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
Protestors and counter protestors were seen shouting with megaphones at each other and at ICE agents on the roof of the building.—Amy Delaura, The Washington Examiner, 15 Nov. 2025 The entrance of the store features an inverted wooden roof frame, one inspired by the traditional hip-and-gable form found in classical Chinese architecture.—Denni Hu, Footwear News, 14 Nov. 2025
Verb
Later in the period, Kevin Fiala burned Erik Karlsson and scored a sensational goal, finishing off the play by roofing a shot into the net.—Josh Yohe, New York Times, 10 Nov. 2025 Walls crumble, roofs collapse, and greenery reclaims them.—Jacqui Palumbo, CNN Money, 3 Nov. 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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