roof
pronunciation
How to pronounce roof in British English:
UK [ruːf]
How to pronounce roof in American English:
US [ruːf]
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- Noun:
- a protective covering that covers or forms the top of a building
- protective covering on top of a motor vehicle
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- Verb:
- provide a building with a roof; cover a building with a roof
Word Origin
- roof
- roof: [OE] The antecedents of roof are far from clear. Its only surviving relative seems to be Dutch roef ‘cabin, coffin lid’, and although it also had links with Old Norse hróf ‘boat-shed’, its ultimate origins remain a mystery.
- roof (n.)
- Old English hrof "roof, ceiling, top, summit; heaven, sky," also figuratively, "highest point of something," from Proto-Germanic *khrofam (cognates: Old Frisian rhoof "roof," Middle Dutch roof, rouf "cover, roof," Dutch roef "deckhouse, cabin, coffin-lid," Middle High German rof "penthouse," Old Norse hrof "boat shed"). No apparent connections outside Germanic. "English alone has retained the word in a general sense, for which the other languages use forms corresponding to OE. þæc thatch" [OED]. Roof of the mouth is from late Old English. Raise the roof "create an uproar" is attested from 1860, originally in U.S. Southern dialect.
- roof (v.)
- early 15c., from roof (n.). Related: Roofed; roofing.
Antonym
Example
- 1. Along the roof line there are 10 pointed cupolas .
- 2. The view from the roof of the theater .
- 3. Protesters took over the roof of the building .
- 4. Four video color cameras are located on the roof , plus a reverse camera .
- 5. The automaker 's midsize sonata also earned a marginal roof rating before it was redesigned .