rood
Americannoun
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roods
plural
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a crucifix, especially a large one at the entrance to the choir or chancel of a medieval church, often supported on a rood beam or rood screen.
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a cross as used in crucifixion.
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a unit of length varying locally from 5½ to 8 yards (5 to 7 meters).
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a unit of land measure equal to 40 square rods or ¼ acre (0.10117 hectare).
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a unit of 1 square rod (25.29 sq. m).
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Archaic. the cross on which Christ died.
noun
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a crucifix, esp one set on a beam or screen at the entrance to the chancel of a church
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( as modifier )
rood beam
rood arch
rood screen
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the Cross on which Christ was crucified
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a unit of area equal to one quarter of an acre or 0.10117 hectares
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a unit of area equal to 40 square rods
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of rood
before 900; Middle English; Old English rōd pole, crucifix; cognate with German Rute rod, twig
Vocabulary lists containing rood
"The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet," Vocabulary from Act 1
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"The Tragedy of Hamlet," Vocabulary from Act 3
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The team also recovered well-preserved painted sculptures and many pieces of the medieval rood screen, which once divided congregants from clergy until it was demolished under Louis XIV.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 20, 2022
There’s another reference that says a clock was installed above the rood screen of a church.
From Scientific American ● Jan. 28, 2022
Beyond the house, the road meandered upward past more villas, then dustily through a cluster of old cottages around the medieval parish church, which had a distinguished rood screen.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 21, 2019
This panel hung for many years behind the rood screen of a small church in rural Belgium, but its current whereabouts are unknown.
From The Guardian ● May 18, 2018
Then they broke out into the sunlight and for a while they were busy finding and devouring rood as they moved down the scar toward the platform and the meeting.
From "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding
In another setback, he found that land boundaries back then were measured in "roods" and "perches."
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 20, 2010
The Warwickshire County Council says there are four roods to one acre, and 40 perches to one rood, though it can vary by locality.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 20, 2010
This structure covers a surface of one and three-quarter roods, and reaches a height of 98 feet in the center.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 488, May 9, 1885 by Various
We limit it to a paltry pasture-ground of roods and acres, but does it not show, by its determination to transgress our barriers, that such is not the treatment nature has designed for it?
From A Treatise on Sheep: The Best Means for their Improvement, General Management, and the Treatment of their Diseases. by Ambrose Blacklock
William the son of William of Alesbury holds three roods of land of the Lord the King in Alesbury in Com.
From The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare by Henry Nicholson Ellacombe
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
