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Bottom vs Root - What's the difference?

bottom | root |

In intransitive terms the difference between bottom and root

is that bottom is to reach or impinge against the bottom, so as to impede free action, as when the point of a cog strikes the bottom of a space between two other cogs, or a piston the end of a cylinder while root is to rummage, to search as if by digging in soil.

In transitive terms the difference between bottom and root

is that bottom is to furnish with a bottom while root is to root out; to abolish.

As nouns the difference between bottom and root

is that bottom is the lowest part from the uppermost part, in either of these senses while root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that absorbs water and nutrients.

As verbs the difference between bottom and root

is that bottom is to fall to the lowest point while root is to break into a computer system and obtain root access.

As an adjective bottom

is the lowest or last place or position.

As a proper noun Root is

{{surname|lang=en}.

bottom

English

Noun

  • The lowest part from the uppermost part, in either of these senses:
  • # (rfc-sense) The part furthest in the direction toward which an unsupported object would fall.
  • #* Macaulay
  • barrels with the bottom knocked out
  • #* Washington Irving
  • No two chairs were alike; such high backs and low backs and leather bottoms and worsted bottoms.
  • # (rfc-sense) The part seen, or intended to be seen, nearest the edge of the visual field normally occupied by the lowest visible objects, as "footers appear at the bottoms of pages".
  • (uncountable, British, slang) Character, reliability, staying power, dignity, integrity or sound judgment.
    • lack bottom
  • (British, US) a valley, often used in place names.
    • Where shall we go for a walk? How about Ashcombe Bottom ?
  • * Stoddard
    • the bottoms and the high grounds
  • (euphemistic) The buttocks or anus.
  • (nautical) a cargo vessel, a ship.
  • * 1881 , :
    • We sail in leaky bottoms and on great and perilous waters; [...]
  • (nautical) certain parts of a vessel, particularly the cargo hold or the portion of the ship that is always underwater.
  • * Shakespeare
    • My ventures are not in one bottom trusted.
  • * Bancroft
    • Not to sell the teas, but to return them to London in the same bottoms in which they were shipped.
  • (baseball) The second half of an inning, the home team's turn to bat.
  • (BDSM) A submissive in sadomasochistic sexual activity.
  • (LGBT, slang) A man penetrated or with a preference for being penetrated during homosexual intercourse.
  • (physics) A bottom quark.
  • (often, figuratively) The lowest part of a container.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011
    • , date=December 21 , author=Helen Pidd , title=Europeans migrate south as continent drifts deeper into crisis , work=the Guardian citation , page= , passage=In Ireland, where 14.5% of the population are jobless, emigration has climbed steadily since 2008, when Lehman Brothers collapsed and the bottom fell out of the Irish housing market. In the 12 months to April this year, 40,200 Irish passport-holders left, up from 27,700 the previous year, according to the central statistics office. Irish nationals were by far the largest constituent group among emigrants, at almost 53%.}}
  • A ball or skein of thread; a cocoon.
  • * Mortimer
    • Silkworms finish their bottoms in fifteen days.
  • The bed of a body of water, as of a river, lake, or sea.
  • An abyss.
    • (Dryden)
  • (obsolete) Power of endurance.
    • a horse of a good bottom
  • (obsolete) Dregs or grounds; lees; sediment.
    • (Johnson)

    Synonyms

    * (lowest part) base * (buttocks) arse (British, Australian, NZ''), ass, fanny (''North American ), backside, bot, bott, botty, bum, buttocks * sit upon, derriere * (BDSM) catcher * (LGBT) catcher, passive, pathic, uke (Japanese fiction) * See also * See also

    Antonyms

    * (lowest part) top * (BDSM) top * (LGBT) active, pitcher, top, versatile

    Related terms

    * bot * bottom feeder * bottom fishing * bottom land * bottom line * bottom-most * bottom out * bottoms up * bottom-up * rock bottom * top to bottom * wind up one's bottoms * bottomer * bottom bitch * power bottom

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To fall to the lowest point.
  • * John J. Murphy, Intermarket Analysis: Profiting from Global Market Relationships (2004) p. 119:
    • The Dow Jones Industrial Average bottomed''' on September 24, 2001. The CRB Index '''bottomed on October 24.
  • To establish firmly; to found or justify on'' or ''upon'' something; to set on a firm footing; to set or rest ''on'' or ''upon something which provides support or authority.
  • * Atterbury
    • Action is supposed to be bottomed upon principle.
  • * South
    • those false and deceiving grounds upon which many bottom their eternal state
  • * United States. Congress. House. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, Executive Orders and Presidential Directives , (2001) p.59.
    • Moreover, the Supreme Court has held that the President must obey outstanding executive orders, even when bottomed on the Constitution, until they are revoked.
  • To rest, as upon an ultimate support; to be based or grounded.
  • * John Locke
    • Find on what foundation any proposition bottoms .
  • To reach or impinge against the bottom, so as to impede free action, as when the point of a cog strikes the bottom of a space between two other cogs, or a piston the end of a cylinder.
  • (obsolete) To wind round something, as in making a ball of thread.
  • * Shakespeare
    • As you unwind her love from him, / Lest it should ravel and be good to none, / You must provide to bottom it on me.
  • To furnish with a bottom.
    • to bottom a chair
  • To be the submissive in a BDSM relationship or roleplay.
  • To be anally penetrated in gay sex.

    • Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • The lowest or last place or position.
    • ''Those files should go on the bottom shelf.

    root

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) ; cognate with wort and radix.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The part of a plant, generally underground, that absorbs water and nutrients.
    • This tree's roots can go as deep as twenty metres underground.
  • A root vegetable.
  • *
    • two fields which should have been sown with roots in the early summer were not sown because the ploughing had not been completed early enough.
  • The part of a tooth extending into the bone holding the tooth in place.
    • Root damage is a common problem of overbrushing.
  • The part of a hair under the skin that holds the hair in place.
    • The root is the only part of the hair that is alive.
  • The part of a hair near the skin that has not been dyed, permed, or otherwise treated.
    • He dyed his hair black last month, so the grey roots can be seen.
  • The primary source; origin.
    • The love of money is the root of all evil.
  • * John Locke
    • They were the roots out of which sprang two distinct people.
  • (arithmetic) Of a number or expression, a number which, when raised to a specified power, yields the specified number or expression.
    • The cube root of 27 is 3.
  • (arithmetic) A square root (understood if no power is specified; in which case, “the root of” is often abbreviated to “root”).
    • Multiply by root 2.
  • (analysis) A zero (of a function).
  • (graph theory, computing) The single node of a tree that has no parent.
  • (linguistic morphology) The primary lexical unit of a word, which carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced into smaller constituents. Inflectional stems often derive from roots.
  • (philology) A word from which another word or words are derived.
  • (music) The fundamental tone of any chord; the tone from whose harmonics, or overtones, a chord is composed.
    • (Busby)
  • The lowest place, position, or part.
  • * Milton
    • deep to the roots of hell
  • * Southey
    • the roots of the mountains
  • (computing) In UNIX terminology, the first user account with complete access to the operating system and its configuration, found at the root of the directory structure.
  • (computing) The person who manages accounts on a UNIX system.
  • (computing) The highest directory of a directory structure which may contain both files and subdirectories. (rfex)
    • Synonyms
    * (source) basis, origin, source * (zero of a function) zero * (word from which another is derived) etymon * superuser (), root account, root user
    Antonyms
    * (zero of a function) pole
    Holonyms
    * (zero of a function) kernel
    Derived terms
    * cube root * functional root * put down roots * root canal * root cause * rootkit * roots * roots music * rootsy * square root * strictly roots * take root * taproot * root gap

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (computing, slang, transitive) To break into a computer system and obtain root access.
    • We rooted his box and planted a virus on it.
  • To fix the root; to enter the earth, as roots; to take root and begin to grow.
  • * Mortimer
    • In deep grounds the weeds root deeper.
  • * '>citation
  • To be firmly fixed; to be established.
  • * Bishop Fell
    • If any irregularity chanced to intervene and to cause misapprehensions, he gave them not leave to root and fasten by concealment.

    See also

    * (linguistics) stem

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) . Cognate with rodent. Cognate with Dutch wroeten.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To turn up or dig with the snout.
    • A pig roots the earth for truffles.
  • (by extension) To seek favour or advancement by low arts or grovelling servility; to fawn.
  • To rummage, to search as if by digging in soil.
    • rooting about in a junk-filled drawer
  • To root out; to abolish.
  • * Shakespeare
    • I will go root away the noisome weeds.
  • * Bible, Deuteronomy xxix. 28
    • The Lord rooted them out of their land and cast them into another land.
  • (Australia, New Zealand, vulgar, slang) To have sexual intercourse.
    • Usage notes
    * The Australian/New Zealand sexual sense is somewhat milder than fuck but still quite coarse, certainly not for polite conversation. The sexual sense will often be understood, unless care is taken with the context to make the rummage sense clear, or 'root through' or 'root around' is used. The past participle rooted'' is equivalent to ''fucked'' in the figurative sense of broken or tired, but ''rooting'' is only the direct verbal sense, not an all-purpose intensive like ''fucking .
    Synonyms
    * (rummage) dig out, root out, rummage * (have sexual intercourse) screw, bang, drill (US), shag (British) - See also
    Derived terms
    * root about * rooted * root out * root up

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (Australia, New Zealand, vulgar, slang) An act of sexual intercourse.
    • Fancy a root ?
  • (Australia, New Zealand, vulgar, slang) A sexual partner.
    • Usage notes
    * The Australian/New Zealand sexual sense of root'' is somewhat milder than ''fuck'' but still quite coarse, certainly not for polite conversation. The normal usage is ''to have a root or similar.
    Synonyms
    * (act of sexual intercourse) screw (qualifier), shag (UK); see also * (sexual partner) screw (US)

    Etymology 3

    Possibly an alteration of , influenced by hoot

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (intransitive, with for, US) To cheer to show support for.
  • * 1908 ,
    • Let me root', '''root''', ' root for the home team,
  • (US) To hope for the success of. Rendered as 'root for'.
    • I'm rooting for you, don't let me down!
    Synonyms
    * (cheer) barrack (qualifier), cheer on

    Anagrams

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