unroofv.
/(ˌ)ʌnˈruːf/, /(ˌ)ʌnˈrʊf/, U.S. /ˌənˈruf/, /ˌənˈrʊf/ transitive. To remove the roof from. Also in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > damage > damage or injure [verb (transitive)] > damage deliberately or vandalize > gut or remove things from a building, etc.
unripa1513
tirr1553
discover1563
unfloor1589
unpinion1593
unbottom1598
unbrick1598
unpave1598
unroof1598
unslate1598
untop1598
flay1636
unplank1646
gut1688
unmantle1828
1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes Disculminare,..to vnroofe, or vntile a house.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) i. i. 216 Sdeath, The rabble should haue first vnroof't [printed vnroo'ft] the City Ere so preuayl'd with me. View more context for this quotation
1756 I. Fletcher Diary 9 Oct. (1994) 17 Afternoon unroofed old backhouse.
1779 F. Hervey et al. Naval Hist. Great Brit. II. 457 Three hundred houses were unroofed by it.
1804 J. Collins Scripscrapologia 59 Time had unroof'd all the thatch from his pate.
1844 A. W. Kinglake Eothen viii. 134 They actually unroofed a great part of the building.
1862 J. Grant Capt. of Guard xii. 86 Servers, pages, and pantrymen..unroofed the huge pasties of pigeons and venison.
1906 Bulletin (Sydney) 23 Aug. 16/3 A recent ‘willy’ unroofed a house on the outskirts of the township.
1995 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 8 Jan. 6/1 (headline) Storms unroof houses.
Derivatives
unˈroofing n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > damage > [noun] > vandalism or iconoclasm > gutting or removing parts of (a building, etc.)
gutting1690
unroofing1790
1790 J. Fallowfield Misc. Ess., Divine & Moral (ed. 3) cliii. 235 One hundred and twenty-three people were killed by the unroofing of houses, and chimnies falling.
1831 G. P. R. James Philip Augustus I. xv The unroofing of the hovels.
1914 R. A. Daly Igneous Rocks & their Origin vi. 106 Map showing incipient unroofing of a granite stock in Saxony.
1996 Dublin Hist. Rec. 49 90 The arches have been bricked up since the unroofing of St. Anne's Chapel in c. 1826.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2014; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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