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roast

[rohst]
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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.
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verb (used without object)
  1. to roast meat or other food.
  2. to undergo the process of becoming roasted.
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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.
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adjective
  1. roasted: roast beef.
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Origin of roast

1250–1300; Middle English rosten (v.) < Old French rostir < Germanic; compare Dutch roosten, German rösten
Related formsroast·a·ble, adjectivehalf-roast·ed, adjectiveo·ver·roast, verbun·der·roast, verb (used with object)un·roast·ed, adjectivewell-roast·ed, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

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British Dictionary definitions for roast

roast

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
  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
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noun
  1. something that has been roasted, esp meat
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Word Origin

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

Word Origin and History for roast

v.

late 13c., "to cook by dry heat," from Old French rostir "to roast, burn" (Modern French rôtir), from Frankish *hraustjan (cf. Old High German rosten, German rösten, Middle Dutch roosten "to roast"), originally "cook on a grate or gridiron," related to Germanic words meaning "gridiron, grate;" cf. German Rost, Middle Dutch roost.

Intransitive sense "be very hot, be exposed to great heat" is from c.1300. The meaning "make fun of in an affectionate way" is from 1710. From the same source as roster. Related: Roasted; roasting. Roast beef first recorded 1630s (cf. French rosbif, from English).

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n.

early 14c., "meat roasted or for roasting;" see roast (v.). Meaning "a roasting" is from 1580s. Sense of "an unmerciful bantering" is from 1740.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper