roe

nounnounattested in dialogue

United Kingdom//ˈɹəʊ//
United States//ˈɹoʊ//

Eggs of fish.

noun

1
Eggs of fish.
It was quite flavourless, except that, where its innards had been imperfectly removed, silver traces of roe gave it an unpleasant bitterness.
Today, some seafood experts say, the cheaper (though mushier) roe feeds 60 percent of the market.
2
Sperm of certain fish.
3
Ovaries of certain crustaceans.

Etymology

From Middle English rowe, rowne, roun, rawne, from Old English *hrogn (“spawn, fish eggs, roe”), from Proto-Germanic *hrugnaz, *hrugną (“spawn, roe”), from Proto-Indo-European *krek- (“(frog) spawn”). Cognate with Dutch roge (“roe”), German Low German Rögen (“roe”), German Rogen (“roe”), Danish rogn, ravn (“roe”), Swedish rom (“roe”), Icelandic hrogn (“roe”), Lithuanian kurkulai̇̃ (“frog spawn”), Russian кряк (krjak, “frog spawn”).

noun

1
A mottled appearance of light and shade in wood, especially in mahogany.
2
Variant of roe deerEllipsis of roe deer.
And let his foes like flockes of feareful Roes, Purſude by hunters, flie his angry lookes, That I may ſee him iſſue Conquerour.
The lofty mountains roſe faint to the ſight and loſt their foreheads in the diſtant ſkies: the little hills, cloathed in darker green and ſkirted with embroidered vales, diſcovered the ſecret haunts of kids and bounding roes.
"[...] and we may, God willing, meet with a roe. The roe, Captain Waverley, may be hunted at all times alike; for never being in what is called pride of grease, he is also never out of season, though it be a truth that his venison is not equal to that of either the red or fallow deer. But he will serve to show how my dogs run [...]"

Etymology

From Middle English ro, roa, from Old English rā, rāha, from Proto-West Germanic *raihō, from Proto-Germanic *raihô, *raihą, from *róyko-, from Proto-Indo-European *rey- (“spotted, streaked”). See also Saterland Frisian Räi, Dutch ree, German Reh; also Irish riabh (“tripe, streak”), Latvian ràibs (“spotted”), Russian рябо́й (rjabój, “mottled fur”).

Forms

plural: roes

rodney · A small Newfoundland wooden boat typically used by one person.Rodney · A habitational surname from Old English.Rodriguez · A patrilineal surname from Spanish.

roe · Eggs of fish.

Roe · A surname transferred from the nickname.rog · Intoxication through freebasing.Rog · A diminutive of the male given name Roger.

The neighbouring pages — Alphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.