roost
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.
Idioms about 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.
rule the roost, to be in charge or control; dominate: It was only too apparent that his grandfather ruled the roost.
Origin of roost
1Other words from roost
- un·roost·ed, adjective
- un·roost·ing, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use roost in a sentence
Bushwhacking south from Kebler, I was rewarded with sightings of a dozen squirrels, a great horned owl snoozing on her midday roost, a sweet mossy boulder facing a sweet mossy creek, and precisely zero beefy limbs within my limited reach.
Some of these petite predators catch huge insects or even lizards that they haul back to their roosts.
Here’s what bats ‘see’ when they explore the world with sound | Carolyn Wilke | October 29, 2020 | Science News For StudentsPicking through guano can identify bat species and reveal the viruses they carry, and cameras positioned outside bat caves and roosts can give a sense of abundance.
Why bat scientists are socially distancing from their subjects | Jerimiah Oetting | October 23, 2020 | Science NewsPresumably, Fischer would rather be roosting home in Cambridge, Mass.
Though he is a big bird, only a small percentage of them will be able to find a roosting place.
The Red Cow and Her Friends | Peter McArthur
He insists on roosting on the extreme north end of the ridge-board and he always flies up on the south end.
The Red Cow and Her Friends | Peter McArthurAll I needed to do was to listen and locate the lustiest crowers where they were roosting in the apple trees.
The Red Cow and Her Friends | Peter McArthurThose old Norman villages are famous for early roosting, and the villagers are generally great rearers of poultry.
Toilers of the Sea | Victor HugoOverhead the rooks streamed homewards to their roosting trees.
Wood Magic | Richard Jefferies
British Dictionary definitions for roost (1 of 2)
/ (ruːst) /
a place, perch, branch, etc, where birds, esp domestic fowl, rest or sleep
a temporary place to rest or stay
rule the roost See rule (def. 20)
(intr) to rest or sleep on a roost
(intr) to settle down or stay
come home to roost to have unfavourable repercussions
Origin of roost
1British Dictionary definitions for Roost (2 of 2)
/ (ruːst) /
the Roost a powerful current caused by conflicting tides around the Shetland and Orkney Islands
Origin of Roost
2Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with roost
see chickens come home to roost; rule the roost.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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