roast

[ rohst ]

verb (used with object)

1. to bake (meat or other food) uncovered, especially in an oven.
2. to cook (meat or other food) by direct exposure to dry heat, as on a spit.
3. to brown, dry, or parch by exposure to heat, as coffee beans.
4. to cook or heat by embedding in hot coals, embers, etc.:

   to roast chestnuts.

5. to heat excessively:

   The summer sun has been roasting the entire countryside.

6. Metallurgy. to heat (ore or the like) in air in order to oxidize it.
7. to warm at a hot fire:

   She roasted her hands over the fire.

8. Informal. to ridicule or criticize severely or mercilessly.
9. to honor with or subject to a roast:

   Friends roasted the star at a charity dinner.

verb (used without object)

1. to roast meat or other food.
2. to undergo the process of becoming roasted.

noun

1. roasted meat or a piece of roasted meat, as a piece of beef or veal of a quantity and shape for slicing into more than one portion.
2. a piece of meat for roasting.
3. something that is roasted.
4. the act or process of roasting.
5. Informal. severe criticism.
6. a facetious ceremonial tribute, usually concluding a banquet, in which the guest of honor is both praised and good-naturedly insulted in a succession of speeches by friends and acquaintances.
7. an outdoor get-together, as a picnic or barbecue, at which food is roasted and eaten:

   a weenie roast.

adjective

1. roasted:

   roast beef.

roast

/ rəʊst /

verb

1. to cook (meat or other food) by dry heat, usually with added fat and esp in an oven
2. to brown or dry (coffee, etc) by exposure to heat
3. metallurgy to heat (an ore) in order to produce a concentrate that is easier to smelt
4. to heat (oneself or something) to an extreme degree, as when sunbathing, sitting before the fire, etc
5. intr to be excessively and uncomfortably hot
6. informal.
   to criticize severely

noun

1. something that has been roasted, esp meat

Other Words From

• roasta·ble adjective
• half-roasted adjective
• over·roast verb
• under·roast verb (used with object)
• un·roasted adjective
• well-roasted adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of roast¹

1250–1300; Middle English rosten (v.) < Old French rostir < Germanic; compare Dutch roosten, German rösten

Word History and Origins

Origin of roast¹

C13: from Old French rostir , of Germanic origin; compare Middle Dutch roosten to roast

Example Sentences

The best dish I can make is a roast chicken.

From Los Angeles Times

“In retrospect, having a roast comedian come to a political rally a week before Election Day and roasting a key voting demographic, probably not the best decision by the campaign politically,” Stewart landed on as his response to these "jokes," adding, “But, to be fair, the guy’s really just doing what he does!”

From Salon

Taken by itself, Stewart’s giggles at Hinchcliffe’s rapid-fire racist punchlines at the Brady roast didn’t make him look especially sympathetic to the legitimately outraged reaction to the comic’s Madison Square Garden performance.

From Salon

Hinchcliffe was “just doing what he does” at the Tom Brady roast, a venue where everything and everyone is of similar social status; not a single celebrity on that stage has a net worth under $1 million.

From Salon

You know, the roast comic who appeared at Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden nouveau Bund rally and called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean.”

From Salon