ROOT. A word first used in the sense given below by Dr. Paley. "He [Paley] held, indeed, all those little arts of underhand address, by which patronage and preferment are so frequently pursued, in supreme contempt. He was not of a nature to _root_; for that was his own expressive term, afterwards much used in the University to denote the sort of practice alluded to. He one day humorously proposed, at some social meeting, that a certain contemporary Fellow of his College [Christ's College, Cambridge, Eng.], at that time distinguished for his elegant and engaging manners, and who has since attained no small eminence in the Church of England, should be appointed _Professor of Rooting_."--_Memoirs of Paley_. 2. To study hard; to DIG, q.v. Ill-favored men, eager for his old boots and diseased raiment, torment him while _rooting_ at his Greek.--_Harv. Mag._, Vol. I. p. 267. ROT. Twaddle, platitude. In use among the students at the University of Cambridge, Eng.--_Bristed_. ROWES. The name of a party which formerly existed at Dartmouth College. They are thus described in The Dartmouth, Vol. IV. p. 117: "The _Rowes_ are very liberal in their notions. The Rowes don't pretend to say anything worse of a fellow than to call him a _Blue_, and _vice versâ_." See BLUES. ROWING. The making of loud and noisy disturbance; acting like a _rowdy_. Flushed with the juice of the grape, all prime and ready for _rowing_. When from the ground I raised the fragments of ponderous brickbat. _Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 98. The Fellow-Commoners generally being more disposed to _rowing_ than reading.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d. p. 34. ROWING-MAN. One who is more inclined to fast living than hard study. Among English students used in contradistinction to READING-MAN, q.v. When they go out to sup, as a reading-man does perhaps once a term, and a _rowing-man_ twice a week, they eat very moderately, though their potations are sometimes of the deepest.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 21. ROWL, ROWEL. At Princeton, Union, and Hamilton Colleges, this word is used to signify a good recitation. Used in the phrase, "to make a _rowl_." From the second of these colleges, a correspondent writes: "Also of the word _rowl_; if a public speaker presents a telling appeal or passage, he would _make a perfect rowl_, in the language of all students at least." ROWL. To recite well. A correspondent from Princeton College defines this word, "to perform any exercise well, recitation, speech, or composition; to succeed in any branch or pursuit." RUSH. At Yale College, a perfect recitation is denominated a _rush_. I got my lesson perfectly, and what is more, made a perfect _rush_.--_Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XIII. p. 134. Every _rush_ and fizzle made Every body frigid laid. _Ibid._, Vol. XX. p. 186.