roast / rōst/ • v. [tr.] 1. cook (food, esp. meat) by prolonged exposure to heat in an oven or over a fire: she was going to roast a leg of lamb for Sunday dinner | [as adj.] (roasted) roasted chestnuts. ∎  [intr.] (of food) be cooked in such a way: she checked the meat roasting in the oven. ∎  process (a foodstuff, metal ore, etc.) by subjecting it to intense heat: coffee beans are roasted and ground. ∎  make (someone or something) very warm, esp. by exposure to the heat of the sun or a fire: the fire was hot enough to roast anyone who stood close to it. ∎  [intr.] become very hot: Jessica could feel her face begin to roast.2. criticize or reprimand severely: if you waste his time he'll roast you. ∎  offer a mocking tribute to (someone) at a roast.• adj. (of food) having been cooked in an oven or over an open fire: a plate of cold roast beef.• n. 1. a cut of meat that has been roasted or that is intended for roasting: carving the Sunday roast. ∎  a dish or meal of roasted food. ∎  the process of roasting something, esp. coffee, or the result of this. ∎  a particular type of roasted coffee: continental roasts. ∎  an outdoor party at which meat, esp. of a particular type, is roasted: Harold put on a terrific pig roast.2. a banquet to honor a person at which the honoree is subjected to good-natured ridicule.

roast Originally meant to cook meat over an open fire on a spit; now refers to cooking in an enclosed oven, and so is ‘dry heating’. With meat the juices evaporate on the surface, producing the Maillard complex characteristic of roasted meat.

roast XIII. — OF. rostir (mod. rôtir) — WGmc. *raustjan (Du. roosten, OHG. rōsten, G. rösten).