v. [UN-2 4 b and 7.]
1. trans. To tear, pluck, or dig up by the roots. Also in fig. context and transf.
1570. Levins, Manip., 178. To vnroote, eradicare.
1593. G. Harvey, New Letter, B 3. Riotous Vanitie was wont to roote so deeply, that it could hardly be vnrooted.
1601. Shaks., All’s Well, V. i. 6. Be bold you do so grow in my requitall, As nothing can vnroote you.
1635. Shirley, Coronat., IV. His love was firm to you, and cannot be Unrooted with one storme.
1687. Dryden, Song St. Cecilia’s Day, vii. Trees unrooted left their Place.
1740. Pitt, Æneid, VI. 9. To feed the fires, [some] unroot the standing woods.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist., I. 133. There are sometimes whole plains unrooted from the main lands, by floods and tempests.
1852. Th. Ross, trans. Humboldt’s Trav., I. iii. 130. The causes that unroot these weeds at depths where … the sea is but slightly agitated.
b. fig. To eradicate, clear away, remove or detach altogether. Also Unrooting vbl. sb.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., I. ii. 8. Forto meete aȝens the firste bifore spoken opinioun, and forto vnroote and updrawe it. Ibid. This vnrooting of the first opinioun.
1574. Hellowes, Gueuara’s Fam. Ep. (1577), 181. Vices be so euill to be vnrooted where they once take place.
1603. G. Owen, Pembrokeshire, iii. (1892), 36. The Conqueror … purposed to haue vnrooted the Saxon or Englishe tongue out of England. Ibid., iv. 38. He gaue diuerse of them theire ancient landes to hold of him, and did not vtterlye vnroote them.
1738. Warburton, Div. Legat., I. 277. They unrooted and destroyed all that good to Society.
1856. Dickens, Lett. (1880), I. 419. My present idea, if nothing should arise to unroot me sooner, is to stay here until the middle of May.
2. intr. To lose root-hold; to withdraw the root from the soil.
a. 1616. Beaum. & Fl., Bonduca, III. i. Make their strengths totter, and their topless fortunes Unroot and reel to ruine.
c. 1800. W. Blake, Four Zoas, Last Judgem., 39. The trees unroot; The rocks groan horrible and run about.
