roast

[ rohst ]
See synonyms for roast on Thesaurus.com
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.

  1. to brown, dry, or parch by exposure to heat, as coffee beans.

  2. to cook or heat by embedding in hot coals, embers, etc.: to roast chestnuts.

  3. to heat excessively: The summer sun has been roasting the entire countryside.

  4. Metallurgy. to heat (ore or the like) in air in order to oxidize it.

  5. to warm at a hot fire: She roasted her hands over the fire.

  6. Informal. to ridicule or criticize severely or mercilessly.

  7. 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.

  1. something that is roasted.

  2. the act or process of roasting.

  3. Informal. severe criticism.

  4. 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.

  5. an outdoor get-together, as a picnic or barbecue, at which food is roasted and eaten: a weenie roast.

adjective
  1. roasted: roast beef.

Origin of roast

1
1250–1300; Middle English rosten (v.) <Old French rostir<Germanic; compare Dutch roosten,German rösten

Other words from roast

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

Words Nearby roast

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use roast in a sentence

  • 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?

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

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

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

    Love's Pilgrimage | Upton Sinclair
  • With a roast apple in his snout, and a ribbon—a blue—no, a pink ribbon decorating his ornery little tail.

    The Woman Gives | Owen Johnson

British Dictionary definitions for roast

roast

/ (rəʊst) /


verb(mainly tr)
  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

  1. metallurgy to heat (an ore) in order to produce a concentrate that is easier to smelt

  2. to heat (oneself or something) to an extreme degree, as when sunbathing, sitting before the fire, etc

  3. (intr) to be excessively and uncomfortably hot

  4. informal to criticize severely

noun
  1. something that has been roasted, esp meat

Origin of roast

1
C13: from Old French rostir, of Germanic origin; compare Middle Dutch roosten to roast

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012