When a root is of a birth yknowe [known].
Chaucer.
Aërial roots. (Bot.) (a) Small roots emitted from the stem of a plant
in the open air, which, attaching themselves to the bark of trees,
etc., serve to support the plant. (b) Large roots growing from the
stem, etc., which descend and establish themselves in the soil. See
Illust. of Mangrove. -- Multiple primary root (Bot.), a name given to
the numerous roots emitted from the radicle in many plants, as the
squash. -- Primary root (Bot.), the central, first-formed, main root,
from which the rootlets are given off. -- Root and branch, every part;
wholly; completely; as, to destroy an error root and branch. --
Root-and-branch men, radical reformers; -- a designation applied to the
English Independents (1641). See Citation under Radical, n., 2. -- Root
barnacle (Zoöl.), one of the Rhizocephala. -- Root hair (Bot.), one of
the slender, hairlike fibers found on the surface of fresh roots. They
are prolongations of the superficial cells of the root into minute
tubes. Gray. -- Root leaf (Bot.), a radical leaf. See Radical, a., 3
(b). -- Root louse (Zoöl.), any plant louse, or aphid, which lives on
the roots of plants, as the Phylloxera of the grapevine. See
Phylloxera. -- Root of an equation (Alg.), that value which,
substituted for the unknown quantity in an equation, satisfies the
equation. -- Root of a nail (Anat.), the part of a nail which is
covered by the skin. -- Root of a tooth (Anat.), the part of a tooth
contained in the socket and consisting of one or more fangs. --
Secondary roots (Bot.), roots emitted from any part of the plant above
the radicle. -- To strike root, To take root, to send forth roots; to
become fixed in the earth, etc., by a root; hence, in general, to
become planted, fixed, or established; to increase and spread; as, an
opinion takes root. "The bended twigs take root." Milton.
Root (rt), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Rooted; p. pr. & vb. n. Rooting.] 1. To
fix the root; to enter the earth, as roots; to take root and begin to
grow.
In deep grounds the weeds root deeper.
Mortimer.