taproot
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English
[edit]
Etymology
[edit]From tap + root. The oldest use (by Philemon Holland) is spaced as tap root. In the 18th and 19th centuries the standard spelling was tap-root.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]taproot (plural taproots)
- (botany) A long, tapering root possessed by many plants (such as carrots and dandelions). [from early 17th c.]
- 1950 July, “Traveller's Joy”, in Railway Magazine, page ii (advertisement):
- The taproots of trees like the false acacia, growing between Park Royal and Alperton, thrust deeply into the ground, while the spreading roots of the silver birch stitch the soil.
- 2007, Susan L. Woodward, “Modern Vegetation of the Murray Springs Area and the Upper San Pedro Valley”, in Caleb Vance Haynes, Bruce B. Huckell, editor, Murray Springs, page 58:
- Above the lower headcut, phreatophytic mesquite and little leaf sumac hug the banks, drawing pendulate water from the silts remaing from former marsh deposits and sending long taproots into channel stores.
- 2024 October 10, David Brooks, “How Harris Can Finish Strong”, in The New York Times[1]:
- On the other hand, those who are compelled by a single strong desire are obsessed with a well-defined problem, which touches the taproot of their soul. They are on the attack, on the move.
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]long tapering root
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