..would course through the house As through a shell,..licking life into The painted dogs in the gallery Until they too give tongue, Raising the roof.
P7. colloquial. the roof falls in: something (esp. one's world) collapses irretrievably or some unpredictable disaster occurs; everything goes wrong.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > adversity > calamity or misfortune > unfortunately [phrase] > disastrously > disaster occurs
the roof falls in1866
1866 D. Boucicault Flying Scud in A. Nicoll & F. T. Cloak Forbidden Fruit & Other Plays (1940) 172 She undertook with all her veight to sit upon my knee... Fourteen stun six, I thought the roof had fell in.
1914 New Outlook 8 Aug. 859/2 I believe the finish of the booze business in this country is in sight. I prefer to step from under before the roof falls in.
1937 E. R. Punshon Mystery Mr. Jessop xxvi. 243 He's getting out from under in case the roof falls in.
1950 Baseball Digest Jan. 53/2 The Barons were hot, the new pitcher was cold, and the roof fell in.
1958 J. Morgan Expense Account ii. 26 And it all worked out exactly right—up to the moment he walked into his office. Then the roof fell in.
1976 H. MacInnes Agent in Place xvii. 191 Georges said, ‘I think the roof just fell in.’ Tony had no reply. For once he was quite speechless.
1990 W. Sheed Ess. in Disguise iii. xvii. 192 Arthur Jensen's famous monograph on the subject came along in 1969, and the roof fell in on IQ.
2003 N.Y. Times 19 Oct. 43/2 After 14 Bf4, Chuchelov should still have tried 14..f6. He really has to do something before the roof falls in.
P8. colloquial (originally and chiefly U.S.). to come off the roof: to abandon an attitude of superiority; not to put on airs; to come back down to reality (chiefly in imperative). Cf. to come, etc., off one's high horse at horse n. 23b. Now rare.In quot. 2004 in a historical context.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > humility > be humble [verb (intransitive)] > become humble
to come downa1382
meeka1400
meekena1500
let fall one's crest1531
to come (also get) off one's perch1568
to come down a peg1589
lower1837
to come off the roof1883
to climb down1887
deflate1912
to come, etc., off one's high horse1920
1883 Life 22 Nov. 256/2 ‘I really wish Mr. Dana would come off the roof. What have I done that I should be made such fun of? I object.’—Holman.
1895 W. P. Ridge Minor Dialogues ix. 86 She took up such a 'igh and mighty attitude..so I says to her, I says, ‘Come off the roof.’
1910 ‘I. Hay’ Right Stuff i. v. 81 ‘He must be a youth of gigantic intellect,’ I said. ‘Oh, come off the roof!’
1919 P. G. Wodehouse Their Mutual Child i. ix. 111 Come off the roof, bo. You know well enough who he is. He's your grandson. On the level.
2004 L. Titchener Gunshy ii. 1 All right, come off the roof. I won't comment further. Have you completed your business?
P9. colloquial. to hit the roof: = to hit the ceiling at ceiling n. 5b.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > anger > [verb (intransitive)] > become angry
wrethec900
wrothc975
abelghec1300
to move one's blood (also mood)c1330
to peck moodc1330
gremec1460
to take firea1513
fumec1522
sourdc1540
spitec1560
to set up the heckle1601
fire1604
exasperate1659
to fire up1779
to flash up1822
to get one's dander up1831
to fly (occasionally jump, etc.) off (at) the handle1832
to have (also get) one's monkey up1833
to cut up rough, rusty, savage1837
rile1837
to go off the handle1839
to flare up1840
to set one's back up1845
to run hot1855
to wax up1859
to get one's rag out1862
blow1871
to get (also have) the pricker1871
to turn up rough1872
to get the needle1874
to blaze up1878
to get wet1898
spunk1898
to see red1901
to go crook1911
to get ignorant1913
to hit the ceiling1914
to hit the roof1921
to blow one's top1928
to lose one's rag1928
to lose one's haira1930
to go up in smoke1933
hackle1935
to have, get a cob on1937
to pop (also blow) one's cork1938
to go hostile1941
to go sparec1942
to do one's bun1944
to lose one's wool1944
to blow one's stack1947
to go (also do) one's (also a) dingerc1950
rear1953
to get on ignorant1956
to go through the roof1958
to keep (also blow, lose) one's cool1964
to lose ita1969
to blow a gasket1975
to throw a wobbler1985
1921 Quick March 11 July 15 Dicken! I done me block right enough! I come home and the old finger hit the roof. Tike it from me, he's gotter rat.
1928 J. P. McEvoy Show Girl ix. 133 Milton gave me a couple of drinks early in the evening out of his flask and Jimmy hit the roof.
1955 P. Larkin Let. 7 Sept. in Sel. Lett. (1992) 250 I hope you can make these alterations, but if the printers turn awkward I shan't hit the roof.
1971 V. Canning Firecrest x. 149 The P.M. and his cabinet..would hit the roof if they knew half of the things that went on.
2003 Radio Times 7 June (Midlands ed.) 100/4 When a young woman is brought in to have her stomach pumped because she's just binged on ice cream, he nearly hits the roof.

Compounds

C1.
a. In sense 1, with nouns denoting some part, accessory, or feature of the roof.
roof area n.
ΚΠ
1858 Maine Farmer 29 July 1/1 There should be one [sc. a copper or iron rod] at least to every forty square feet of roof area.
1934 Metrop. Mus. Art Bull. 29 16/2 The gargoyle was located at approximately the center of the west side of the building—that is, at the center of the west side of its roof area.
2009 Western Morning News (Plymouth) (Nexis) 24 June 23 Converting the mill roof area into living accommodation.
roof beam n.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > framework of building > [noun] > roof-beam
pan1284
roof-tree1321
wiverc1325
sile1338
wind-beam1374
bindbalkc1425
trave1432
purlin1439
side-waver1451
wind-balk1532
roof beam1551
post1567
crock1570
spercil1570
collar-beam1659
camber1679
top-beam1679
camber-beam1721
jack rafter1736
hammer-beam1823
tie-beam1823
spar-piece1842
viga1844
collar1858
spanner1862
cruck1898
1551 J. Bale Actes Eng. Votaryes: 2nd Pt. f. xxxiv To laye stones of great wayghte vpon the roufe beames of the temple ryght ouer hys prayenge pewe, and to lete them fall vpon hym to hys vtter destruccyon.
1647 H. Hexham Copious Eng. & Netherduytch Dict. The roofe beame, den dack-balck.
1772 C. Rawlinson Directory Patent-slating 7* The roof-beam to frame the principal rafters into.
1873 J. Morley Rousseau I. vii. 258 My imagination..languishes and dies in a room and under roof beams.
1955 J. D. Salinger in New Yorker 19 Nov. 51 (title) Raise high the roof beam, carpenters.
2001 S. Hardingham London (ed. 5) x. 8 The thrust of the arched roof beams is resisted by heavy concrete walls along the sides of the building.
roof board n.
ΚΠ
1794 W. Felton Treat. Carriages I. i. 34 The compass rails..screwed on the top of the side roof rails; on these the roof boards are nailed.
1848 O. S. Fowler Home for All (1851) 90 Since the roof boards cross these rafters, so as to form an arch the other way, surely no greater solidity or strength can be required.
1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 730/1 Roof boards, boards laid on a roof to provide a foundation and an undercovering to the covering materials proper, such as slates, tiles, etc.
2001 Buses Feb. 30/1 From these, he produces assembly drawings, asking questions along the way about variations like the roof boards and destination panels on some of the C5 family.
roof capping n.
ΚΠ
1883 Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 13 June 3/5 (advt.) 160 lengths Galvanized Roof Capping.
1977 36 Home Handyman Projects (Austral. Home Jrnl.) 74/1 Roof capping is usually put on with cement. After a few years of sun, wind and rain the cement cracks and falls out.
2001 Sunday Mail (South Australia) (Nexis) 11 Nov. h29 Get the experts' advice on repairing roof cappings, building external paving and driveways and installing ceiling fans.
roof coping n.
ΚΠ
1855 Archaeol. Jrnl. 10 113 From one [pit], a roof coping tile, without any traces of mortar on it, was taken.
1944 E. Mock Built in USA 113 The conveyor carries coal to the larger section of the building 90 feet high from ground to roof coping.
2001 M. Smithies tr. J. Dumarçay & P. Royere Cambodian Archit. ii. viii. 102 The roof coping is marked by a line of ridge-pole finials.
roof cover n.
ΚΠ
1848 Synopsis Contents Brit. Mus. (ed. 53) 112 Portion of a sarcophagus with its roof cover.
1994 M. Brinkley Housebuilder's Bible (ed. 5) vii. 109/1 Run the roof cover up to the edge of the undercloak and then fill the void between with cement.
roof covering n.
ΚΠ
1750 R. Heath Nat. & Hist. Acct. Scilly 329 The Cottagers Walls are of Cob, and the Roof-Covering of Thatch.
1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 1973/2 Other kinds of roof-coverings.
1993 Collins Compl. DIY Man. (new ed.) iii. 237/2 You can use most self-adhesive repair tapes to patch-repair splits in all types of roof coverings.
roof crest n.
ΚΠ
1862 Internat. Exhib.: Illustr. Catal. Industr. Dept. II. x. §2329 Roof, cresting..glazed, and enamelled. Ventilating roof crest tiles.
1911 Burlington Mag. June 160/1 The building was rendered more imposing by the addition of a longitudinal roof-crest.
1999 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald 28 Feb. a14/4 Just the upper roof crest and part of the chimney were sticking out.
roof-decking n.
ΚΠ
1934 Chester (Pa.) Times 9 July 1/6 The roof will be constructed with a metal roof decking which will be insulated with an asphalt roof.
1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 16 Feb. (Suppl.) 40/1 When used as the roof-decking to your new buildings or as a suspended ceiling to your existing ones, Stramit keeps temperatures constant.
1994 Harrowsmith Apr.–May 61/2 Kit prices, which include logs, beams and roof decking, range from $35 to $60 per square foot.
roof glass n.
ΚΠ
1799 J. Anderson Recreations in Agric. I. (Art & Lit.) 165 It will be well to throw a small covered roof over the wall..bringing the roof glass..so that the cooled particles of air..will be at some distance from the wall.
a1851 P. Neill Pract. Fruit, Flower & Veg. Gardener's Compan. (1855) 292 After all pains have been taken, the time at length arrives when they [sc. the plants] either disfigure themselves by pressing against the roof-glass, or must submit to the no less distorting process of a violent amputation.
1978 C. Tomlinson Shaft 39 Leaves might fall On to the roof-glass.
2008 Dædalus Spring 80 The sun's rays, having entered through the roof glass, are partly reflected back up to the glass, which in turn reflects some of them back into the greenhouse space.
roof marking n.
ΚΠ
1894 J. Watson Jedburgh Abbey (ed. 2) 119 The date of the earliest of the roof-markings.
1911 Pop. Mech. Apr. 477/2 The roof marking shown in the illustration would be unintelligible to the ordinary airman.
2006 U.S. Federal News (Nexis) 12 Sept. The August 2006 National Board has approved the addition of distinctive roof markings for CAP vehicles.
roof outlet n.
ΚΠ
1869 Army Med. Dept. Rep. in Parl. Papers 9 163 These barracks have been this year furnished with wooden ceilings and with roof outlet ventilation.
1967 Gloss. Sanitation Terms (B.S.I.) 41 Roof outlet, a rainwater fitting, normally provided with a grating, for building into a flat roof to receive rainwater for discharge into a rainwater pipe.
2006 Engineered Syst. (Nexis) 1 Aug. 51 When an economizer cycle is selected, relief roof outlets may be required if the RTU does not have a relief air path.
roof pane n.
ΚΠ
1850 Freeman's Jrnl. (Dublin) 22 Apr. 3/4 The Drogheda Railway Terminus suffered very extensively, having lost upwards of 300 roof panes.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xi. [Sirens] 259 Roll of Bensoulbenjamin rolled to the quivery loveshivery roofpanes.
2008 Evening Standard 14 May 28 Velux sells blinds to fit their slanting roof panes.
roof plane n.
ΚΠ
1853 E. Dobson Student's Guide Pract. designing Artificers' Wks. (ed. 2) 54 The roof-planes rising from two parallel walls may be continued till they meet a third wall.
1991 G. Hildebrand Wright Space iii. 45 The ceiling planes, whose slope is exactly that of the external roof planes, recall the first views of the house.
roof plate n.
ΚΠ
1798 G. Blagdin Specif. of Carpenters & Joiners Work. 27 Oct. in G. Washington Papers (1999) Retirement Ser. III. 145 (note) Roof plate 6 by 4.
1833 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Cottage Archit. §153 One of them..is called the roof plate.
a1878 G. G. Scott Lect. Mediæval Archit. (1879) I. 251 Placed in a side wall and under a level roof~plate.
1996 A. Warner in H. Ritchie New Sc. Writings 208 She clucked up her tongue and stuck out the roof plate with its single snow-white tooth.
roof-pole n.
ΚΠ
1789 J. Adam Pract. Ess. Agric. II. x. iv. 408 The horizontal or roof pole, is sometimes suspended by ropes and pullies.
1844 J. G. Whittier Bridal of Pennacook 259 And, adown the roof-pole hung,..In the smoke his scalp-locks swung.
1994 C. McCarthy Crossing 46 His eyes seemed to study only the roofpoles overhead.
roof rafter n.
ΚΠ
1825 G. F. Lyon Brief Narr. Repulse Bay ii. 67 Some sledge runners, of the whale's jaw..had answered the purpose of roof-rafters to some winter-hut.
1995 Vermont Life Autumn 68/1 The great attic with its pegged roof rafters and its chests of old papers.
roof ridge n.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > roof > [noun] > ridge
ridgeOE
rig1327
ridging1458
rigging1503
fust1679
fastigium1706
ridgeline1730
roof ridge1771
1771 G. Baretti Dict. Eng. & Ital. Lang. (new ed.) I. at Comignolo The roof-ridge of a house.
1874 B. F. Taylor World on Wheels 218 There is singing everywhere:..from the second rail of the fence, a gust of melody; from the roof-ridge, a solo.
1917 J. Conrad Shadow-line ii. 79 Here and there in the distance, above the crowded mob of low, brown roof ridges, towered great piles of masonry.
1996 W. Bucher Dict. Building Preserv. 386/1 Ridge spike, a decorative finial at the end of a row of cresting on a roof ridge.
roof room n.
ΚΠ
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. xii. 451/1 Roofe Rooms.
1797 A. Geddes tr. Bible II. 1 Kings xviii. 19 Snatching him from her bosom, he carried him up to the roof-room, his own apartment.
1886 M. N. Murfree In Clouds ix. 131 Take these hyar two beds an' thar steads up-steers inter the roof-room.
1999 Evening Chron. (Newcastle) (Nexis) 2 Feb. 35 An extension, roof room or conservatory will certainly add value.
roof screen n.
ΚΠ
1848 R. Brandon & J. A. Brandon Parish Churches 120 The lower part of the roof-screen yet remains, with some well-executed carvings.
1971 Gloss. Terms Fire (B.S.I.) ii. 7 Roof screen, a vertical screen fitted internally to the roof of a building to divide the roof into bays, so that smoke and hot gases from a fire are contained within the bay of origin.
2008 Farmers Guardian (Nexis) 31 Oct. s2 The roof screen's sun visor is pulled over the glass using a soft rubber strap.
roof shaft n.
ΚΠ
1845 Proc. Oxf. Archit. Soc. 12 Nov. 32 The use of the pointed arch would probably be one of the very first developments of the vertical principal,..so that we find it introduced before any other Gothic feature—unless possibly the roof shafts.
1981 Amer. Banker (Nexis) 27 Oct. 17 The home will also feature passive solar water heating, summer ventilation through a roof shaft and an earth source heat pump.
roof shelter n.
ΚΠ
1844 P. Chase Reminiscences II. lxii. 519 The ends or gables to this room, or roof shelter, were but slightly closed by some clap-boards.
1928 D. H. Lawrence Lady Chatterley's Lover x. 145 Only one or two [chicks]..still dibbed about in the dryness under the straw roof-shelter.
2003 World Archaeol. 35 117 The wooden roof shelter was supported by nine poles.
roof shingle n.
ΚΠ
1843 E. Leslie in Godey's Lady's Bk. June 255/2 The house..was a yellowish frame structure, with scalloped clap-boards, roof-shingles to match.
1942 Bull. Metrop. Mus. Art 37 132/2 The small plates overlap, the upper over the lower like roof shingles.
2004 W. St. John Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer 60 Houses once occupied by middle-class steelworkers have fallen hopelessly decrepit, with peeling paint, curling roof shingles, and..boards over the windows.
roof slab n.
ΚΠ
1852 Jrnl. Royal Asiatic Soc. 13 91 It projects 18 inches beyond the side walls, and is larger, though not so thick, as the roof-slab of the great cromlech near Plas Newydd, in Anglesea.
1963 Gloss. Gen. Building Terms (B.S.I.) 20 Roof slab, a slab forming the continuous loadbearing structure of a roof and spanning between supports.
2000 Builder & Engineer July 33/1 These main columns span vertically from ground floor to roof level, and the roof slab acts as a beam carrying wind loads and stability loads back to the cores.
roof slope n.
ΚΠ
1845 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 58 96/2 The moonlight slept in unbroken lustre on the houses of one story, or without any but what the roof slope formed.
1891 T. Hardy Tess of the D'Urbervilles II. xxiii. 23 Clinging to the roadside bank like pigeons on a roof-slope.
1991 DIY: Do it Yourself June 54/4 The easy-ride wheels enable the ladder to be pushed up the roof slope.
roof space n.
ΚΠ
1830 Repertory Patent Inventions 10 362 Between the roof-space, over the pot and the cavity of the vault, a large passage is opened.
1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 16 Feb. 49/2 (advt.) Agrecon buildings give..a maximum roof-space.
2003 Sneak 2 Sept. 49/1 I dashed upstairs and Scott pushed me through a tiny manhole in the roof space above the ceiling.
roof-spar n.
ΚΠ
1497 in T. Dickson Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1877) I. 331 xviij ruf spar to Hannis toure of Dunbar.
1661 in Acts Parl. Scotl. (1820) VII. 253/1 Rooff sparrs of oak.
1875 Van Nostrand's Engin. Mag. Nov. 445 In the building trade there are certain favorite scantlings for joists, planks, roof spars, and other portions of a structure.
1996 Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 12 Nov. 11 They found him dead with a roof spar across his body.
roof-spout n.
ΚΠ
1831 Edinb. Lit. Jrnl. 14 May 312/1 He placed himself under roof-spouts in heavy rains to benefit his constitution with an effectual cold bath.
1860 C. Dickens Uncommerc. Traveller in All Year Round 7 Apr. 560/1 The rain was jerking in gushes out of the old roof-spouts.
1997 P. Arthur & R. Ling Insula of Menander at Pompeii I. ii. 213 The drainage channel..collected water from a roof-spout or downpipe at the northern end.
roof storey n.
ΚΠ
1677 Contract 20 June in Misc. Sc. Hist. Soc. (1990) 11 300 To plaister or syller tuo in the rooff storie or wardrop.
1812 Gentleman's Mag. 82 (Suppl.) 638/2 The pilasters support scroll brackets for the over-hanging of the roof story.
1848 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair lxv. 597 The landlord..led the way up the stairs to the roof-story.
1865 Gentleman's Mag. Jan. 63 Why not..make a bold architectural feature of an entire roof storey?
1981 D. Hayden Grand Domest. Revol. iii. iv. 85 Peirce confined herself to pointing out many varied activities which could be included on its roof story.
2007 Michelin Green Guide London 131/1 Lindsey House with mansard roof-storey.
roof terrace n.
ΚΠ
1834 T. Campbell Let. 19 Sept. (1837) 19 In the Turkish time, men were not privileged to walk on these roof-terraces; the women enjoyed them alone.
1937 Archit. Rev. 82 119 (caption) The roof-terrace is paved with ‘Paropa’ patent slabs.
2008 Independent 19 Mar. (Property section) 3/4 There is the most beautiful, elegant, curling banister going upstairs to the first floor, where there's a door to a roof terrace, and a big sitting room with a fireplace.
roof thatch n.
ΚΠ
1679 in W. Mackay & G. S. Laing Rec. Inverness (1924) II. 281 The thesaurer..to caus sett on the rooff thache & finishe the touns hous at the bridgend.
1829 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 25 567/2 You descry a dreary cabin, with the roof thatch dingy and rotten.
1912 ‘Q’ Hocken & Hunken xix. 239 With a rampant climber such as Rosa Devoniensis it is advisable to cut out each autumn, and clean remove some of the old wood; and this is no easy job when early neglect has allowed the plant to riot up and over the roof-thatch.
1991 N. Rush Mating iv. 188 If it looks like rain you pull a string and a gutter made of overlapping flappets of wood flops down that extends beyond the edge of the roof thatch so that a drop of rain is never wasted.
roof thatching n.
ΚΠ
1860 Amer. Baptist Mag. Apr. 259 White ants spread destruction wherever they go—clothes, bedding, books, boxes, boards, roof-thatching, are all ruined by them.
1968 J. Arnold Shell Bk. Country Crafts 329 Hazel rods have many other uses, such as for salmon-traps on the Severn..and pegs for roof-thatching.
1992 E. Hoagland Balancing Acts 184 Antonio led us through the woods—monkey bushes, ink plants, medicine trees, negrito trees—to a cave he'd found while gathering roof thatching and tie-tie-vines.
roof timber n. In quot. OE apparently erroneously glossing Latin imbrices (curved) roof tiles.
ΚΠ
OE Aldhelm Glosses (Brussels 1650) in L. Goossens Old Eng. Glosses of MS Brussels, Royal Libr. 1650 (1974) 291 [Rubrisque] tegularum imbricibus tecta : tighelana þece brycum hrofty uel roftimbrim uel tigelum hrofas [OE Digby 146 tigelena þecum, tigelum, brycum, hroftimbrum i. culmina, hrofas.]
a1675 J. Lightfoot tr. R. Jose in Wks. (1684) 1068 The Owner of the lower room is to lay on the roof-timber.
1723 tr. F. C. Weber Present State Russia I. 337 Then the Roof-timber is set up, and thin Splinters nailed upon it.
1828 P. F. Tytler Hist. Scotl. I. 359 The third [stone]..shivered its strong roof-timbers into a thousand pieces.
1995 Victorian Soc. Ann. 1994 13 The architect was William Butterfield, the patron Alexander Beresford Hope, and the painter who carried out the huge frescoed reredos and decorated the roof timbers, William Dyce.
roof truss n.
ΚΠ
1839 Civil Engineer & Architect's Jrnl. 2 191/1 Roof-trusses may be made entirely of cast-iron.
1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 1975/1 Roof-truss, the framework of a roof, consisting of thrust and tie pieces.
1964 W. L. Goodman Hist. Woodworking Tools 197 It may be, however, that the original French word fermoir has something to do with the ferme or roof-truss.
2003 Victorian Mar. 28/2 Former school and schoolmaster's house, 1860–62, by William Butterfield, with unusual timber roof trusses.
roof window n.
ΚΠ
1707 J. Stevens tr. F. de Quevedo Comical Wks. Introd. 5 He also put out its Eyes, stopping up all the Windows, that could admit the least Glimpse of Day-light; leaving only some little roof Windows, which were nevertheless quite blinded with strong Shutters.
1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 91 Two roof-windows, at 6s. each.
1995 Southern Living Aug. 106/3 (caption) Roof windows are designed to be within reach, and they pivot completely inward for easy cleaning.
b. Mining and Geology. In sense 4d, as roof coal, roof rock, roof stratum, etc.See also roof work n. (a) at Compounds 3.
ΚΠ
1653 E. Manlove Liberties & Customes Lead-mines Derby 264 Primgaps, Roof-works, Flat-works, Pipe-works, Shifts.
1684 Fawside Coal Compt 125 For ruffe coall takeing doune, £5.
1754 Zimmerman in T. G. Smollett tr. Select Ess. Commerce, Agric., Mines, Fisheries 263 It lies above the pitch-coal, and is by the miners called roof-coal.
1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 978 The roof-stratum begins to break by the sides of the pillars.
1845 J. Phillips & C. G. B. Daubeny Geol. in Encycl. Metrop. VI. 704/1 An idea of the appearances of the Hutton roof crags.
1887 P. McNeill Blawearie 134 The day on which I got my head crushed wi' the fa' o' roof-coal.
1935 Amer. Mineralogist 20 598 The narsarsukite was seen only in the quartz veins in the roof rock and upper part of the intrusive.
1954 Sewage & Industr. Wastes 26 655/1 The most highly acid-forming seams studied have a high sulfur content in the roof strata.
2001 E. V. Stanis & B. I. Maskovtsev in R. N. Yong & H. R. Thomas Geoenvironmental Engin. 89 This was caused by a caving of the roof rocks in the air heading, from which the support had been removed.
c. In sense 7b, as †roof-irons, roof lamp, roof-seat, roof spoiler, etc. See also roof-rack n. at Compounds 3.
ΚΠ
1833 Entomol. Mag. Sept. 50 We occupied the roof-seat, side by side: the wind was SS. W., and a mild rain was falling, which continued until we reached Worcester.
1894 Daily News 12 Dec. 8/4 Hansom cabs had got no roof irons to carry luggage.
1897 Outing 30 108/1 The scared old gent on the front roof-seat.
1900 F. Rogers Man. Coaching iv. 73 In the present coach, the roof-seats are fastened on the roof, with their edges fair with the front.
1930 Motor Body Building 51 105/1 Roof Cloth Top, the lining of the under side of the roof.
1957 Inside Story: Motor Car 57 (caption) Roof lamp.
1983 Daily Tel. 14 June 11 (advt.) We've..added a small roof spoiler to reduce turbulence at the rear.
2007 Guardian (Nexis) 18 Aug. (Travel section) 3 Travel from the UK to Cameroon in one of Dragoman Overland's heavy-duty, rigid bodied safari trucks, complete with roof seats.
C2.
a.
(a) Objective, as roof-building, roof-haunting, roof-levelling, roof-reaching adjs., etc.; roof-draining, roof-raising, roof-tiling, etc.
ΚΠ
1796 H. More Way to Plenty 7 All the workmen were looking forward to the usual holiday of roof-raising.
1842 Ld. Tennyson Day-dream in Poems (new ed.) II. 150 Roof-haunting martins warm their eggs.
1849 Ecclesiologist 9 357 (note) The metal-work required for roof-draining.
1861 T. P. Thompson Audi Alteram Partem III. clxx. 197 A provision..beneath the talents of the roof-building ape.
1895 Westm. Gaz. 3 Sept. 8/1 Luxuriant shrubs, and roof-reaching roses.
1920 W. B. Yeats Michael Robartes & Dancer 20 And one bare hill Whereby the haystack and roof-levelling wind..can be stayed.
1931 C. G. Dobson (title) Roof tiling.
1933 A. Nin Let. 24 July in A. Nin & H. Miller Literate Passion (1989) 191 I am going to have one roof-raising talk with Rank on the subject.
1979 I. H. Seeley Building Quantities Explained (ed. 3) viii. 116/5 Take roof tiling adjustments first followed by the leadwork around the opening.
1989 A. Fine Goggle-eyes (1990) vii. 111 Jude narrowed her eyes. It was a toss-up, I reckoned, between heart-rending sobs and roof-raising temper.
2007 R. Lovegrove Silent Fields iii. 59 The narcotic chemical alphachloralose is available..as a means of controlling pest levels of species such as urban pigeons or occasionally ‘plague’ numbers of roof-nesting gulls in seaside towns.
(b)
roof raiser n.
ΚΠ
1893 Era 22 Apr. 27/3 ‘The Veto Bill’, by Duffy and Harrison, a roof-raiser.
1910 Meyer Brothers Druggist 31 82/2 Freaks of Fancy is a roof-raiser from start to finish and can stand repetition many times.
2005 N.Y. Mag. 7 Feb. 78/2 Either way, the Shostakovich Eleventh is a smashing roof-raiser and won't bore anyone.
roof-tiler n.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > builder > [noun] > roofer > tiler or slater
hellier1275
tiler?a1300
slatter1379
slater1408
heelera1425
tile-theekerc1440
shingler1445
roof-tiler1885
1885 Index Exec. Docs. House of Representatives 1884–5 112 Daily wages of the laboring class in Bordeaux..Roof tilers.
1921 Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §570 Roof tiler.
1976 Star (Sheffield) 29 Nov. 10/2 (advt.) Roof tiler required in the very near future.
1995 Daily Express 17 Mar. 79/5 Fellow Briton Colin Montgomerie had a run-in with a lorry, a golf cart and a gang of roof-tilers.
roof walker n.
ΚΠ
1859 Brook Farm 182 We wished each other good night, and blew out the candle in token of our, determination to go to sleep—which we did, despite the ghostly roof-walker.
2006 L. Caine Manor of Death v. 78 I was still certain that the roof walker had been Willow.
b. Similative.
roof-high adj. and adv.
ΚΠ
1814 W. Wordsworth Excursion vi. 303 A Plant no longer wild; the cultured rose There blossoms, strong in health, and will be soon Roof-high . View more context for this quotation
1929 E. Linklater Poet's Pub xxv. 274 He had filled the kitty roof-high, bluffed the four-ace-players, scared the full-house-holders.
2000 D. Lambert Spanish Lessons 38 The new walls of the dining hall rose roof high and even the weather collaborated.
roof-shaped adj.
ΚΠ
1795 Chester Guide (ed. 3) 48 A coffin was taken up, having a roof shaped lid.
1860 M. F. Maury Physical Geogr. Sea (ed. 8) ii. 39 The Gulf Stream is..roof-shaped.
1992 Harrowsmith Feb. 26/1 Popular, too, are compact in-line binoculars that reflect the light five times by means of straight tubes and roof-shaped prisms.
c. Locative, instrumental, etc., as roof-clustered, roof-fast, roof-mired, roof-rent, roof-wrecked adjs.
ΚΠ
eOE Metres of Boethius (partly from transcript of damaged MS) (2009) vii. 6 He ne herde þæt on heane munt monna ænig meahte asettan healle hroffæste.
1835 S. Fox King Alfred's Boethius 24 He said he never heard, That on a high mountain, Any one of men Could place A roof-fast hall.
1880 ‘M. Twain’ Tramp Abroad xix. 171 A hill..with..its..roof-clustered cap of architecture.
1922 T. Hardy Late Lyrics & Earlier 283 The bower we shrined to Tennyson, Gentlemen, Is roof-wrecked.
1933 C. Day Lewis Magnetic Mountain 50 Yet passing derelict mills and barns roof-rent.
1955 A. Clarke Anc. Lights 14 A cage-bird came among sparrows..Plucked, roof-mired, all in mad bits.
1984 T. C. Boyle Budding Prospects (1985) iv. 299 The whole run-down, gutted, roof-rent slum was nothing more than an oversized refuse bin, was the essence of trash itself.
2006 B. Hardy in T. Hardy Reappraised iv. 65 Rusty nails off creepers not pears, weedy roof-wrecked, blue fly on the pane replaced by a spider.
C3.
roofball n. U.S. any of various children's games in which a ball is bounced off or thrown over a roof and caught by other players.
ΚΠ
1960 J. Updike Rabbit, Run 225 Over at the pavilion the rubber thump of Roofball and the click of checkers call to his memory.
1989 Newsday 23 Mar. ii. 8/2 There was a peculiarly Shillingtonian game of ‘roofball’, a kind of small-town stick-ball. Boys would stand in a line and volley a rubber ball up on a roof. If you missed, you were out.
2008 Dayton (Ohio) Daily News (Nexis) 6 Mar. (Sports section) b4 Everybody from Robinson Drive played roof ball, and I got pretty good at it.
roof bolt n. a bolt for attaching something to or securing a roof; esp. (Mining) a tensioned rod anchoring the roof of a working to the strata above; cf. rock bolt n. at rock n.1 Compounds 2a(a).
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > building and constructing equipment > fastenings > [noun] > bolt > types of
round bolt1582
ringbolt1599
pikebolt1622
rag bolt1625
set-bolt1627
clinch-bolta1642
eyebolt1649
clinch1659
screw-bolt1690
king bolt1740
wrain-bolt1750
wraining-bolt1769
toggle-bolt1794
strap-bolt1795
wring-bolt1815
through-bolt1821
truss-bolt1825
slip-stopper1831
stud bolt1838
anchor bolt1839
king rod1843
joint bolt1844
spade-bolt1850
shackle-bolt1852
roof bolt1853
set-stud1855
coach bolt1869
truss-rod1873
fox-bolt1874
garnish-bolt1874
fang-bolt1876
stud1878
U bolta1884
rock bolt1887
hook bolt1899
tower bolt1911
explosive bolt1948
1853 H. Haupt Bridge Construct. ii. 222 30 roof-bolts 36 inches long ¾ inch diam.
1901 Locomotive Mag. Apr. 75/1 The bars are put on and attached by the roof bolts being screwed into them.
1950 Sci. News Let. 9 Sept. 174/3 Roof bolts, which replace in part the pillars of earth or timbers to support the roof after ore is removed, are steel rods driven into the roof either vertically, or at an angle to hold the layers together.
1955 Trans. Inst. Mining Engineers 114 849 Roof bolts cannot be used to replace normal supports at the face, but they have been used..to bolt weak immediate beds together or to stronger beds above.
1994 Guardian 27 July i. 2/7 The use of cost-saving roof bolts..was a factor in the roof fall which caused the deaths of three miners last year.
roof bolting n. Mining the practice of using roof bolts; cf. rock bolting n. at rock n.1 Compounds 2a(a); roof bolts collectively.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > mining > [noun] > other specific mining processes > in coal-mining
outstroke1747
holing1841
coal-cutting1842
patio1845
sumping1849
bottoming1856
salting1856
patio process1862
spragging1865
yardage1877
booming1880
brushing1883
filling1883
sounding1883
yard-work1883
blanketing1884
goafing1888
freezing process1889
power loading1901
bashing1905
rock dusting1915
mucking1918
solid stowing1929
stone-dusting1930
roof bolting1949
rock bolting1955
1949 E. Thomas et al. Suspension Roof Support (U.S. Bureau Mines Information Circular No. 7533) 4 A pick man ordinarily trims the ribs and face..after the loading machine has completed its work and before the 'roof-bolting' crew enters.
1954 Jrnl. Chem., Metall. & Mining Soc. S. Afr. 54 285/1 It was necessary to resort to roof and side bolting and pig netting in order to protect the personnel.
1996 D. E. Garrett Potash iii. 217 All roads or permanent entries have roof bolting on a 1.4 x 1.4 m pattern, using 1.5 m long resin bolts.
roof-brain n. Anatomy (now historical) C. S. Sherrington's name for: the cerebral cortex.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > nervous system > cerebrospinal axis > brain > parts of brain > [noun] > cortex
cortex1741
brain matter1809
brain cortex1867
roof-brain1940
1940 C. S. Sherrington Man on his Nature vii. 222 Observation indicates rather a roof-brain which overseers subordinate mechanisms.
1960 20th Cent. Dec. 549 At the beck and call of those more primitive regions..the roof-brain wakes or sleeps.
2007 Brain Res. Rev. 55 319/2 The rhythmic self-excitation that Sherrington thought was a sine qua non of the ‘roof-brain’ (neocortex).
roof cat n. a feral cat, esp. one which frequents roofs.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Felidae (feline) > [noun] > miscellaneous wild or big cats
ouncec1400
wild catc1400
catamountain?a1475
mountain cat1625
lion1630
tiger-cat1699
carcajou1760
kinkajou1760
serval1775
wood-cat1791
roof cat1872
clouded tiger1879
big cat1886
clouded leopard1910
mitlaa1925
1872 Pop. Sci. Monthly May 71 Races thrive by crossing—that is, by the union of different races of the same species, they multiply abundantly around us; such are our street-dogs, our roof-cats, our coach-horses.
1909 J. J. Chapman Sausage from Bologna ii. 43 The Abbe, on her right, is a damnable roof-cat, who gets his living by stealing cold chicken livers.
2001 L. Frank Just ask Iris (2003) ii. 20 He could be a roof cat, or a bodega cat.
roof-climb v. intransitive to climb over the roofs of buildings.
ΚΠ
1951 ‘M. Innes’ Operation Pax vi. vi. 286 If you roof-climb,..then you just can't..sit in libraries too.
1987 J. Rae Lett. from School 47 There is only one thing more hazardous than a boy roof climbing at night.
roof-climber n. a person who engages in roof-climbing.
ΚΠ
1875 Florist & Pomologist May 118 Pillar and roof-climbers will require regular attention.
1932 Daily Mirror 28 May 6/4 An appeal to undergraduate roof-climbers is made in the ‘Cambridge Review’.
2001 Biogr. Mem. Fellows Royal Soc. 47 206 In summer he played tennis, some cricket and occasionally water polo—he was also an enthusiastic night-climber or roof climber.
roof-climbing n. the activity of climbing over the roofs of buildings.
ΚΠ
1844 Boy's Treasury 229 This roof-climbing is dangerous.
1875 T. Picton tr. F. Du Boisgobey Chevalier Casse-cou xiv. 304 This accident addled the pate of this individual, who set about roof climbing like a genuine grimalkin.
1932 G. Greene Stamboul Train iii. i. 123 He intended to do no more roof-climbing that night.
2005 J. G. Rabin in P. Roth i. 17 His roof climbing notwithstanding, Ozzie's performance is basically semantic, and he has a history of getting himself into trouble with questions.
roof comb n. (in Mesoamerican architecture) a decorated stone openwork structure surmounting a temple.
ΚΠ
1872 Lakeside Monthly Feb. 131/2 A single tree..when prostrate at last, lifts its enormous back as high as his roof-comb.
1908 Encycl. Relig. & Ethics I. 687/1 On the roof was a roof comb—one of the most distinguishing features of Maya architecture.
1971 Country Life 4 Nov. 1219/2 A three-room temple surmounted by an enormous stone roof-comb originally carved with an impressive seated figure.
2005 Amer. Antiq. 70 201/1 Roof combs were not built on structures at Copan and Quirigua because of earthquake frequency.
roof deck n. (a) an upper deck on a ship, providing shelter for a promenade or other deck below; (b) a deck-like structure designed as a recreational space on or near the roof of a building.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > porches, balconies, etc. > [noun] > other
orley1823
roof deck1843
oriela1870
1843 Manch. Times 7 Oct. 3/1 Above the main deck there is another splendid promenade deck, three hundred feet long, covered by a third or roof deck.
1876 Harper's Mag. May 860/2 Roof decks are also productive of much trouble, especially in our climate, where we are subject to heavy falls of snow.
1947 Archit. Rev. 102 117 The whole of the area on which this house is built is utilized for outdoor functions; above the living-room-kitchen part is an open roof-deck, below the bedrooms a car-port.
2006 Philadelphia Sept. 131/2 At night, join yachties (crew members) and heiresses at Sky Bar, the roof deck atop one of Newport's venerable nightspots.
roof drip n. a drip or dripping of water from a roof.
ΚΠ
1858 D. P. Starkey in Dublin Univ. Mag. Dec. 729 The roof-drip ticks more slowly down.
1990 D. Holloway Which? Bk. Plumbing & Central Heating (rev. ed.) vi. 82/2 Choose the position of the brackets so that the end bracket is as high up as possible and the lowest point of the gutter..is not more than 50mm (2in) below the roof drip.
roof ladder n. a ladder used to access a roof; esp. a type of portable ladder designed to fit securely over the ridge of a roof for added stability.
ΚΠ
1848 Rules & Regulations Edinb. & Glasgow Railway Co. Apr. vii. 54 They [sc. porters] shall always have the roof-ladder and luggage sliding board on the arrival or departure platform.
1921 Illustr. World June 740 (caption) A good roof ladder made of strips of wood and metal hooks.
1984 Which? Mar. 126/2 To venture on to the roof itself, you need a roof ladder, which is designed to be wheeled up the roof and hooked over the ridge.
2008 Roofing Siding Insulation (Nexis) 1 Apr. 7 The roof must be properly staged, with installers working off roof ladders and scaffolds.
† roof-lorn adj. literary Obsolete rare roofless.
ΚΠ
1804 ‘E. de Acton’ Tale without Title III. 127 To find himself conveyed to a roof-lorn cottage.
roofman n. (a) a member of the firefighting team who vents the roof and top-floor windows in the case of a fire; (b) = gutter-man n. (c) at gutter n.1 Compounds 2.
ΚΠ
1878 Fitchburg (Mass.) Daily Sentinel 14 Oct. Their ladder..broke near the eaves, the roofman falling a distance of 20 feet.
1909 Fort Wayne (Indiana) Jrnl.-Gaz. 10 Mar. 2/7 The office of custodian, or superintendent, carries twenty-three appointments—a head of the department, an assistant, three policemen, one fireman, one carpenter, one roofman and fifteen janitors.
1921 Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §970 Roofman; gutterman; sweeps roofs and removes dirt and other obstruction from guttering, rain pipes, etc., of large buildings.
1997 R. A. Fritz Tools of Trade v. 78 When combined with a halligan bar or similar prying tool, the roofman's hook can be used as a driving tool.
roof-mask n. now rare a protective external structure which covers a ceiling or inner roof; an outer roof; (frequently with reference to Ruskin).
ΚΠ
1853 J. Ruskin Stones of Venice II. xiv. 150 Roof cornices..which are composed merely by the projection of the edge of the roof mask over the wall.
1901 Archit. Rec. Apr. 384 The gable is evidently not a real gable or ‘roof mask’, but a purely monumental erection.
1912 E. A. G. Lambourn Story of Archit. in Oxf. Stone vi. 161 In the sunny climate of Greece, when a separate roof-mask had to be built to protect a perishable ceiling, it was made with a very low pitch.
2005 R. Homan Art of Sublime (2006) iv. 52 The sides and rear of the building are framed in a similar way. This supports a low-pitched roof-mask, producing a distinctive shallow triangle on the front elevation called the pediment.
roof nail n. any of a number of nails used to secure roofing material (in early use also as mass noun).
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > building and constructing equipment > fastenings > [noun] > nail > roofing nails
roof nail1284
shingle-nail1303
spoon-nailc1310
tile-pin1338
lead-nail1355
spoon-brod1361
stone-brod1363
stone-nail1469
slate-pin1579
shank1716
slate-peg1875
slate-nail1880
1284 in B. Sundby Stud. Middle Eng. Dial. Material Worcs. Rec. (1963) 97 (MED) Rofnayl.
1350 in H. T. Riley Memorials London (1868) 262 [Also,23,000 of] rofnail.
1423 in R. W. Chambers & M. Daunt Bk. London Eng. (1931) 158 (MED) Item, for ml. of rooff naill, xij d.
1477–9 in H. Littlehales Medieval Rec. London City Church (1905) 87 For sprigge, xij d, & for Rofe nayle, viij d.
1528 in N. J. Williams Kingston-upon-Thames Bridgewardens' Accts. Surrey Rec. Soc. (1955) 5 Item for iiij C of rofe nayle for the same howse.
1882 Jrnl. Brit. Archæol. Assoc. 5 38 In addition to the pottery, the upper earth contained a Roman roof-nail.
1950 Pop. Sci. Mar. 239/1 (heading) Cement Stops Roof-Nail Leaks.
2006 Church Times 10 Nov. 14/1 Experts told him the problem was nail fatigue, as the roof nails have a lifespan of 80 years, and, yes, the church was built just 81 years ago in 1925.
roof nucleus n. [after German Dachkern (1867 or earlier)] Anatomy any of the nuclei of grey matter within the white matter of the cerebellum, spec. that located closest to the roof of the fourth ventricle (the nucleus fastigii).
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > nervous system > cerebrospinal axis > brain > parts of brain > [noun] > cerebellum > parts of
lobe1672
arbor vitae1800
nodule1839
amygdala1845
nodulus1848
uvula1848
roof nucleus1872
prepeduncle1886
declive1889
postpeduncle1889
archicerebellum1937
1872 H. Power tr. S. Stricker et al. Man. Human & Compar. Histol. II. xxxi. 517 The roof nuclei (Dachkerne)..are two convex and, when seen from above, rhomboid masses, which in the cerebellum of Man are situated below the central lobule of the superior vermiform process.
1886 A. H. Buck Ref. Handbk. Med. Sci. II. 329 The so-called roof-nucleus..of the cerebellum.
1968 Brain 91 612 In the cerebellum the dentate and roof nuclei showed selective, moderate to severe gliosis.
2004 Neurosci. Res. 49 297 The elevated cytochrome oxidase (CO) activity in Purkinje cells and the reduced CO activity in the roof nuclei (interpositus and dentate) of the mutants were associated with poor performance on the small stationary beam.
roof organization n. [after German Dachorganisation (1929 or earlier)] a parent organization; cf. umbrella organization n. at umbrella n. Compounds 2.
ΚΠ
1935 Amer. Polit. Sci. Rev. 29 141 Deutscher Gemeindetag, recently founded exclusive ‘roof organization’ of German local authorities.
1948 W. R. Benét Reader's Encycl. 541/2 at Institute of France It is a roof organization and embraces these five academies.
2002 R. A. Schoenherr & D. Yamane Goodbye Father iv. 180 The North American groups have formed two international roof organizations: Catholic Organizations for Renewal.., and Women Church Convergence.
roof pendant n. Geology a mass of country rock which projects downwards into an intrusive body such as a batholith, or remains as an erosional fragment on its upper surface.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > structural features > discontinuity or unconformity > [noun] > intrusion > roof pendant
roof pendant1906
1906 R. A. Daly in Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer. 17 336 The whole forms a huge irregular block of roof rock almost completely surrounded and probably underlain by..granite. Such a block, once a downwardly projecting part of a roof in stock or batholith, may be named a ‘roof pendant’; it is analogous to the pendant of Gothic architecture.
1961 Amer. Mineralogist 46 249 Erosion has lowered the surface to the point where only patches of the metamorphics have been preserved, embedded in a matrix of the quartz diorite as roof pendants or ‘curtains’.
1992 A. A. Schoenherr Nat. Hist. Calif. iii. 52 Small remnants of the overlying sediment, called roof pendants, are still found along the crest of the Sierra Nevada.
† roof pincer n. Obsolete rare a surgical instrument used to raise the uvula.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medical appliances or equipment > surgical instruments > [noun] > instruments used on uvula or palate
uvula spoon1678
roof pincer1690
uvulatome1872
staphylotome1875
uvula scissors1875
uvula elevator1876
uvulotome1897
1690 S. Blankaart Lexicon Novum Medicum 591 Staphylepartes,..Angl. the roof pincer.
roof prism n. Optics a reflecting prism in which two of the reflecting faces are at a right or (more rarely) acute angle to one another, maintaining correct visual orientation, and typically used in pairs to provide a compact instrument with the eyepiece and objective in line; frequently attributive; cf. Porro prism n.
ΚΠ
1904 U.S. Patent 765,607 3/1 Total reflection by unsilvered surfaces at angles of forty-five degrees—as, for example, in the ‘roof-prisms’ sometimes employed.
1955 Sci. News. Let. 17 Sept. 191/2 (advt.) Eye piece is 1″ Kellner and eyepiece assem[bly] has a 90° Roof prism.
1983 Outdoor Life Aug. 44 Lately there's been a great demand for roof prism binoculars because generally the design has been used to produce glasses that are slightly more compact than those using the porro prism design.
2006 Bird Watching Aug. 88/2 Small enough to fit in a pocket but bulkier than a comparable roof-prism model.
roof-rack n. a framework fitted to the roof of a motor vehicle for carrying luggage.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > powered vehicle > parts and equipment of motor vehicles > [noun] > luggage rack
grid1928
roof-rack1929
ski carrier1965
ski rack1968
1929 Billings (Montana) Gaz. 28 July 8/7 Inside luggage rack supplemented by an exterior roof rack at the rear.
1960 News Chron. 29 Apr. 10/5 Anyone..can..have his car fitted with..a roof-rack.
1976 P. Cave High Flying Birds i. 13 Just load the kites on to my roof-rack, drive down to the nearest Channel ferry service and go looking for the perfect hill.
2005 Independent 21 Nov. 43/2 Take roof-racks off when they are not needed, as they create wind drag. Driving with the windows open also creates drag.
roof rail n. a rail forming part of or placed upon a roof, esp. of a road vehicle.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > powered vehicle > parts and equipment of motor vehicles > [noun] > frame or chassis > horizontal frame members
roof rail1794
rail1904
cross-member1922
sill1959
1794 W. Felton Treat. Carriages I. i. 31 The front roof rail is tenoned in the fore pillars.
1888 Inst. Mech. Engineers: Proc. July 141 When the machine in its forward traverse has arrived at the end of the roof rail W, the pressure is shut off.
1930 Motor Body Building 51 105/1 [Coachwork Nomenclature] Front roof rail, the cross bar joining the front ends of the cant rail. Rear roof rail, the cross bar at the back of the top of the body joining the rear ends of the cant rail.
2001 Navy News Sept. 49/2 A bonus of this muscle is that it can tow a braked trailer such as a caravan or boat weighing up to 2.4 tonnes, and standard roof rails can carry a load of up to 100kg on road.
roof rat n. now chiefly U.S. the black or ship rat, Rattus rattus.Quot. 1819 illustrates an equivalent compound with a form of rottan n.In quot. 1945 spec. the brownish subspecies R. r. alexandrinus.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Rodentia or rodent > superfamily Myomorpha (mouse, rat, vole, or hamster) > [noun] > family Muridae > genus Rattus (rat) > rattus rattus (black rat)
roof rat1837
ship-rat1860
1819 Edinb. Mag. & Literary Misc. July 506 Black rotten, Roof Rotten.]
1837 Brit. Cycl. Nat. Hist. III. 533/2 They are called ground rats or flax rats, in distinction from the black ones, which are roof rats.
1882 D. C. Beard Amer. Boy's Handy Bk. xxiii. 210 The roof rat in the Southern States came originally from Egypt.
1945 T. D. Carter et al. Mammals Pacific World 114 The black rat is recognized by its color, but the roof rat is colored much like the Norway rat.
2005 Amer. Midland Naturalist 153 138 The roof rat (Rattus rattus), an introduced species that is practically ubiquitous around farm buildings of the area.
roof roller n. a cylindrical roller used to produce an even surface during the construction or repair of a roof, esp. a flat one.
ΚΠ
1857 R. B. M. Binning Jrnl. Two Years' Trav. in Persia I. xviii. 331 It is the common practice, after snow or rain, to roll the roof with a heavy stone, called the bân ghaltân or ‘roof roller’, so as to level and smooth the surface.
1936 Discovery Aug. 251/2 A roof roller [excavated at Tell Duwein, near Jerusalem] was identical in form with that in use today in Palestine.
2002 D. Syon in A. M. Berlin & J. A. Overman First Jewish Revolt ii. ix. 146 Several round millstones and about ten roof rollers..were found along the wall.
roof scraper n. (a) North American an implement used for clearing snow, debris, plant matter, etc., from the roof of a building; (b) Theatre slang a person who occupies a seat in the gallery of a theatre, or who stands behind the highest seats (now disused).
ΚΠ
1905 Sessional Papers Canada (10th Parl., 1st Sess.) I: Pt. ii. No. 1 w. 20 Pure lead, 525 1b. at 6c; lawn mowers 2 at $15; roof scrapers, 3 at $7.50.
1906 Ogden (Utah) Standard 6 July 7/3 We will go over your roof with roof scrapers..and remove all scales from roof and seams.
1909 J. R. Ware Passing Eng. Victorian Era 210/2 Roof scrapers (Theatrical), gallery boys—especially those standing behind the highest row of seats—and therefore nearer the roof.
1976 Manitowoc (Wisconsin) Herald-Times Reporter 6 Feb. 20/4 The best solution is to get the snow off the roof of the house. There are several long handled roof scrapers that seem to work quite well.
roof slate n. a roofing slate.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > stone or rock > [noun] > building stone > stone of the nature of slate > for roofing > piece of
slatc1384
slate1455
stone-slate1530
roof slate1784
scantle1850
1784 R. Kirwan Elements Mineral. 86 Roof Slate, Schistus Tegularis.
1803 J. Plymley Gen. View Agric. Shropshire 43 The roof-slate, or schistus tegularis, which contains more silex than argill.
1915 E. F. Wood Note-bk. of Attache ii. 53 The aëroplanes have thrown a dozen bombs; they have broken windows and roof slates and have killed one old woman.
2008 Saving Cent. (Victorian Soc.) 35 Dereliction was exacerbated by the wholesale theft of roof slates and York stone flooring.
roof-snake n. (esp. in Asia) a snake that habitually lives or hunts in the roof of a building.Colubrid snakes that frequent roofs include (in southern Asia) the wolf snake, Lycodon aulicus, and (in eastern Asia) the rat snake, Elaphe schrenckii.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > reptiles > order Squamata (lizards and snakes) > suborder Ophidia (snakes) > [noun] > unspecified and miscellaneous types of
worm-kinc893
slow-wormOE
hagworm?c1475
salpege1569
scytale1572
house snake1608
porphyre1608
ellops1667
sea-serpent1672
tree-serpent1731
boyuna1763
whip-snake1774
garter-snake1775
switch-snake1791
argus-snake1802
rat snake1818
skaapsteker1818
sea-snake1827
short-tail1879
roof-snake1884
brown snake1896
herald-snake1910
night snake1918
parrot snake1931
1884 Chambers's Jrnl. Apr. 215/2 There are few bungalows the thatched roof of which is not the occasional abode of..the sankor, or roof-snake.
1911 W. E. Griffis Unmannerly Tiger 136 One day, a young sparrow that had hardly learned to fly was almost seized, and might have been devoured by the roof-snake.
1975 P. Mayne Friends in High Places i. ii. 31 That is where the roof-snake lives, sir... Out she comes from there and down.
roof-spotter n. an observer posted at the top of a building to give warning of hostile aircraft; also in extended use.Particularly associated with civil defence during the Second World War (1939–45).
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > warrior > others concerned with military affairs > [noun] > air-raid warden, fire-watcher, etc.
fire-watcher1830
street warden1835
air warden1933
air raid warden1936
warden1936
paraspotter1940
roof-spotter1940
roof-watcher1940
1940 Times 3 Oct. 5/3 The Government have approved the institution of roof-spotters, who can give special warning when they actually see the enemy approaching.
1943 J. L. Hunt & A. G. Pringle Service Slang 41 Jim Crow, normally used to describe the corps of roof-spotters guarding our large buildings. Now taken into service slang to denote the man on watch when ‘unofficial business’, such as cards, is being transacted.
1964 Winnipeg (Manitoba) Free Press 14 Dec. 40/2 About 1,000,000 Malaysians now are serving in a ‘vigilante corps’ of coastline watchers and roof spotters to halt Indonesian raiders.
2008 Sun (Nexis) 15 Aug. What about the fire watchers and roof spotters who did such a dangerous job?
roof-spotting n. observation from the top of a building to give warning of hostile aircraft; cf. roof-spotter n.
ΚΠ
1940 Times 25 Sept. 8/1 No ‘roof-spotting’ is possible in the vast majority of the small and medium-sized branches scattered throughout the metropolitan and suburban areas.
1940 Manch. Guardian Weekly 1 Nov. 322 In the aggregate many thousands of man-hours have been saved by efficient roof-spotting.
1940 Manch. Guardian Weekly 1 Nov. 322 The reports to the Ministry show that the roof-spotting system is welcomed by the workers.
1942 T. Kitching Diary 4 Feb. in Life & Death in Changi (1998) iii. 27 The all clear went at 12.15 p.m. I instructed Foggy, James Laird and two others in the gentle art of roof-spotting.
2005 Bath Chron. (Nexis) 2 May 21 ‘I also did roof spotting,’ he recalls. ‘I'd be up on the roof, and if I thought planes were coming, I had to sound the alarm.’
† roof sprit n. Nautical Obsolete (apparently) a spar, perhaps spec. = rough-tree n. 1; cf. roof-tree n. 2.
ΚΠ
1350 Exchequer Accts. (P.R.O.: E 101/25/32) m. 5 Et en deux Rofspretes pour la dite cog Thomas pres .iij. s. du piece .vj. s.
1399–1401 in B. Sandahl Middle Eng. Sea Terms (1958) II. 96 (MED) De byrlynges xxiiij, De rofspretes ij.
1420–1 ( Foreign Acct. 8 Henry V (P.R.O.: E 364/54) m. 7/1 j diall j Soundynglyne j Roffe Sprite in Balingera Regis.
roof swell n. [after German Dachschweller (1799 or earlier)] a mechanism for creating crescendo and diminuendo effects on an organ by opening and closing the upper shutters on a swell box; cf. door-swell n. at door n. Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > keyboard instrument > organ > [noun] > swell or swell-box
swell1774
door-swell1852
roof swell1852
Venetian swell1852
wind-swell1852
1852 tr. J. J. Seidel Organ & its Constr. 27 The roof or door swell [Ger. Dach- oder Thürschweller],..when accurately constructed (of oak wood), is the best sort.
1988 F. K. Grave In Praise of Harmony vi. 264 Both the roof swell and the second of five manuals were removed altogether.
roof tax n. any of various types of property tax, esp. one levied on the owner or occupier of a roofed building.
ΚΠ
1853 Decisions of Zillah 260 The Defendant answers that the manai has been in his family for 100 years, and that he..has enjoyed it paying roof tax to the Government.
1926 F. W. H. Migeod View of Sierra Leone iv. 35 The tendency of the roof tax is to produce larger houses, and there are never out-buildings for it is the roof that is taxed.
1990 M. Thatcher in Hansard Commons (Electronic ed.) 8 Feb. 1007 We shall not introduce a roof tax, which is based on the capital valuation of houses regardless of whether they are owned or whether a tenant lives in them... Moreover, as a Thatcher I object to a roof tax.
2005 R. Hume Life with Birds 303 I wondered if there might be a roof tax, for half of Cairo looked to be unfinished: the tops of all the buildings bear spikes of scaffolding.
roof trough n. a piece of guttering set under the eaves of a roof to conduct rainwater; = trough n. 5; also in extended use.In quot. 1665 with allusion of Chaucer's Miller's Tale (I(A) ll. 3620–3).
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > receptacle or container > vessel > tub > [noun] > large
soec1300
tankard1310
gimletc1391
standard1454
stander1459
knop1563
roof trough1665
ringe1720
drum1830
1665 R. Brathwait Comment Two Tales Chaucer 23 Every one is to enter into their Roof-trough or Kimelyn.
1857 tr. B. Auerbach Bare-footed Maiden ii. 14 Dami began to count how many drops of rain fell from the roof-trough.
1993 Winnipeg (Manitoba) Free Press 3 May a11/3 (advt.) Roof Trough 50% off with any complete siding or roofing job.
roof-watcher n. = roof-spotter n.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > warrior > others concerned with military affairs > [noun] > air-raid warden, fire-watcher, etc.
fire-watcher1830
street warden1835
air warden1933
air raid warden1936
warden1936
paraspotter1940
roof-spotter1940
roof-watcher1940
1940 Times 12 Sept. 5/5 The official approval which has now been given to the system of roof watchers is admirable.
1941 Battle of Britain Aug.–Oct. 1940 (Min. of Information) 21 Except when roof-watchers—the Prime Minister's ‘Jim Crows’—signalled that danger was imminent, life went on as usual and still does.
2002 Times (Nexis) 30 Dec. (Times3) 8 Roof-watchers proved their worth, and on buildings where they were on duty the incendiaries were quickly extinguished.
roof water n. rainwater collected from or falling from the roof of a building.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > water > [noun] > rain-water > collected or falling from roof
roof water1804
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > precipitation or atmospheric moisture > rain > [noun] > rain-water > from roofs
roof water1804
1804 W. Marshall in Ann. Rev. & Hist. of Lit. 1804 (1805) 3 707/1 Roof water,..although more wholesome, is seldom so well tasted as spring water.
1879 Harper's Mag. June 134/1 During storms the roof water increases this action.
1910 W. De Morgan Affair of Dishonour iv. 55 To him who drinks no water, roof-water and well-water are welcome alike.
2002 D. B. Brooks Water i. 13 This is where the tough technical problems with roof water arise: in keeping the water clean and in engineering cost-effective storage.
roof work n. (a) Mining the upper surface or part of a working or seam (now rare); (b) roofing, esp. of a decorative kind; (c) work or repairs carried out on a roof.
ΚΠ
1653 E. Manlove Liberties & Customes Lead-mines Derby 264 Primgaps, Roof-works, Flat-works, Pipe-works, Shifts.
1733 S. Whatley tr. S. Tyssot de Patot Trav. & Adventures James Massey viii. 129 The Pavement [sc. of the palace] is red, the Pillars black, and the Roof-work white.
1855 Bradshaw's Illustr. Hand-bk. Travellers in Belgium 79/2 Fortunately only the roofwork of the church was burnt.
1888 Amer. Geologist 1 273 The disconnection of the coal bed and roof work is complete and distinct.
1891 S. Anglin Design of Struct. xix. 354 In roof work generally it is much better to drill than to punch the bars.
1979 P. Levi tr. Pausanias Guide to Greece (new ed.) I. i. 53 Pavilions with gilded roofwork and alabaster, decorated with statues and paintings.
2009 Portland (Maine) Press Herald (Nexis) 23 June b2 He could begin renovations this winter at the armory, which needs roof work and has no heating system.

Derivatives

ˈroof-like adv. and adj.
ΚΠ
1678 J. P. tr. J. Johnstone Descr. Nature Four-footed Beasts Pref. *2v All those that have toes or claws, have also Nails. But the Apes have them bowed or roof-like rising up [L. sed simiae imbricati].
1792 W. Wordsworth Descr. Sketches 211 Mists..Spread rooflike o'er the deep secluded vale.
1894 tr. G. Sergi Var. Hum. Species 52 There are stegoid varieties also, that is, with a roof-like arch, not very high.
1952 W. J. Miller Introd. Hist. Geol. (ed. 6) xviii. 255 All Mississippian and Pennsylvanian amphibians are often classed together as stegocephalians, so-called because of the relatively large, bony, rooflike plates of the skulls.
2000 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) June 207/1 I had to make the forms more rooflike.
ˈroof-wise adv.
ΚΠ
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues at Haultmuré A dish of brewes, whose soppes are heaped roofewise one vpon another.
1834 T. Carlyle Sartor Resartus i. iii. 5/2 Those thick locks..overlapping roof-wise the gravest face we ever in this world saw.
1901 M. C. Dickerson Moths & Butterflies ii. 146 When it is resting, the wings are folded roof-wise over the body.
1994 W. B. Lincoln Conquest of Continent xxiv. 199 ‘Each longitudinal half of this low platform,’ he went on, ‘sloped a little, roof-wise, from the center.’
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

roofv.

Brit. /ruːf/, /rʊf/, U.S. /ruf/, /rʊf/
Inflections: Past tense and past participle roofed, (rare) rooved;
Forms: late Middle English iroofyd (past participle), late Middle English rofyd (past tense), late Middle English roued (past participle), late Middle English rouyd (past participle), late Middle English roved (past participle), late Middle English rowfe (in a late copy), 1500s– roof, 1600s roofe, 1600s rooff, 1600s rooffe, 1800s– ruv (English regional (Somerset)); also Scottish pre-1700 roufit (past participle), pre-1700 ruiffit (past participle), 1900s– röf (Shetland).
Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: roof n.
Etymology: < roof n.With the variation in vowel length in U.S. pronunciation, compare the note at roof n. Compare also Old English hrēfan to roof over, cover (also prefixed as gehrēfan , oferhrēfan ), which survives into early Middle English as refe (cognate with Middle Dutch rueven , roeven (1477 in Teuthonista) < the same Germanic base as roof n., with i-mutation of the stem vowel):OE Riddle 1 10 Þonne ic [i.e. a storm] wudu hrere.., holme gehrefed.., wide sended.?a1160 Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough contin.) anno 1137 Martin abbot..wrohte on þe circe..& goded it suythe & læt it refen.
1.
a. transitive. To provide or cover with a roof. Also with in, over. In early use esp. in past participle.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > building or providing with specific parts > build or provide with specific parts [verb (transitive)] > roof
heela1387
theek1387
cover1393
roofc1425
uphead1519
shedc1600
close1659
oversail1673
hovel1688
to cover in1726
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) iii. 328 (MED) Of pured gold roued was þe chare.
?1484 Will of Margaret Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 383 I wulle that the seid ele..be newe roved [v.r. newrouyd], leded, and glased.
1548 W. Patten Exped. Scotl. sig. K.iiii Ouer .ii. such bowes..thei stretched a shete doun on both sides, whearby their cabain becam roofed lyke a ridge.
?1578 W. Patten Let. Entertainm. Killingwoorth 66 All of the hard quarry stone: euery room so spacioous, so well belighted, and so by roofed within.
1612 in H. M. Paton Accts. Masters of Wks. (1957) I. 327 For..repairing the tofall callit the weiolers schalmer quhilk man be new roufit.
1638 in C. Innes Fasti Aberdonenses (1854) 410 They find the steipill head suld be ruiffit and theikit with leid.
1726 W. Broome in A. Pope et al. tr. Homer Odyssey V. xxiii. 196 Around the tree I rais'd a nuptial bow'r, And roof'd defensive of the storm and show'r.
1775 in N. Bouton Provinc. Papers New-Hampsh. (1873) VII. 673 I think it would be much preferable to roofing them.
1789 J. Williams Nat. Hist. Mineral Kingdom I. 277 Many [miners]..were sumping, driving, and roofing in other parts of the work.
1830 W. Scott Ivanhoe (new ed.) II. xviii. 337 The builders had attained the art of using cement, and of roofing a building.
1878 G. S. Nares Narr. Voy. Polar Sea I. iii. 53 The settlement of Etah..consisted of three stone igloos, and one hut roofed over with canvas.
1922 F. S. Fitzgerald Beautiful & Damned 237 Some jovial oaf had roofed the new kitchen with red tin.
1956 S. H. Bell Erin's Orange Lily ix. 138 They built the house and they roofed it.
1991 G. Burn Alma Cogan (1992) vi. 118 The escalator at this end was roofed in with corrugated iron and chicken-wire.
1998 H. Strachan Way Up Way Out iv. 69 The manse is behind: two separate rooms.., with the space between roofed over, all under galvanised iron.
b. transitive (reflexive). reflexive and figurative.
ΚΠ
1634 T. Heywood Maidenhead Lost i, in Wks. (1874) IV. 109 He has..many a stormy night Beene forc'd to roofe himselfe i'th open field.
1872 J. Tyndall Forms of Water 133 The sea freezes, roofing itself with ice of enormous thickness.
1915 E. Wharton Fighting France 101 With these opportune mementoes Mr. Liégeay roofed himself in, lying wedged in his narrow hiding-place from three in the afternoon till night.
1998 L. Wubbels In His Presence (2003) 23 Nov. The Church was just as much a church when she was in dens and in caves of the earth, destitute, tormented, afflicted, as when she roofed herself with lovely vaulted ceilings and rare lights.
†c. transitive. To set in the manner of a roof over something. (poetic in quot.) Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > building or providing with specific parts > build or provide with specific parts [verb (transitive)] > roof > set as roof over
roof1820
1820 P. B. Shelley Prometheus Unbound iv. i. 128 The temples..Of Man's ear and eye, Roofed over Sculpture and Poesy.
2.
a. transitive. To be or form a roof over (something). Also figurative and with in, over. Chiefly literary.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > high position > overhanging > overhang [verb (transitive)] > like a roof, tent, penthouse, etc.
over-canopy1593
incanopy1607
roof1615
penthouse1637
cope1705
nave1820
overroofa1828
tent1838
1615 G. Sandys Relation of Journey 130 The stones so great, that eight floores it, eight rooffes it.
a1626 W. Rowley Birth of Merlin (1662) sig. F2v Knowst thou what pendelous mischief roofs thy head?
1678 T. Shipman Henry III of France ii. ii. 23 Then I flew to an Orb, that was much more than bright; With Diamonds studded and roof'd o'r with light.
1702 C. Beaumont J. Beaumont's Psyche (new ed.) ii. cxxiii. 22/2 To that inchanted Tree whose conscious shade Roof'd the green Stage where he the Lover play'd.
1805–20 W. Blake Jerusalem xix. Pl. 19 And Los was roof'd in from Eternity in Albions Cliffs.
1819 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto II cxv. 176 As the new flames gave Light to the rocks that roof'd them.
1832 Ld. Tennyson Eleänore in Poems (new ed.) 30 As thunderclouds that,..did roof noonday with doubt and fear.
1891 E. Arnold Light of World 10 The impartial skies Roof one race in.
1935 A. J. Cronin Stars look Down i. xxii. 211 The inrush had roofed in the Swelly: for fifty yards a barrier of water blocked the ropeway.
1972 R. Adams Watership Down ix. 36 Far around..stood the orderly rows of beans,..roofing them over.
1994 Philadelphia (Pa.) Inquirer (Nexis) 30 Jan. b1 Clouds roofed the valley.
b. transitive. To shelter, house. Cf. roof n. 2(b).
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > providing with dwelling > [verb (transitive)] > in house
houseOE
inhouse1595
enhouse1596
lodge1764
rehouse1817
roof1820
rehome1857
the world > action or operation > safety > protection or defence > refuge or shelter > seek (refuge) [verb (transitive)] > shelter > shelter as in a house
shroudc1450
hivec1595
house1610
roof1820
1820 P. B. Shelley Sensitive Plant in Prometheus Unbound 160 Flowrets which..Fell into pavilions..To roof the glow-worm from the evening dew.
1883 R. Jefferies Story Heart 156 That his children may..have sufficient to eat, drink, clothe, and roof them.
1954 D. Ben-Gurion & M. Nurock Rebirth & Destiny Israel 400 The duty was laid upon us to bring in countless multitudes of our people, to roof them and place them in agriculture, in industry and handicraft.
2000 E. Stevenson Henry James (new ed.) p. ix It is true nearly all of his characters are well clothed, well fed, and roofed comfortably.
†3. intransitive. To dwell under one roof. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > [verb (intransitive)] > together
usec1384
hive1600
cohabit1601
cohabitate1624
co-inhabit1624
roof1636
to move in1850
to live in each other's pockets1934
shack1935
to live together1961
1636 T. Heywood Challenge for Beautie v. sig. H4v Farewell world,..thou wilt not suffer Vertue And Beauty roofe together.
†4. transitive. To sit on the roof of (a coach). Cf. roof n. 7b. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > public passenger transport > travel on (public vehicle) [verb (transitive)] > on top of coach
roof1844
1844 W. H. Maxwell Wanderings in Highlands xiv. 191 The accustomed process of roofing a stage-coach to Edinburgh, railing to Glasgow afterwards, and steaming it finally to Loch ——.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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