rooting

Pluralrootings (some meanings)

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle of root.

   The pigs were rooting through the soft earth for acorns.

   She spent the morning rooting around the attic for old photographs.

   Note

   One -ing form carries the whole verb: a cutting rooting in water, a gardener rooting cuttings, a pig rooting in the soil, someone rooting a phone. That last use is slang and always takes a direct object. As a gerund, the form overlaps with the nouns, so the rooting of cuttings can be read either way. A broader use means fawning for favor.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The process by which a plant forms or takes root.

   Adequate warmth and moisture encourage rooting in tender cuttings.

   Rooting was slow this year because the greenhouse stayed too cool.

3. 3
   noununcountable

   A network of roots, or a secure attachment and firm grounding in something.

   The shrub's firm rooting kept it upright even in saturated soil.

   His sense of identity drew its rooting from years spent in the same town.

   Similargrounding, anchorage, foundation

   Note

   The word comes from Middle English rotynge, simply root plus -ing. William Tyndale's New Testament of 1526 uses it for seed that withered in the sun because it had no rooting. That image of a plant's hold in the soil carries easily over to people. Followed by in, the word names what a person or idea is anchored to, such as a rooting in tradition or in a place.

4. 4
   noununcountable

   A method of producing a new plant by inducing part of an existing plant to form roots.

   Rooting lets a grower reproduce a prized plant without sowing any seed.

   He propagated the geranium by rooting, placing a trimmed shoot in moist compost.

   Similarpropagation

   Note

   In the grower's sense, the plant's own root-forming becomes something a person does to it on purpose. A trimmed shoot set in moist compost is rooted rather than sown, so the new plant arises without seed and matches its parent. The word most often follows propagate by. It can also be counted when a grower speaks of individual rootings.

5. 5
   noununcountable

   A newborn's instinctive turning of the head toward a touch on the cheek to search for milk when hungry.

   Rooting helps the infant locate the breast during the first feedings.

   The midwife watched for rooting as a sign the baby was ready to nurse.

6. 6
   nouncountable

   A hole in the ground left where a pig has dug and pushed with its snout.

   Muddy rooting scarred the meadow after the boars passed through overnight.

   The farmer filled in the deep rooting before the cattle could stumble in it.

   Note

   This trace is named after the act that makes it. A pig turning up earth with its snout leaves a rooting behind. In this use the word is readily countable, and the plural rootings describes ground that pigs have worked over. They can run as deep as two and a half feet, depending on how large the pig was.

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