roast.
To cook food by heating in an oven or over a fire without covering, resulting in a crisp, possibly even slightly charred appearance.
Meaning & usage
To cook food by heating in an oven or over a fire without covering, resulting in a crisp, possibly even slightly charred appearance.
to roast meat on a spit
To cook by surrounding with hot embers, ashes, sand, etc.
to roast a potato in ashes
To process by drying through exposure to sun or artificial heat.
Coffee beans need roasting before use.
to roast chestnuts or peanuts
To heat to excess; to heat violently; to burn.
To admonish someone vigorously.
I'm late home for the fourth time this week; my mate will really roast me this time.
To subject to bantering, severely criticize, sometimes as a comedy routine.
He roasted a bully who then fought with him.
The class clown enjoys being roasted by mates as well as staff.
To dissipate the volatile parts of by heat, as ores.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English rosten, a borrowing from Old French rostir (“to roast, to torture with fire”), from Frankish *rōstijan (“to roast, broil”), from Proto-Germanic *raustijaną (“to roast”), from Proto-Indo-European *Hrews- (“to crackle; roast”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian rosterje (“to roast”), Dutch roosten, roosteren (“to roast”), German rösten (“to roast”). Displaced native Middle English breden, bræden (“to roast”), from Old English brǣdan, related to German braten (“to roast, grill”). The noun is from Middle English roste, from Old French rost, roste, from the verb.
A piece of meat suited to roasting; meat that has been roasted.
Serve the roast with gravy and mashed potatoes.
A meal consisting of roast foods.
Come over this weekend for Sunday roast.
The degree to which something, especially coffee, is roasted.
Dark roast means that the coffee bean has been roasted to a higher temperature and for a longer period of time than in light roast.
An instance of being severely admonished, criticized, roasted.
A comical event, originally fraternal, where a person is subjected to verbal attack, yet may be praised by sarcasm and jokes.
A social event at which food is roasted and eaten.
On Memorial Day we hosted a wiener roast in the backyard.
A creative insult as a response to something someone said.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English rosten, a borrowing from Old French rostir (“to roast, to torture with fire”), from Frankish *rōstijan (“to roast, broil”), from Proto-Germanic *raustijaną (“to roast”), from Proto-Indo-European *Hrews- (“to crackle; roast”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian rosterje (“to roast”), Dutch roosten, roosteren (“to roast”), German rösten (“to roast”). Displaced native Middle English breden, bræden (“to roast”), from Old English brǣdan, related to German braten (“to roast, grill”). The noun is from Middle English roste, from Old French rost, roste, from the verb.
Having been cooked by roasting.
Subjected to roasting; bantered; severely criticized.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English rosten, a borrowing from Old French rostir (“to roast, to torture with fire”), from Frankish *rōstijan (“to roast, broil”), from Proto-Germanic *raustijaną (“to roast”), from Proto-Indo-European *Hrews- (“to crackle; roast”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian rosterje (“to roast”), Dutch roosten, roosteren (“to roast”), German rösten (“to roast”). Displaced native Middle English breden, bræden (“to roast”), from Old English brǣdan, related to German braten (“to roast, grill”). The noun is from Middle English roste, from Old French rost, roste, from the verb.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.