See Also: Room(medicine)
room(4)(dictionary)
room(3)(dictionary)
leg room(dictionary)
room(2)(dictionary)
bar-room(dictionary)
room(1)(dictionary)
box room(dictionary)
rec room(dictionary)
men's room(dictionary)

room(2) (iou)



room noun1.
[Old English rum = Old Frisian, Old Saxon, Old High German, Old Norse, Gothic rum (Dutch ruim, German Raum), from Germanic base of ROOM adjective.]
I.
The amount of space that is or may be occupied by a thing. OE.
Westminster Gazette Customers who need garage room for..vehicles. R. P. Bissell The economy size tube..takes up more room.
Capacity to accommodate a person or thing or allow a particular action; sufficient space (for, to do). Freq. with specifying word. OE.
E. Nesbit There's no room to make the chapters any longer. E. Waugh I will stay a little...Will there be room for me? M. Mitchell There was no room on the narrow sidewalks.
b. fig. Opportunity or allowance for something to occur, develop, etc.; scope (for, to do). OE.
W. Bronk Awake, our invention finds more room to move. Classical Review A. admits some room for doubt. Japan Times There is always room for improvement.
II.
A particular portion of space; a specific space or area. ME.
R. Bridges A Zephyr straying out of heaven's wide room Rush'd down.
b. In pl. Domains, dominions, territories. Scot. LME-L16.
c. A piece of rented land; a farm holding. Scot. Now chiefly Hist. E16.
a. A place or spot of unspecified extent. ME-L17.
b. A place in a series or sequence. Scot. Now rare or obsolete. L16.
c. A fishing station. N. Amer. E17.
A place or seat occupied by or assigned to a person or thing. Later spec., (contrasted with company) a place or seat as opp. to a person's actual presence. Now rare. LME.
Shakespeare Richard II Go thou and fill another room in hell. Hannah More I had rather have their room than their Company.
b. A place or seat in the theatre. L16-E17.
c. transf. A place in a person's affection etc. L16-L17.
a. An office, an appointment, a position, esp. one held by right or inheritance. LME-M18.
b. Position, authority. L15-L16.
III.
A compartment within a building enclosed by walls or partitions, floor and ceiling, esp. (freq. with specifying word) one set aside for a specified purpose; (with possess.) a person's private chamber or office within a house, workplace, etc. ME.
baggage room, changing room, common-room, control room, darkroom, dining-room, locker room, news room, sitting-room, waiting-room, etc.
P. Auster A large hall, a vast and impressive room. P. Dally He..confined her to her room.
b. transf. The people present in a room; the company. E18.
Addison His..Figure drew upon us the Eyes of the whole Room.
c. the room, a room or rooms for public gatherings or business; an assembly room; spec. (a) an auction room; (b) a gambling room. Usu. in pl. M18.
A. Christie In the Rooms, jauntily placing the minimum stake on the even numbers.
d. The main room of a house; the living-room. Scot., N. Amer., & dial. L18.
e. In pl. A set of rooms occupied by a person or persons, an institution, etc.; lodgings. Freq. with possess. L18.
C. E. Pascoe The rooms of the Society of Arts..are in John Street. Aldous Huxley Bernard had to slink back..to his rooms.
a. Mining. A working space left between pillars of coal. L17.
b. A space or compartment lying between the timbers of a ship's frame, the thwarts of a boat, etc. E18.
c. A capacity measure for coals, equivalent to 5 1 / 4 chaldrons. E19.
Phrases: double room: see DOUBLE adjective & adverb. elbow room: see ELBOW noun. FLORIDA room. green room: see GREEN adjective. in room of, in the room of (now rare) in (the) place of, in lieu of. ladies' room: see LADY noun & adjective. leave the room: see LEAVE verb1. little boys' room, little girls' room: see LITTLE adjective. long room: see LONG adjective1. make room (for) (a) make way or draw back to allow (another) to enter or pass; (b) clear a space for (something) by moving other things. men's room: see MAN noun. no room to swing a cat in, not room to swing a cat in very little space. room at the top opportunity to join an elite, the top ranks of a profession, etc. white room: see WHITE adjective.
Comb.: room clerk a hotel clerk who assigns rooms to guests; room-divider: see DIVIDER 2b; room-mate a person occupying the same room or rooms as another; room-ridden: see RIDDEN adjective 1; room service (the department providing) service of food or drink taken to a guest's room in a hotel etc.; roomstead (now rare or obsolete) a room, a compartment; a certain area or space; room temperature a comfortable ambient temperature, usu. taken as approx. 20C; room-to-room adjective (of a telephone) connecting rooms within the same building.
roomage noun (US, rare) space, internal capacity M19.
roomed adjective having rooms of a specified number or kind M16.
roomer noun (a) a house with a specified number of rooms; (b) N. Amer. a lodger occupying a room or rooms without board: M19.
roo'mette noun (chiefly N. Amer.) (a) a private single compartment in a sleeping-car; (b) a small bedroom for letting: M20.
roomful adjective & noun (a) adjective (rare, poet.) roomy; (b) noun as much or as many as a room will contain: E17.
roomie noun (N. Amer. colloq.) a room-mate E20.
roomless adjective (rare) M16.
roomlet noun a small room L19.