roister
Americanverb (used without object)
-
to act in a swaggering, boisterous, or uproarious manner.
-
to revel noisily or without restraint.
verb
-
to engage in noisy merrymaking; revel
-
to brag, bluster, or swagger
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of roister
First recorded in 1545–55; verb use of roister (noun), from Middle French ru(i)stre “ruffian, boor,” variant of ru(i)ste “rural” ( see rustic)
Explanation
To roister is to celebrate in a noisy way with other people. You'll be tempted to roister with friends after your favorite team wins the Super Bowl, but keep it down once it's late and people are sleeping! Hooting and hollering after a sports victory is a good example of roistering. It's wild, loud, celebratory fun. If you've been in a college town when the basketball team wins the championship, you've probably seen throngs of students roister in the streets. This kind of boisterous revelry can turn obnoxious or even destructive, and the word's root suggests this; roister is from the Old French ruiste, "boorish or uncouth," from the Latin rusticus, "rough or coarse."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
One youngster began to roister noisily before the President.
From Time Magazine Archive
Few of the thousands of bedaubed revelers who annually roister through Manhattan's Beaux-Arts Ball realize that their patronage indirectly helps to raise money to send one architectural student to Paris for two-and-a-half years.
From Time Magazine Archive
In the old days, Batista liked to roister long past midnight with ex-sergeant cronies.
From Time Magazine Archive
Within, Fly members sat down to roister together.
From Time Magazine Archive
Bailey, unless, indeed, by dividing the word into two portions, viz. "bar" and "rister," and then, with a little of the critic's license, assuming that the latter half might originally have been written "roister."
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
