roof

/ruf/

/ruf/

Other forms: roofs; roofed; roofing

The roof! The roof! The roof is on fire! Just kidding. That’s from an ‘80s rap song and it means a party is rocking. A roof is a building's cover. It keeps the rain out of your house party.

The roof on your house or apartment building keeps rain, snow, and harsh sunlight out. Vehicles have roofs too: "I could hear sleet hitting the car roof," and so do enclosed spaces like porches or caves. You might even refer to the fact that you have a home as "having a roof over my head." As a verb, to roof means "to install a roof." When you "raise the roof," you make a lot of festive noise.

Definitions of roof

1. noun

   a protective covering that covers or forms the top of a building
   types:

   curb roof

   a roof with two or more slopes on each side of the ridge

   dome

   a hemispherical roof

   gable roof, saddle roof, saddleback, saddleback roof

   a double sloping roof with a ridge and gables at each end

   hip roof, hipped roof

   a roof having sloping ends as well as sloping sides

   housetop

   the roof of a house

   slate roof

   a roof covered with slate

   sunroof, sunshine-roof

   an automobile roof having a sliding or raisable panel

   thatch, thatched roof

   a house roof made with a plant material (as straw)

   tile roof

   a roof made of fired clay tiles

   vault

   an arched brick or stone ceiling or roof

   astrodome

   a transparent dome on top of an airplane where the navigator can make celestial observations

   barrel vault

   the simplest form of vault; a single continuous arch

   cupola

   a roof in the form of a dome

   gambrel, gambrel roof

   a gable roof with two slopes on each side and the lower slope being steeper

   geodesic dome

   a lightweight dome constructed of interlocking polygons; invented by R. Buckminster Fuller

   groined vault

   two barrel vaults intersecting at right angles

   mansard, mansard roof

   a hip roof having two slopes on each side

   onion dome

   a dome that is shaped like a bulb; characteristic of Russian and Byzantine church architecture

   pressure dome

   a dome-shaped building that is pressurized

   ribbed vault

   vault that resembles a groined vault but has ribbed arches

   whispering dome, whispering gallery

   a space beneath a dome or arch in which sounds produced at certain points are clearly audible at certain distant points

   type of:

   protection, protective cover, protective covering

   a covering that is intend to protect from damage or injury
2. noun

   protective covering on top of a motor vehicle
   types:

   hood

   the folding roof of a carriage

   calash, calash top, caleche

   the folding hood of a horse-drawn carriage

   type of:

   protection, protective cover, protective covering

   a covering that is intend to protect from damage or injury
3. noun

   the inner top surface of a covered area or hollow space
   “the roof of the cave was very high”

   “I could see the roof of the bear's mouth”

   type of:

   cover, covering, natural covering

   a natural object that covers or envelops
4. noun

   an upper limit on what is allowed
   “there was a roof on salaries”

   synonyms: cap, ceiling

   types:

   glass ceiling

   a ceiling based on attitudinal or organizational bias in the work force that prevents minorities and women from advancing to leadership positions

   type of:

   control

   the economic policy of controlling or limiting or curbing prices or wages etc.
5. verb

   provide a building with a roof; cover a building with a roof
   types:

   thatch

   cover with thatch

   shingle

   cover with shingles

   slate

   cover with slate

   type of:

   cover

   provide with a covering or cause to be covered