a perch upon which birds or fowls rest at night.
a large cage, house, or place for fowls or birds to roost in.
a place for sitting, resting, or lodging.
to sit or rest on a roost, perch, etc.
to settle or stay, especially for the night.
rule the roost, to be in charge or control; dominate.
It was only too apparent that his grandfather ruled the roost.
come home to roost, (of an action) to revert or react unfavorably to the doer; boomerang.
an evil deed that came home to roost and ruined his life.
a place, perch, branch, etc, where birds, esp domestic fowl, rest or sleep
a temporary place to rest or stay
See rule
(intr) to rest or sleep on a roost
(intr) to settle down or stay
to have unfavourable repercussions
before 1100; Middle English roost (noun), Old English hrōst; cognate with Middle Dutch roest
A roost is a place where birds or bats can sleep or rest safely. Backyard chickens need a comfortable, secure roost to stay warm and rested. You can use roost to mean the perch that birds stand on while resting, the structure that contains the perch, or even a random tree branch, in the case of a wild bird. As a verb, it means to sit or to rest: "The chickens began to roost for the evening." When someone says, "Chickens come home to roost," they mean that bad actions eventually have bad consequences. And if you "rule the roost," you're in charge.
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As The Wall Street Journal’s Theo Francis details elsewhere, chip maker Nvidia rules the roost thanks to high scores on five of the six vectors.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 8, 2026
And your little white lies will come home to roost.
From MarketWatch • May 26, 2026
The third case involved covert surveillance at a hen harrier roost in the Yorkshire Dales where investigators captured evidence of a planned attempt to kill one of the UK's rarest birds of prey.
From BBC • May 25, 2026
That’s where “mother” has come home to roost, now applied as liberally to pop stars as it is screen sirens, influencers and Food Network hosts.
From Salon • May 10, 2026
Flat on her stomach she watched the roost.
From "Julie of the Wolves" by Jean Craighead George
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.
