# roof

Pronunciation: say "ROOF" US /ɹuf/, UK /ɹuːf/

## Noun

1. The structure that covers the top of a building or vehicle, including its outer surface.
   - Simple: The covering over the top of a building or vehicle, including its outside surface.
   - _Heavy snow collected on the roof overnight._
   - _The convertible's roof folds down at the touch of a button._
2. The upper inside surface of a hollow space such as a cave, tunnel, or mine, including the rock just above a mine seam.
   - Simple: The top inside surface of a space such as a cave, tunnel, or mine.
   - _Bats clung to the roof of the limestone cavern._
   - _The dentist examined the roof of the patient's mouth._

## Verb

3. To cover or fit a structure with a roof.
   - Simple: To put a covering over the top of a building.
   - _The builders roofed the cottage with slate tiles._
   - _Volunteers helped roof the shelter before winter set in._
4. To provide shelter to someone or something, as if under a roof.
   - Simple: To give shelter to someone, as if covering them over.
5. To make one's way across buildings by walking or climbing over their roofs.
   - Simple: To move across the tops of buildings by walking or climbing.

## Noun

6. A hat. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: A hat that someone wears on their head.

## Other meanings

- (noun) An overhanging section of rock that extends horizontally or nearly horizontally above a climber.
- (verb) To put someone in prison.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–2, 6** — It goes back to Proto-Germanic "*hrōfą" (roof). Old English "hrōf" meant roof or ceiling, top or summit, and heaven or sky, and it became Middle English "rof."
**Meanings 3–5** — This comes from Middle English "rofen" or "roven" (to roof), formed from the noun "roof."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/roof (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).