roost

[ roost ]

noun

1. a perch upon which birds or fowls rest at night.
2. a large cage, house, or place for fowls or birds to roost in.
3. a place for sitting, resting, or lodging.

verb (used without object)

1. to sit or rest on a roost, perch, etc.
2. to settle or stay, especially for the night.

roost

¹

/ ruːst /

noun

1. a place, perch, branch, etc, where birds, esp domestic fowl, rest or sleep
2. a temporary place to rest or stay
3. rule the roost
   See rule

verb

1. intr to rest or sleep on a roost
2. intr to settle down or stay
3. come home to roost
   to have unfavourable repercussions

Roost

²

/ ruːst /

noun

1. the Roost
   a powerful current caused by conflicting tides around the Shetland and Orkney Islands

Other Words From

• un·roosted adjective
• un·roosting adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of roost¹

before 1100; Middle English roost (noun), Old English hrōst; cognate with Middle Dutch roest

Word History and Origins

Origin of roost¹

Old English hrōst ; related to Old Saxon hrost loft, German Rost grid

Origin of roost²

C16: from Old Norse röst

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. come home to roost, (of an action) to revert or react unfavorably to the doer; boomerang:

   an evil deed that came home to roost and ruined his life.

2. rule the roost, to be in charge or control; dominate:

   It was only too apparent that his grandfather ruled the roost.

More idioms and phrases containing roost

see chickens come home to roost ; rule the roost .

Example Sentences

The study showed that the social bonds formed in roosts extended into the hunt.

From TechCrunch

Bat buds rarely left the roost together, suggesting that they don’t go on tightly coordinated hunts, Carter says.

From Science News

Weeda Mehran, University of ExeterDespite what they insisted as they swept through Afghanistan, the Taliban appear to have remained largely the same since the days they ruled the roost in the 1990s.

From No Straight News

Nielsen rose to its position by virtue of the uniqueness of its panel and retained its roost through its continued usage over time.

From Digiday

The first name in DAW software still rules the biggest industry roosts and now features remote cloud collaboration.

From Popular-Science

“All the chickens are coming home to roost,” said opposition leader Antonio Di Pietro.

From The Daily Beast

Since John F. Kennedy, the GOP has ruled the foreign policy roost at election time and beyond.

From The Daily Beast

And past traumas and tribulations come home to roost for one reason only: so you can finally release them.

From The Daily Beast

As House Majority Leader, DeLay ruled his roost with an iron fist that makes Nancy Pelosi look like Mary Poppins.

From The Daily Beast

But now the chickens are coming back home to America to roost.

From The Daily Beast

And from my roost I could note the passing of anything bigger than a buffalo yearling, within a radius of at least six miles.

From Project Gutenberg

All the little children have been gathered up by the nursery-maids, and are taken down to roost below.

From Project Gutenberg

He had found the lost chick, and clucked low notes of supreme content as he brought him back to the roost.

From Project Gutenberg

Nothing would please her more than to see Austria broken up into a number of little States and Hungary ruling the roost.

From Project Gutenberg

But from where he sat on his favorite roost in the tall pine-tree he could see that provoking egg, a little spot of shining white.

From Project Gutenberg