roof

• IPA^(key): /ɹuːf/, /ɹʊf/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɹuf/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• (Inland Northern American) IPA^(key): /ɹʊf/

  • Audio (INAE)

    (file)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɹuːf/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ɹuf/
  • (Ottawa Valley) IPA^(key): /ɹʊf/

  • Audio (CA)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ʊf, -uːf

From Middle English rof, from Old English hrōf (“roof, ceiling; top, summit; heaven, sky”), from Proto-Germanic *hrōfą (“roof”).

roof (plural roofs or rooves)

1. (architecture) The external covering at the top of a building.

   The roof was blown off by the tornado.

   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

     'Twas the house I'd seen the roof of from the beach.

   • 1931, Robert L. May, Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer, Montgomery Ward, draft:

     The very first sound that you’ll hear on the roof
     (Provided there’s fog) will be Rudolph’s small hoof.

   • 1984, Rock Master Scott & the Dynamic Three (lyrics and music), “The Roof Is on Fire”:

     The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire!
     We don't need no water: Let the motherfucker burn!
     Burn, motherfucker, burn!

2. The top external level of a building.

   Let's go up to the roof.

   • 1962, Gerry Goffin et al. (lyrics and music), “Up on the Roof”:

     When this old world starts getting me down
     And people are just too much for me to face,
     I climb way up to the top of the stairs
     And all my cares just drift right into space
     On the roof, it's peaceful as can be
     And there, the world below can't bother me...

3. The upper part of a cavity.

   The palate is the roof of the mouth.

   • 2011 October 1, John Sinnott, “Aston Villa 2-0 Wigan”, in BBC Sport‎:

     As Bent pulled away to the far post, Agbonlahor opted to go it alone, motoring past Gary Caldwell before unleashing a shot into the roof of the net.

4. (mining) The surface or bed of rock immediately overlying a bed of coal or a flat vein.
5. (climbing) An overhanging rock wall.

• (cover at top of building): rooftop, tect (obsolete, rare), thatch
• (in a cavity): ceiling

From Middle English rofen, roven (“to roof”), from the noun (see above).

roof (third-person singular simple present roofs, present participle roofing, simple past and past participle roofed)

1. (transitive) To cover or furnish with a roof.
   • 1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 11, page 264:

     A trench about ten feet deep was dug in the ground and roofed over with sticks and earth so as to form a dark tunnel.

2. To traverse buildings by walking or climbing across their roofs.
3. (transitive, slang) To put into prison, to bird.
   • 1998 March 4, “Law and Disorder”, in Beverly Hills, 90210, season 08, episode 22:

     Did you see them, David? I mean, did you see them looking at me? I-I'm walking out of the court, and everybody was practically – yeah, they were gawking. […] I mean, Noah roofed me, I proved it, end of story.

   • 2000 January 1, “Stupid”, in Mr. Metaphor (lyrics), The Will Tell Compilation Vol. 1: Thats Right Inc., performed by Word A' Mouth, Block McCloud, and Mr. Metaphor:

     I’m open, hype off the chronic I was smoking, feeling zooted
     That Brooklyn shit got me stupid
     I’m loose, kid – that’s what the overproof did
     What the ruck you looking at, son? You’ll get roofed, kid!

   • 2012 November 15, “Brown Bag Wrap”, in Rare Chandeliers, performed by Action Bronson:

     Inhale the mystical, the blue shit
     See me on the stoop shit, act stupid at the park, the ball, get roofed
     Baby see the cops, the drugs, she boofed it
     Foie gras at every meal, that means I triple-goosed it

   • 2018 May 5, “Attempted 1.0”, AM (lyrics), performed by Skengdo & AM of 410:

     You don’t want war, you’re shook of it
     Hella man dash when their friend got roofed

4. (transitive) To shelter as if under a roof.
   • 1865, Thomas Greenbury, Pleasant Rambles Over Moors, Mountains, Mines, and Waterfalls‎:

     They reached him: the pieces of rock had roofed him over—he was without injury or scratch.

   • 1903, Henry James, The Ambassadors‎:

     It built him softly round, it roofed him warmly over, it rested, all so firm, on selection.

• roofer
• unroof

• Foor

• IPA^(key): /roːf/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: roof
• Rhymes: -oːf

From Middle Dutch roof, from Old Dutch *rōf, *rouf, from Proto-West Germanic *raub, from Proto-Germanic *raubaz. More at robe.

roof m (plural roven, diminutive roofje n)

1. robbery, robbing, banditry, rapine

• bankroof
• broodroof
• lijkroof
• roofdier
• roofridder
• rover

• Negerhollands: roof

roof

1. inflection of roven:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. imperative

From Middle Dutch rōve. Cognate with Old High German ruf (Luxembourgish Roff), Old Norse hrufa (English dandruff). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *krewp-.

roof f (uncountable)

1. scab (on a wound)

   Synonyms: korst, wondkorst

roof

1. Alternative form of rof