unrootv.
/(ˌ)ʌnˈruːt/, U.S. /ˌənˈrut/, /ənˈrʊt/ 1.
a. transitive. To tear, pull, or dig up by the roots; to uproot. Also in figurative context and extended use.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > place > removal or displacement > extraction > extract [verb (transitive)] > root out or up
louka1000
morec1325
roota1387
unroot?a1425
stubc1450
roota1500
rid?1529
root-walt?1530
subplant1547
supplant1549
root?1550
grub1558
eradicate1564
to stump up1599
deracinate1609
uproot1695
aberuncate1731
eracinate1739
rootle1795
disroot1800
piggle1847
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 140v (MED) After take it [sc. a tooth] wiþ þe tenaculez And vnrote it And drawe it out with his rotes.
c1475 tr. A. Chartier Quadrilogue (Univ. Coll. Oxf.) (1974) 147 The preent of the erthe is naked and discoueryd, and the trees and seedys lyke as vnroted, cast awey, and hanging ouerthwert by palles.
1570 P. Levens Manipulus Vocabulorum sig. Pi/1 To Vnroote, eradicare.
1593 G. Harvey New Let. Notable Contents B 3 Riotous Vanitie was wont to roote so deeply, that it could hardly be vnrooted.
a1616 W. Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) v. i. 6 Be bold you do so grow in my requitall, As nothing can vnroote you. View more context for this quotation
1640 J. Shirley Coronation iv. sig. G2 His love was firme to you, and cannot be Vnrooted with one storme.
1687 J. Dryden Song St. Cecilia's Day vii Trees unrooted left their place.
1740 C. Pitt tr. Virgil Æneid I. vi. 238 To feed the Fires, [some] unroot the standing Woods.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth I. 133 There are sometimes whole plains unrooted from the main lands, by floods and tempests.
1852 T. Ross tr. A. von Humboldt Personal Narr. Trav. Amer. I. iii. 130 The causes that unroot these weeds at depths where..the sea is but slightly agitated.
1933 T. Wolfe Train & City in Scribner's Mag. May 292/1 Must you untwist the vine-root from the buried heart? Have you unrooted mandrake from our brains?
2012 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 27 Aug. a18 One of these mornings I'll go around the house unrooting the vines before they tighten their grip any further.
b. transitive. figurative. To eradicate, clear out, remove altogether.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > destroy [verb (transitive)] > eradicate or extirpate
fornimOE
to put awaya1382
outroot?a1425
unroot?a1425
out-razec1425
to pluck up1484
avell1530
sweep1560
depopulate1576
ruina1586
assoil1596
to lay aside1596
untop1598
displant1603
float1606
to take off1619
amolish1624
uproota1639
eradicate1647
to lay by1681
to polish off1827
uprend1911
to zero out1951
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 111v (MED) Lepre is þe worst sikenesse..and it is as war impossible to vnrute.
c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 8 Forto meete aȝens the firste bifore spoken opinioun, and forto vnroote and updrawe it.
?1575 E. Hellowes tr. A. de Guevara Familiar Epist. (new ed.) 186 Vices be so euill to be vnrooted where they once take place.
1603 G. Owen Descr. Penbrokshire iv. 38 He gaue diuerse of them theire ancient landes to hold of him, and did not vtterlye vnroote them.
a1667 Bp. J. Taylor Antiquitates Christianae (1675) iii. 297 Our Vertues are difficult, because we at first get ill Habits; and these Habits must be unrooted before we do well.
1738 W. Warburton Divine Legation Moses I. 277 They unrooted and destroyed all that good to Society.
1856 C. Dickens Let. 7 Jan. (1995) VIII. 12 My present idea, if nothing should arise to unroot me sooner, is to stay here until the middle of May.
1932 R. H. Gault Criminology xiii. 234 The professional attitude has become so thoroughly identified with his psycho-physical organism as a whole that it is utterly impossible to unroot it.
2013 Associated Press Newswire (Nexis) 4 Aug. ‘Our goal is to unroot the so-called Thaksin regime from our country,’ he told reporters.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > root > plant defined by roots > have root [verb (intransitive)] > lose root-hold
unroota1625
a1625 J. Fletcher Bonduca iii. i, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Hhhh/1 Make their strengths totter, and their toplesse fortunes unroot, and reel to ruine.
1663 J. Riland Confirmation Revived 13 Let us..beg of God that those who have been thus planted in Gods House, may not hereafter unroot, and dance after the Pipe of any Orpheus whatever.
c1800 W. Blake Four Zoas, Last Judgem. 39 The trees unroot; The rocks groan horrible and run about.
Derivatives
unˈrooting n.
ΚΠ
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 125v (MED) It is of hard vnrutyng or eradicacioun [?c1425 Paris is ful harde to doo away] for redynes þat þe face haþ to recyue materiez bi cause of his rarenez..& feblenez.
c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 8 This vnrooting of the first opinioun.
1621 T. Taylor Parable of Sower & Seed 153 A generall vnrooting of these thornes and weeds.
1830 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Jan. 14/1 Of old the unrooting of a peasant was like the unrooting of a tree.
1914 A. Snyder Fights of Farmer iv. 75 It is no uncommon occurrence for farmers..to lose an entire crop through..the unrooting, burial, or cutting off of the young plants.
2002 W. Straw in J. Nicks & J. M. Sloniowski Slippery Pastimes 101 The unrooting of cultural artefacts from their places of origin.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2014; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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