roast

/roʊst/

/rəʊst/

Other forms: roasted; roasting; roasts

Roast a turkey by cooking it in the oven. Roast a friend by calling her a turkey on her birthday. To roast can mean to cook, or to poke fun of someone as a way of honoring them.

In cooking, slow, dry heat is used to roast things. When a cook roasts a piece of meat, you can call the meat itself a roast too. Another way to use this word is to mean “to make fun of someone,” like a toast but meaner and funnier. Comedians are known to roast each other, telling one joke after another mocking the person they're celebrating. This comes from an eighteenth century use of roast to mean "an unmerciful bantering."

Definitions of roast

1. verb

   cook with dry heat, usually in an oven
   “roast the turkey”

   types:

   pan roast

   roast in a pan

   type of:

   cook

   transform and make suitable for consumption by heating
2. adjective

   (meat) cooked by dry heat in an oven
   synonyms: roasted

   cooked

   having been prepared for eating by the application of heat
3. noun

   a piece of meat roasted or for roasting and of a size for slicing into more than one portion
   synonyms: joint

   types:

   blade roast

   a roast cut from the blade

   pot roast

   cut of beef suitable for simmering in liquid in a closed pot

   rib roast, standing rib roast

   a cut of meat (beef or venison) including more than one rib and the meat located along the outside of the ribs

   top round

   roast cut from the round; usually suitable for roasting

   rump roast

   a cut of beef or veal from the fleshy hindquarters of the animal

   beef roast, roast beef

   cut of beef suitable for roasting

   roast veal, veal roast

   cut of veal suitable for roasting

   lamb roast, roast lamb

   a cut of lamb suitable for roasting

   pork roast, roast pork

   cut of pork suitable for roasting

   bottom round

   cut from the round; suitable for pot roast

   breast of veal

   usually stuffed and roasted

   fricandeau

   larded veal braised and glazed in its own juices

   crown roast, rack of lamb

   a roast of the rib section of lamb

   gigot, leg of lamb

   lamb leg suitable for roasting

   type of:

   cut, cut of meat

   a piece of meat that has been cut from an animal carcass
4. verb

   subject to laughter or ridicule
   “His former students roasted the professor at his 60th birthday”

   synonyms: blackguard, guy, jest at, laugh at, make fun, poke fun, rib, ridicule

   types:

   tease

   mock or make fun of playfully

   lampoon, satirise, satirize

   ridicule with satire

   debunk, expose

   expose while ridiculing; especially of pretentious or false claims and ideas

   stultify

   cause to appear foolish

   uncloak, unmask

   reveal the true nature of

   type of:

   bemock, mock

   treat with contempt
5. noun

   negative criticism
   synonyms: knock

   type of:

   criticism, critique

   a serious examination and judgment of something