Emily Dickinson Lexicon

ROMP'ISH-LY, adv.

In a rude or boisterous manner.

ROMP'ISH-NESS, n.

Disposition to rude boisterous play; or the practice of romping. – Steele.

ROM'PU, or ROM-PEE', n. [L. rumpo, to break.]

In heraldry, an ordinary that is broken, or a chevron, a bend or the like, whose upper points are cut off. – Encyc.

RON'DEAU, or RON'DO, n. [Fr. rondeau, from rond, round.]

1. A kind of poetry, commonly consisting of thirteen verses, of which eight have one rhyme, and five another. It is divided into three couplets, and at the end of the second and third, the beginning of the rondeau is repeated in an equivocal sense, if possible. – Walton. Trevoux.
2. In music, the rondo, vocal or instrumental, generally consists of three strains, the first of which closes in the original key, while each of the others is so constructed in modulation as to reconduct the ear in an easy and natural manner to the first strain. – Busby.
3. A kind of jig or lively tune that ends with the first strain repeated.

RON'DEL, n.

In fortification, a small round tower erected at the foot of a bastion. Brande.

RON'DLE, n. [from round.]

A round mass. [Not in use.] – Peacham.

RON'DURE, n. [Fr. rondeur.]

A round a circle. [Not in use.] – Shak.

RONG, n.

The old pret. and pp. of Ring, now rung. – Chaucer.

RON'ION, n. [run'yon; Fr. rognon, kidney.]

A fat bulky woman. [Not in use.] – Shak.

RONT, n.

An animal stinted in its growth. [Now written and pronounced runt.] – Spenser.

ROOD, n.¹ [A different orthography of Rod – which see.]

1. The fourth part of an acre, or forty square rods. [See Acre.]
2. A pole; a measure of five yards; a rod or perch. [Not used in America, and probably local in England.]

ROOD, n.² [Sax. rode or rod.]

The cross; or an image of Christ, of the Virgin Mary and a saint or St. John, on each side of it. – Shak.

ROOD'LOFT, n.

A loft or gallery in a church on which relics and images were set to view. – Johnson.

ROOD'Y, a.

Coarse; luxurious. – Craven Dialect.

ROOF, n. [Sax. rof, hrof; Gr. οροφη, οροφος, from ερεφω, to ψοωερ. Qu. Russ. krov, Slav. strop. See Ar. Class Rb, No. 12, and Syr. No. 40.]

1. The cover or upper part of a house or other building, consisting of rafters covered with boards, shingles or tiles, with a side or sides sloping from the ridge, for the purpose of carrying off the water that falls in rain or snow. In Asia, the roofs of houses are flat or horizontal. The same name, roof, is given to the sloping covers of huts, cabins and ricks; to the arches of ovens, furnaces, &c.
2. A vault; an arch; or the interior of a vault; as, the roof of heaven.
3. The vault of the mouth; the upper part of the mouth; the palate. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth. – Ps. cxxxvii.

ROOF, v.t.

1. To cover with a roof. I have not seen the remains of any Roman buildings, that have not been roofed with vaults or arches. Addison.
2. To inclose in a house; to shelter. Here had we now our country's honor roof'd. – Shak.

ROOF'ED, pp.

Furnished or covered with a roof or arch.

ROOF'ING, n.

The materials of which a roof is composed; or materials for a roof. – Encyc.

ROOF'ING, ppr.

Covering with a roof.

ROOF'LESS, a. [Sax. roflease.]

1. Having no roof; as, a roofless house.
2. Having no house or home; unsheltered.

ROOF'Y, a.

Having roofs. – Dryden.

ROOK, n.¹ [Sax. hroc; G. roche; Dan. roge, raage, a rook and krage, a crow. This word belongs to the root of crow or is rather the same word dialectically varied; Dan. krage; Sw. kraka; G. krähe; D. kraai; L. graculus; probably from its voice; Ir. grag, gragam. See Crow and Croak.]

1. A fowl of the genus Corvus, the fowl mentioned by Virgil under this name. This fowl resembles the crow, but differs from it in not feeding on carrion, but on insects and grain. In crows also the nostrils and root of the bill are clothed with feathers, but in rooks the same parts are naked, or have only a few bristly hairs. The rook is gregarious. – Encyc.
2. A cheat; a trickish, rapacious fellow. – Wycherley.

ROOK, n.² [It. rocco, a bishop's staff, a crosier, a rook at chess.]

In chess, the four pieces placed on the corner squares of the board. The rook moves the whole extent or the board, unless impeded by some other piece. – Hoyle.

ROOK, v.i.¹

To cheat; to defraud. – Locke.

ROOK, v.i.²

To squat. [See Ruck.]