roof

[ roof, roof ]

noun

, plural roofs.

1. the external upper covering of a house or other building.
2. a frame for supporting this:

   an open-timbered roof.

3. the highest part or summit:

   The Himalayas are the roof of the world.

4. something that in form or position resembles the roof of a house, as the top of a car, the upper part of the mouth, etc.
5. a house.
6. Mining. the rock immediately above a horizontal mineral deposit.

verb (used with object)

1. to provide or cover with a roof.

roof

/ ruːf /

noun

1. 1. a structure that covers or forms the top of a building
   2. ( in combination )

      the rooftop

   3. ( as modifier )

      a roof garden

2. the top covering of a vehicle, oven, or other structure

   the roof of a car

3. anatomy any structure that covers an organ or part

   the roof of the mouth

4. a highest or topmost point or part

   Mount Everest is the roof of the world

5. a house or other shelter

   a poor man's roof

6. mountaineering the underside of a projecting overhang
7. hit the roof informal.
   hit the roofgo through the roof
   1. to get extremely angry; become furious
   2. to rise or increase steeply
8. raise the roof
   raise the roof
   1. to create a boisterous disturbance
   2. to react or protest heatedly

verb

1. tr to provide or cover with a roof or rooflike part

Derived Forms

• ˈroofer, noun
• ˈroofˌlike, adjective
• ˈroofless, adjective

Other Words From

• rooflike adjective
• re·roof verb (used with object)
• self-roofed adjective
• under·roof noun
• un·roofed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of roof¹

before 900; Middle English (noun); Old English hrōf; cognate with Dutch roef cover, cabin, Old Norse hrōf

Word History and Origins

Origin of roof¹

Old English hrōf ; related to Middle Dutch, Old Norse hrōf

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. go through the roof,
   1. to increase beyond all expectations:

      Foreign travel may very well go through the roof next year.

   2. Also hit the roof, Informal. to lose one's temper; become extremely angry.
2. raise the roof, Informal.
   1. to create a loud noise:

      The applause raised the roof.

   2. to complain or protest noisily:

      He'll raise the roof when he sees that bill.

More idioms and phrases containing roof

In addition to the idiom beginning with roof , also see go through the roof ; hit the ceiling (roof) ; like a cat on hot bricks (a hot tin roof) ; raise the roof .

Example Sentences

They found that asphalt from roofs and roads may contribute as much secondary organic compounds as all the vehicles in the region on an annual basis.

From Popular-Science

The major horizontal roof beam, oriented east-west, is called “the sun’s path.”

From Nautilus

He had a cinder-block wall around the tank, so the heat wasn’t blowing toward his house, but the eaves of the roof caught on fire in the last five minutes before the tank stopped burning.

From Outside Online

Creating such “cool roofs” across 80% of the nation’s commercial buildings could cut annual energy use by more than 10 terawatt-hours and save more than $700 million, according to an earlier study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.

From MIT Technology Review

Stupid young people went back to trying to jump into pools from their roofs.

From Voice of San Diego

Which is why you should: “Clap along, if you feel like a room without a roof.”

From The Daily Beast

We were on her roof talking and trying to come up with ideas, to think of alternatives to renting a studio.

From The Daily Beast

The two once lived together under the same roof, after Brooke asked Fenner to live with them.

From The Daily Beast

Some wielding signs hit the roof, windshield, and body of the car I was traveling in.

From The Daily Beast

Yeah, I mean, as far as Maggie goes, her reducing a church to just “four walls and a roof” says a lot about the character.

From The Daily Beast

The Pontellier and Ratignolle compartments adjoined one another under the same roof.

From Project Gutenberg

Even as they gazed they saw its roof caught up, and whirled off as if it had been a scroll of paper.

From Project Gutenberg

First the chimneys sank down through the roof, as if they were being lowered into the cellar.

From Project Gutenberg

The tower has four clock faces, pinnacles at the angles, and a steep slate roof and is 120 feet high.

From Project Gutenberg

Then the roof itself, with its gables and dormer windows, softly folded itself flat down upon the top of the house, out of sight.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• ceiling
• house

What Is The Plural Of Roof?

Plural word for roof

The plural form of roof is roofs (not rooves). Roof is not pluralized by replacing the -f ending with -ves, as is done in many other words ending in -f, such as shelf/shelves, scarf/scarves, and hoof/hooves. 

The word roof comes from Old English, and like many Old English-derived words ending in -f, it initially had two plural forms: roofs and rooves. It’s not clear why rooves dropped out of use. It might be simply because we don’t use the plural form of roof very often, compared to more common words like leaf/leaves. Other examples of this pluralization pattern include proof/proofs, chief/chiefs, and brief/briefs.