rootstock

[ root-stok, root- ]
See synonyms for rootstock on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. Horticulture. a root and its associated growth buds, used as a stock in plant propagation.

  2. Botany. a rhizome.

Origin of rootstock

1
First recorded in 1930–35; root1 + stock

Words Nearby rootstock

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use rootstock in a sentence

  • This year, Gamble will begin replanting vines lower to the ground on weather-resistant native rootstock and adjusting the vines’ row orientation to protect grapes from the hot midday sun.

  • They will also be researching how different rootstocks fare under changing temperatures and extreme conditions and whether reducing the number of vines per hectare will strengthen vineyard health, he said.

  • It has a creeping woody rootstock, and a rough angular stem; and the petals are generally but little longer than the sepals.

    The Sea Shore | William S. Furneaux
  • The fronds of the Brake are more or less solitary, rising from distinct and somewhat distant portions of the rootstock.

    How to Know the Ferns | Frances Theodora Parsons
  • Ferns are propagated by the growth and budding of the rootstock as well as by the ordinary method of reproduction.

    How to Know the Ferns | Frances Theodora Parsons

British Dictionary definitions for rootstock

rootstock

/ (ˈruːtˌstɒk) /


noun
  1. another name for rhizome

  2. another name for stock (def. 7)

  1. biology a basic structure from which offshoots have developed

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for rootstock

rootstock

[ rōōtstŏk′, rut- ]


The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.