ˈroof-tree
Also 5 ruff tree, roffetre, 6 (8) Sc. rufe, ruif tre, 7 roufe, 20 rooftree.
[f. roof n.]
1. a. The main beam or ridge-pole of a roof. Also fig.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 435/2 Roof tree (or ruff tree), festum. c 1475 Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 777 Hoc festum, a roffetre. 1560 Rolland Seven Sages 14 The ruif tre of all this haill Maissoun. 1570 Henry's Wallace v. 209 A gret rufe tre [v.r. raftre] he had in till his hand. 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Roof, Roof-trees..is also used for the upper Timbers of any Building; whence in the Northern Counties, it is common to signify a whole Family, by saying, all under such a one's Roof-Tree. 1815 Scott Guy M. viii, Ye have riven the thack off seven cottar houses—look if your ain roof-tree stand the faster. 1857 Dufferin Let. High Lat. (ed. 3) 132 Instead of sleeping in the tent, he determined to seek shelter under a solid roof-tree. 1875–6 Stevenson Ess. Trav. (1905) 146 Wood for the fire, or for a new roof-tree. 1923 T. S. Eliot Waste Land v. 23 Only a cock stood on the roof-tree. 1950 D. Gascoyne Vagrant 38 Entangled in the thicket of World Roof-Tree's dense leaves. 1955 E. Pound Classic Anthol. III. 184 High, pine-covered peak full of echos, Proud ridge-pole of Heaven, roof-tree Whence descended the whirl of spirits. 1969 New Scientist 13 Mar. 554/1 An enormous rooftree 558ft long has just been inched up from ground level to serve as the chief single member of the new hangar which is being built by BOAC. |
b. Sc. in allusive use (see quots.).
| c 1730 Burt Lett. N. Scotl. (1754) II. 41 As we say..—To your Fireside; he says much to the same Purpose—To your Roof Tree. 1837 Lockhart Scott IV. vi. 191 Lord Melville proposed a bumper, with all the honours, to the Roof-tree. 1842 D. Vedder Poems 141 We'll a' haud a ranting holiday, An' drink success to the laird's roof-tree. |
2. Naut. (See quots. and cf. rough-, ruff-tree.)
It is doubtful, in view of the variant forms, whether the first element here is really roof n. The spelling does not appear to have been in actual use after the 17th century.
| 1626 Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 13 They make a Iury-mast..with yards, rouftrees, or what they can. 1627 ― Seaman's Gram. vii. 32 The Roufe-trees..are..small Timbers to beare vp the Gratings from the halfe Decke to the fore-castle. 1688 Holme Armoury iii. xv. (Roxb.) 37/1 The Roofe trees are light wood that goes ouer the decks and fore-castle to beare vp the gratings and ledges wherein the netting ly. 1704 J. Harris Lex. Techn. I. s.v., That Peece of Timber which on Occasion is laid over the Half Deck to bear up Nettings, Sails, or Peeces of Canvas, is called a Roof-tree. [Also in Chambers (1728), Crabbe (1823), etc.] |