• Rooftree

    Pronunciation

    • UK IPA: /ˈɹuːftɹiː/

    Alternative forms

    Origin

    From roof + tree.

    Full definition of rooftree

    Noun

    rooftree

    (plural rooftrees)
    1. The primary beam of a roof, ridgepole; hence, the roof. from 14th c.
      • 1942, Rebecca West, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, Canongate 2006, p. 985:there an Annunciation that annihilates time by showing a rooftree throw the shadow of a cross between the Virgin and the angel ....
      • Now for me the woods may wither, now for me the rooftree fall. — Tennyson.
    2. (figuratively) A home; household.
      • 1910, ‘Saki’, "The Lost Sanjak", Reginald in Russia:With the idea, presumably, of inducing the doctor's wife to leave her husband's roof-tree for some habitation which would be run at my expense, I had crammed my pockets with a store of banknotes, which represented a good deal of my immediate worldly wealth.
      • The correct costume had to be hand-made by each individual or 'rooftree' (family group) ... — The Kindred of the Kibbo Kift
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