roof
the external upper covering of a house or other building.
a frame for supporting this: an open-timbered roof.
the highest part or summit: The Himalayas are the roof of the world.
something that in form or position resembles the roof of a house, as the top of a car, the upper part of the mouth, etc.
a house.
Mining. the rock immediately above a horizontal mineral deposit.
to provide or cover with a roof.
Idioms about roof
go through the roof,
to increase beyond all expectations: Foreign travel may very well go through the roof next year.
Also hit the roof ,Informal. to lose one's temper; become extremely angry.
raise the roof, Informal.
to create a loud noise: The applause raised the roof.
to complain or protest noisily: He'll raise the roof when he sees that bill.
Origin of roof
1Other words from roof
- rooflike, adjective
- re·roof, verb (used with object)
- self-roofed, adjective
- un·der·roof, noun
- un·roofed, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use roof in a sentence
The more than 50,000 who reside in West Point live mostly in shacks made of zinc with rusted tin roofs.
Auto factories tend to sprawl horizontally over huge lots, and have flat roofs.
But most of the abandoned houses, with sagging roofs and drafty walls, are just there.
Rooftop solar—individual homeowners putting generating systems on their roofs—is also booming in Arizona.
“It pretty much looks like taking a central solar plant and allocating it across 3,000 roofs,” said Rumido.
They have no walls, for the roofs serve as everything, extending from above even to the ground.
The houses are constructed completely in the European style, with flat Italian roofs.
A Woman's Journey Round the World | Ida PfeifferBut the sailors plunge into the very fire itself; entering the houses, they strive to rescue the contents until the roofs fall in.
Skipper Worse | Alexander Lange KiellandIn most cases the roofs over these sea caves fall in, so that the structure is known as a chasm.
Outlines of the Earth's History | Nathaniel Southgate ShalerThe town is made up largely of cottages with thatched roofs, surrounded by the bright English flower gardens.
British Highways And Byways From A Motor Car | Thomas D. Murphy
British Dictionary definitions for roof
/ (ruːf) /
a structure that covers or forms the top of a building
(in combination): the rooftop
(as modifier): a roof garden
the top covering of a vehicle, oven, or other structure: the roof of a car
anatomy any structure that covers an organ or part: the roof of the mouth
a highest or topmost point or part: Mount Everest is the roof of the world
a house or other shelter: a poor man's roof
mountaineering the underside of a projecting overhang
hit the roof or go through the roof informal
to get extremely angry; become furious
to rise or increase steeply
raise the roof
to create a boisterous disturbance
to react or protest heatedly
(tr) to provide or cover with a roof or rooflike part
Origin of roof
1Derived forms of roof
- roofer, noun
- roofless, adjective
- rooflike, adjective
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
Other Idioms and Phrases with roof
In addition to the idiom beginning with roof
- roof over one's head, a
also see:
- go through the roof
- hit the ceiling (roof)
- like a cat on hot bricks (a hot tin roof)
- raise the roof
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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