A Dictionary of Cont..

of money is the root of all evil. However, since
money in itself has no value and it is only the
desire for it that makes it function as a medium
of exchange, the whole thing may be a quibble.
rooves. See roof.
rose. See rise.
rosin. See resin.
rostrum. The plural is rostrums or rostra.
rotten. This is an old form of the participle rotted
that is used now only as an adjective. We say
the wood had rotted and was now rotten. There
is a growing tendency to use rotted as the adjective
also, in speaking about desirable forms of
decay, such as rotted leaves, and to reserve
rotten for what is undesirable, whether it has
decayed or not, as in rotten eggs and rotten
politicians.
roughneck; rowdy. American roughneck equals
English rowdy. It is a slang term to describe a
rough, coarse person. It may also suggest a
tough (Don’t get mixed up with those roughnecks
down at the poolroom, Jim.)
round. See around.
route should be used only in a literal sense, to
describe a way or road for passage or travel
(Route 66 is a famous American highway), a
customary or regular line of passage or travel
(The route led through the Cumberland Gap).
Route is not to be used figuratively as a loose
synonym for method, manner, or procedure
(as in He uses every available route to achieve
political power).
rove; roven. See reeve.
row, as a word for a noisy dispute or quarrel, was
for a century or more a slang word, and is only
just beginning to be accepted by the dictionaries
as standard. That being so, it certainly should
not be used in contexts where the seriousness
of the dispute requires that it be treated with
dignity. The frequent reference in headlines to
boundary row or international row often has an
offensive flippancy about it, though the word
when so used is probably chosen more for its
size than its connotations.
royal. See kingly.
ruby. See agate.
rudimentary. See vestigial.
ruination is derived from ruinate, a verb form in
common use up until 1700. It describes the act
of ruining, a state of being ruined, or something
that ruins (That boy will be the ruination of
me yet!). But it has a slightly humorous, rustic
tinge, as though (like botheration) it were a
facetious lengthening of ruin. It is not, but since
there are very few non-humorous contexts in
which ruin will not serve as well or better, it is
a word to be avoided.
rule the roost. As a term for being plainly the
boss, especially at home, rule the roost is a
clich6. The metaphor would seem to be drawn
from the dominance of the cock over his hens,
but there are those among the learned who
insist that to rule the roost is a corruption of
to rule the roast and their insistence is supported
by the spelling roast in many old English
uses of the expression. But the American form
has always been roost and the more learned are
of the opinion that this is the proper form and
roast is the corruption.
rumple. See crumble.
run. The past tense is ran. The participle is run.
Run was also used as a past tense in literary
English well into the nineteenth century, but
this is no longer standard.
A verb following run that tells the purpose of
the running may be a to-infinitive, as in he ran
to open the door, or it may be joined to run with
an and, as in he ran and opened the door.
Under certain circumstances run may also be
followed by the simple form of a verb without
to or and, as in run help your grandmother and
you can run get me a spoon. This construction
is used chiefly in speaking to children. We don’t
often tell adults to move fast. For this reason
it is not found in literature as often as the similar
construction with come and go. It must
therefore be classed as a colloquialism. But it
is used freely by the same people who say come
look at it and go tell her and is standard in the
United States. (For information on when this
form may be used and when it may not, see
come.)
Run may be followed by an adjective describing
what runs, as in still waters run deep and
the course of true love never did run smooth.
It may also be followed by an adverb describing
the running, as in run quickly.
NII one’s head against a stone wall. As a figure
for attempting the impossible, assailing an impregnable
position, opposing forces which can
defeat without effort our utmost effort, to run
(or often to butt) one’s head against a stone
wall is a hackneyed expression.
rung. See ring.
run-on sentences. Some textbooks on English
grammar claim ( 1) that when two or more
independent clauses are joined by a coordinating
conjunction (and, or, nor, but, or for), a comma
must be placed before the conjunction, as in
knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers; and (2)
that when one independent clause follows another
without a conjunction, a comma is not
sufficient punctuation and a semicolon must be
used, as in I cannot rest from travel; I will drink
life to the lees.
Sentences which violate these rules, such as
(1) I am old and day is ending and the wildering
night comes on and (2) white in the muon
the long road lies, the moon stands blank above,
are called run-on sentences by those who accept
the rule.
But our best writers do not observe any such
rule of thumb. They sometimes use one form
of punctuation and sometimes another, depending
upon which suits their purpose best. See
commas and semicolon.
NIIS may read, he who. The Lord instructed the
prophet Habakkuk to Write the vision, and
make it plain upon tables, that he may run that
readeth it. Prophetic utterances are notably obscure
but this would seem to be an injunction
to record a certain vision so clearly that whoever
reads and thus learns of it will be moved
to run. Whether he will run out of fear or out