rooster
Americannoun
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roosters
plural
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the male of domestic fowl and certain game birds; cock.
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a representation of this bird, used as an emblem of the Democratic Party from 1842 to 1874.
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Informal. a cocky person.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of rooster
Explanation
A rooster is a male chicken. If your cute baby chick grows up to crow loudly first thing every morning, he's probably a rooster. The word rooster is an American invention, inspired by the rooster's habit of roosting, or standing up on a perch while sleeping or while on the lookout for danger. In the UK, a rooster is more likely to be called a cock or cockerel. In a flock of birds, the rooster's job is to defend the chickens and their nests from predators and other roosters.
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.
See Examples For:
Wacky animal sidekicks once felt vibrant in a holistic world of artifice; here, a goggle-eyed rooster just looks diseased.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
The first thing I noticed was the sound of the place: the chatter of chickadees, the crows of a rooster and the honks of geese.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
But the woman also had a rooster on her thumb, showing "an intriguing style with a certain uniqueness," says Dr Caspari.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2025
While he speaks to me from his home in Sierra Leone, a rooster crows in the background, punctuating his sentences like a barnyard hype man.
From Slate ● Mar. 26, 2025
Like a stringy rooster I am tougher than I look, but not tough enough to fight all of them.
From "Beast Rider" by Tony Johnston & María Elena Fontanot de Rhoads
Nearby were soft-toy footballers resembling Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, fluffy roosters in France polos and teddy bears in Spain kits.
From Barron's ● Jun. 10, 2026
The gate is adorned with a sculpted round medallion of Oseguera’s trademark, two roosters.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 19, 2026
A second confidential source placed a recorded call to a man who said he owns about 100 roosters, which he brought to California from Texas, according to the affidavit.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2024
"Once those roosters and hens go down, you have no vaccine."
From Salon ● Jun. 1, 2024
The next morning, before the roosters started crowing, he took what money they had saved and headed for town.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
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.
