root1
  
  n.
        - a part of a plant normally below ground, which acts as a support and collects water and nourishment. ▸a turnip, carrot, or other vegetable which grows as a root. 
- the embedded part of a bodily organ or structure such as a hair.
- the basic cause, source, or origin:![]()  money is the root of all evil. ▸
(roots)
 family, ethnic, or cultural origins as the reasons for one's emotional attachment to a place or community. ▸
[ as modifier]
 
( roots)
 denoting something from a non-Western ethnic or cultural origin: ![]()  roots music. 
- Linguistics  a morpheme, not necessarily surviving as a word in itself, from which words have been made by the addition of prefixes or suffixes or by other modification.
- 
(also root note)
 Music  the fundamental note of a chord.
- (in biblical use) a descendant.
- Mathematics  a number or quantity that when multiplied by itself one or more times gives a specified number or quantity. ▸a value of an unknown quantity satisfying a given equation. 
- Austral./NZ & Irish vulgar slang an act of sexual intercourse.
v.
     - (with reference to a plant or cutting) establish or cause to establish roots.
- establish deeply and firmly. ▸
(be rooted in)
 have as a source or origin. 
- 
[often as adj. rooted]
 cause to stand immobile through fear or amazement.
- 
(root someone/thing out/up)
 find and get rid of someone or something.
- Austral./NZ & Irish vulgar slang have sex with. ▸exhaust or frustrate. 
Phrase
  
    - at root
 fundamentally.
- put down roots
 begin to have a settled life in a place.
- root and branch
 (of a process or operation) thorough or radical.
- take root
 become fixed or established.
 
  Derivative
  
    - rootedness n.
- rootless adj.
- rootlessness n.
- rootlet n.
- root-like adj.
- rooty adj.
 
  Etymology
  OE rōt, from ON rót; rel. to wort.
 
  
    
root2
  
  v.
  - (of an animal) turn up the ground with its snout in search of food. ▸search or rummage. 
- 
(root for)
 informal support enthusiastically. ▸
(root someone on)
 N. Amer. informal cheer or urge someone on. 
n.
 an act of rooting.
Etymology
  OE wrōtan, of Gmc origin; rel. to OE wrōt ‘snout’.