Dictionaries › English

roost

Pronunciation: /ɹuːst/

The English word “roost” has 9 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. The place where a bird sleeps (usually its nest or a branch).
  2. A group of birds roosting together.
  3. A bedroom.
  4. The open cross-joists or inner roof of a cottage or living space.
  5. A kick which causes the ball to travel a long distance.
  6. Synonym of perch (“a position that is secure and advantageous”).

verb

  1. To settle on a perch in order to sleep or rest.
  2. To spend the night.
  3. To kick (a ball) a long distance.

Etymology

From Middle English roste (“chicken's roost; perch”), from Old English hrōst (“wooden framework of a roof; roost”), from Proto-West Germanic *hrōst, from Proto-Germanic *hrōstaz (“wooden framework; grill”); see *raustijan. Cognate with Dutch roest (“roost”), German Low German Rust (“roost”), German Rost (“grate; gridiron; grill”).

Keep exploring: in the interactive dictionary every word of a definition is a link. Open “roost” there

More English words

About this dictionary

The English dictionary on Glottosphere has 650,529 entries with a page. Browse the English dictionary.

Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.