room
- a portion of space within a building or other structure, separated by walls or partitions from other parts: a dining room.
- rooms, lodgings or quarters, as in a house or building.
- the persons present in a room: The whole room laughed.
- space or extent of space occupied by or available for something: The desk takes up too much room.
- opportunity or scope for something: room for improvement; room for doubt.
- status or a station in life considered as a place: He fought for room at the top.
- capacity: Her brain had no room for trivia.
- Mining. a working area cut between pillars.
- to occupy a room or rooms; lodge.
Origin of room
Synonyms
See more synonyms for room on Thesaurus.comExamples from the Web for rooming
Contemporary Examples
When I returned to the rooming house in the late afternoon, I found a handwritten note pinned to the front door.
Knocking on Heaven's Door: True Stories of Unexplained, Uncanny Experiences at the Hour of DeathPatricia Pearson
August 11, 2014
From a second-story window of a rooming house covered with red brick-patterned tarpaper comes the sound of a blues harmonica.
His life as the child of a vaudeville couple was one-step above living in the circus—cheap hotels and rooming houses were home.
Robinson signed on for $63.25 a month and moved into a rooming house.
He fancied himself a Marxist, lived in rooming houses under aliases and was a furtive, nasty man.
Historical Examples
Another day and she was rooming with a Junior who was a hard student.
Stanford StoriesCharles K. Field
He dodged a motor-car that was rooming down the hill and crossed to his captain.
The Secret WirelessLewis E. Theiss
"You, Priscilla, are rooming with—" She adjusted her lorgnette and consulted a large chart.
Just PattyJean Webster
"I hear I'm rooming with you," said Stover, shaking hands with the Shad.
The VarmintOwen Johnson
“Come in and have a talk,” invited Ricky, as they entered the rooming house.
Baseball Joe at YaleLester Chadwick
room
- space or extent, esp unoccupied or unobstructed space for a particular purposeis there room to pass?
- an area within a building enclosed by a floor, a ceiling, and walls or partitionssitting room; dining room
- (functioning as singular or plural) the people present in a roomthe whole room was laughing
- (foll by for) opportunity or scoperoom for manoeuvre
- (plural) a part of a house, hotel, etc, that is rented out as separate accommodation; lodgingsshe got rooms in town
- a euphemistic word for lavatory (def. 1)
- (intr) mainly US to occupy or share a room or lodgingwhere does he room?
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for rooming
room
n.
Old English rum "space" (extent or time); "scope, opportunity," from Proto-Germanic *ruman (cf. Old Norse, Old Saxon, Old High German, Gothic rum, German Raum "space," Dutch ruim "hold of a ship, nave"), nouns formed from Germanic adjective *ruma- "roomy, spacious," from PIE root *reue- "to open; space" (cf. Avestan ravah- "space," Latin rus "open country," Old Irish roi, roe "plain field," Old Church Slavonic ravinu "level," Russian raviina "a plain," Polish rum "space"). Old English also had a frequent adjective rum "roomy, wide, long, spacious."
Original sense preserved in make room "clear space for oneself" (late 14c.); meaning "chamber, cabin" first recorded early 14c. as a nautical term, and first applied mid-15c. to chambers within houses. The Old English word for this was cofa, ancestor of cove. Room-service is attested from 1913; room-temperature from 1879. Roomth "sufficient space" (1530s) now is obsolete.
room
v.
"to occupy rooms" (especially with another) as a lodger," 1828, from room (n.). Related: Roomed; rooming. Rooming-house is from 1889. In Old English (rumian) and Middle English the verb meant "become clear of obstacles; make clear of, evict."
Idioms and Phrases with rooming
room
In addition to the idiom beginning with room
- room and board
also see:
- not enough room to swing a cat
- take up space (room)