Noun
the roof of a car
The roof of the old barn collapsed.
He bit into a hot slice of pizza and burned the roof of his mouth. Verb
fed and roofed the emergency volunteers for a week
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Noun
The news is then announced with a puff of white smoke emerging from a chimney on the roof of the Chapel.—Caroline Frost, Deadline, 4 May 2025 Hartford Courant Last word Couldn’t help but notice, the majestic 12-point beast that has been watching over Dunkin’ Park from the right field roof since day one — clearly visible even from the press box — mysteriously vanished this week.—Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 3 May 2025
Verb
The walls and roof on the metal shed are waterproof and rust-resistant, while the roof is sloped to keep rain and snow from settling on top.—Clint Davis, People.com, 3 May 2025 The Vegas forward roofed a one-timer from the front of the Minnesota Wild net to give the Golden Knights a 3-2 overtime victory in Game 5 of the first-round series on Tuesday night.—Michael Russo, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2025 See All Example Sentences for roof
Word History
Etymology
Noun
Middle English, from Old English hrōf; akin to Old Norse hrōf roof of a boathouse and perhaps to Old Church Slavic stropŭ roof
First Known Use
Noun
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a(1)
: the vaulted upper boundary of the mouth supported largely by the palatine bones and limited anteriorly by the dental lamina and posteriorly by the uvula and upper part of the fauces
2
: a covering structure of any of various parts of the body other than the mouth
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