room

1 an area within a building enclosed by walls and floor and ceiling; "the rooms were very small but they had a nice view"

2 space for movement; "room to pass"; "make way for"; "hardly enough elbow room to turn around" [syn: way, elbow room]

3 opportunity for; "room for improvement"

4 the people who are present in a room; "the whole room was cheering" v : live and take one's meals at or in; "she rooms in an old boarding house" [syn: board]

English

Etymology

rūm.

Pronunciation

• /ru:m/, /rʊm/, /ru:m/, /rUm/

• Rhymes: -ʊm, -uːm

Noun

1. A separate part of a building, enclosed by walls, a floor and a ceiling.

   He went to the next room.

2. Space for something or to carry out an activity.

   Give me some room, I can't breathe.

3. Opportunity or possibility to do something.

   This is good, but there is a lot of room for improvement.

4. In the context of "always|_|singular": The people in a room.

   The room was on its feet.

5. internet countable A forum or chat room.

   Some users may not be able to access the AOL room.

6. internet countable The basic unit of virtual space in interactive fiction.

   Each character is always in exactly one room.

7. spelunking countable A portion of a cave that is wider than a passage.
8. sailing uncountable The amount of open water needed for a boat to complete a maneuver in proper fashion.

Synonyms

• elbow room, legroom, space
• chamber, quarters
• chamber

Translations

Derived terms

single words or compounds

• art room
• AV room
• backroom
• ballroom
• bathroom
• bedroom
• billiards room
• blue room
• boardroom
• boiler room
• box-room
• break room
• changing room
• classroom
• cold room
• common room
• computer room
• control room
• copy room
• cutting room
• darkroom
• dining room
• discussion room
• display room
• dormroom
• dressing room
• embalming room
• emergency room
• engine room
• examination room
• fitting room
• front room
• game room
• giftwrapping room
• green room
• guest room
• headroom
• inner room
• lamp room
• laundry room
• legroom
• living room
• locker room
• lunchroom
• map room
• meditation room
• meeting room
• mud room
• music room
• newsroom
• operating room
• padded room
• panic room
• plant room
• play room
• pool room
• powder room
• prep room
• press room
• private room
• reading room
• ready room
• recording room
• reptile room
• room together
• roommate
• roomie
• roomy
• rumpus room
• school room
• science room
• screening room
• sewing room
• showroom
• sitting room
• sound room
• spare room
• steam room
• storeroom
• strong room
• study room
• sunroom
• upstairs room
• viewing room
• waiting room
• war room
• washroom
• weightroom
• workroom

idioms

• chat room
• clean my room
• elbow room
• elephant in the room
• get a room
• in the room
• need a room
• no room at the inn
• romper room
• room and board
• room at the top
• room for abuse
• room for apology
• room for dessert
• room for error
• room for improvement
• room service
• room to breathe
• room to grow
• room to roam
• room with a view
• save room
• standing room only
• the other room
• the upper room

Verb

1. To reside, especially as a boarder or tenant.

   Doctor Watson roomed with Sherlock Holmes at Baker Street.

Derived terms

• roomer

Anagrams

• moor

Dutch

Pronunciation

• /ʀoːm/|lang=nl

Noun

• cream (of milk)

1. defn Dutch

A room, in architecture, is any distinguishable space within a structure. Most typically a room is separated by interior walls from other spaces or passageways; moreover, it is separated by an exterior wall from outdoor areas, sometimes with a door. Historically the use of rooms dates at least to early Minoan cultures about 2200 BC, where excavations on Santorini, Greece at Akrotiri reveal clearly defined rooms within structures.

Historical room types

In early structures, diverse room types could be identified to include bedrooms, kitchens, bathing rooms, reception rooms and other specialized uses. The aforementioned Akrotiri excavations reveal rooms sometimes built above other rooms connected by staircases, bathrooms with alabaster appliances such as washbasins, bathing tubs and toilets, all connected to an elaborate twin plumbing systems of ceramic pipes for cold and hot water separately. Ancient Rome manifested very complex building forms with a variety of room types, including some of the earliest examples of rooms for indoor bathing. The Anasazi civilization also had an early complex development of room structures, probably the oldest in North America, while the Maya of Central America had very advanced room configurations as early as several hundred AD. By at least the early Han Dynasty in China (e.g. approximately 200 BC) complex multi-level building forms emerged, particularly for religious and public purposes; these designs featured many roomed structures and included vertical connections of rooms.

Box-room

Many houses are built to contain a box-room (box room or boxroom) that is easily identifiable being smaller than the others. The small size of these rooms limits their use, and they tend to be used as a small single bedroom, small child's bedroom or as a storage room.

Traditionally, and often seen in country houses and larger suburban houses up until the 1930s in Britain, The box room was literaly for the storage of boxes, trunks, portmanteaux and the like, rather than intended for bedroom use.

See also

• Entryway
• Great hall
• Classroom

Notes

a leg up, abide, accommodation, accommodations, air space, allowance, ample scope, apartment, area, bed, berth, billet, blank check, board, bunk, burden, caesura, capacity, carte blanche, cell, chamber, chambers, chance, clear stage, clearance, cohabit, compartment, content, cordage, cubicle, diggings, digs, discontinuity, distance between, domicile, domiciliate, doss down, double space, dwell, dwelling, elbowroom, em space, en space, extent, fair field, fair game, field, flat, free course, free hand, free play, free scope, freeboard, full scope, full swing, hair space, half space, hang out, harbor, headroom, hiatus, house, housing, hut, inhabit, interim, intermediate space, interruption, interspace, interstice, interval, jump, lacuna, latitude, leap, leeway, liberty, license, limit, live, living quarters, lodge, lodging, lodgings, lodgment, long rope, maneuvering space, margin, measure, nest, no holds barred, occasion, occupy, office, open space, opening, opportunism, opportunity, perch, place, play, poundage, put up, quantity, quarter, quarters, range, rein, remain, rental, reside, room to spare, rooms, roost, rope, scope, sea room, shelter, single space, sleeping place, space, space between, spare room, squat, stable, stay, stepping-stone, stowage, suite, sway, swing, tenant, tenement, time, time interval, tolerance, tonnage, volume, way, wide berth