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

There are also certain dishes which simply don’t fit on an uppermost rack, like a whole roast chicken.

From Eater

I woke up in the night, and couldn’t stop thinking about the possibility this roast chicken was supposed to bring into my life.

From Eater

Serve your perfect roast chicken or hearty beef stew by placing your Dutch oven on this elegant trivet.

From Eater

When you roast a big tray of vegetables, it’s easy to reheat the leftovers or add them to grain bowls.

From Washington Post

Now here he was hearing, really hearing for the first time, that the planet, his son’s future home, was going to roast.

From ProPublica

The nanas and poppies and grannies and grampses who flocked there to roast in the sun.

From The Daily Beast

Remove the roast from the pan and let rest for a minimum of 15 minutes.

From The Daily Beast

A Chinese restaurateur ran to the window as I wolfed down roast duck for my farewell dinner, as shots were heard across the way.

From The Daily Beast

With time I learned to disassemble the entire hotpot and mount the heating coil on a roast beef can with a whole punched in it.

From The Daily Beast

It has the best pot roast on the West Coast, I told him, but it turns out, it was only on the dinner menu.

From The Daily Beast

Or what if I do not fish at all, but get my roast fish by paying for it a part of the wages I receive for working in a saw mill?

From Project Gutenberg

They were about to make a fire and roast some of the flesh for dinner, when a pitiful cry was heard.

From Project Gutenberg

Roast beef was presented, in compliment to the English, very little roasted.

From Project Gutenberg

He was a fat man—eating roast pork, and apple-sauce, and mashed potatoes, and bread.

From Project Gutenberg

With a roast apple in his snout, and a ribbon—a blue—no, a pink ribbon decorating his ornery little tail.

From Project Gutenberg