roof

The outside covering at the top of a building that keeps rain and snow out.

• The roof is leaking.
• They replaced the old roof last summer.
• Snow covered the roofs of every house.

Common phrases: flat roof, roof tiles, repair the roof, under one roof

The top surface inside a hollow space, such as your mouth or a cave.

• My tongue touched the roof of my mouth.
• Water dripped from the cave's roof.
• Workers checked the tunnel roof for cracks.

How to use it: the roof of something (The hot soup burned the roof of my mouth.)

Similar words: ceiling

Common phrases: roof of something, cave roof, tunnel roof

To put a protective top covering on a building.

• We need to roof the shed.
• The workers roofed our house in three days.
• They are roofing the barn with metal sheets.

How to use it: roof something with something (They roofed the cottage with slate.)

Similar words: cover

Common phrases: roof a house, roof a shed, roof with tiles