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Uproot

//ˌʌpˈɹuːt// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The act of uprooting something.

    "With the uproot of the Chinese commercial system in the 1890s such a crisis was bound to surface."

Verb
  1. 1
    To tear up (a plant, etc.) by the roots, or as if by the roots; to extirpate, to root up. transitive

    "Mark me! the Lord's hand is stretched out, and will not be withdrawn until his nest be turned up, even as the plough uprooteth and scattereth the nest of the field-mouse and the blind mole; […]"

  2. 2
    Of a pig or other animal: to dig up (something in the ground) using the snout; to rummage for (something) in the ground; to grub up, to root, to rout. transitive
  3. 3
    pull up by or as if by the roots wordnet
  4. 4
    To destroy (something) utterly; to eradicate, exterminate. figuratively, transitive

    "[B]ravely bearing on, thy will / Is destined an eternal war to wage / With tyranny and falshood, and uproot / The germs of misery from the human heart."

  5. 5
    destroy completely, as if down to the roots wordnet
Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    To remove (someone or something) from a familiar circumstance, especially suddenly and unwillingly. figuratively, transitive

    "[H]ave ye a Sultan who ruleth over you and is tyrannical in his rule and under whose hand you are; one who, if any of you commit an offence, taketh his goods and ruineth him and who, whenas he will, turneth you out of house and home and uprooteth you, stock and branch?"

  2. 7
    move (people) forcibly from their homeland into a new and foreign environment wordnet
  3. 8
    Of oneself or someone: to move away from a familiar environment (for example, to live elsewhere). intransitive, reflexive

Etymology

Etymology 1

PIE word *wréh₂ds From up- (prefix indicating a higher direction or position) + root (“to tear up by the roots; (figuratively) to remove forcibly from a place; to eradicate, exterminate”, verb). Root is derived from root (“underground part of a plant”, noun), from Middle English rote, from Old English rōt, rōte, from Old Norse rót, from Proto-Germanic *wrōts, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds (“root”).

Etymology 2

PIE word *wréh₂ds From up- (prefix indicating a higher direction or position) + root (“to tear up by the roots; (figuratively) to remove forcibly from a place; to eradicate, exterminate”, verb). Root is derived from root (“underground part of a plant”, noun), from Middle English rote, from Old English rōt, rōte, from Old Norse rót, from Proto-Germanic *wrōts, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds (“root”).

Etymology 3

From up- (prefix indicating a higher direction or position) + root (“of a pig or other animal: to dig or turn up with the snout; to search as if by digging in soil, rummage”, verb). Root is derived from Middle English wroten (“to dig or turn up with the snout; to remove soil, dig up”), from Old English wrōtan (“to dig or turn up with the snout”), from Proto-Germanic *wrōtaną (“to dig or turn up with the snout”); further etymology uncertain.

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