rood

Etymology

From Middle English rode, rood (“cross”), from Old English rōd (“cross”), from Proto-Germanic *rōdō, *rōdǭ (“rod, pole”), from Proto-Indo-European *rōt-, *reh₁t- (“bar, beam, stem”). Cognate with German Rute (“rod, cane, pole”), Norwegian roda (“rod”). Largely displaced by cross. More at rod.

noun

  1. (archaic) A crucifix, cross, especially in a church.
  2. A measure of land area, equal to a quarter of an acre.
    […] a bumptious fool whose god was property, not property in vast estates such as a true man might worship, but in paltry roods. 1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter V, in Capricornia, page 58
    Perhaps, however, he could ensure against being completely alone by cultivating the few roods of garden wished upon him. 1956, Anthony Burgess, Time for a Tiger (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 195
  3. (Chester, historical) An area of sixty-four square yards.
  4. (UK, dialectal, obsolete) A measure of five and a half yards in length.

Attribution / Disclaimer All definitions come directly from Wiktionary using the Wiktextract library. We do not edit or curate the definitions for any words, if you feel the definition listed is incorrect or offensive please suggest modifications directly to the source (wiktionary/rood), any changes made to the source will update on this page periodically.