Definition of: roast

(rōst) v.t.
1. To cook by subjecting to the action of heat, as in an oven.
2. Originally, to cook before an open fire, or by placing in hot ashes, embers, etc.
3. To heat excessively, or to an extreme degree.
4. To dry and parch under the action of heat: to roast coffee.
5. Metall. To heat (ores) with access of air, but without fusing, for the purpose of driving off or volatilizing impurities, or for oxidizing them.
6. Colloq. To banter or ridicule severely.
—v.i.
7. To roast food in an oven, etc.
8. To be cooked or prepared by this method.
9. To be uncomfortably hot.
—noun
1. Something roasted; a piece of meat that is adapted or prepared for roasting, or that is roasted.
2. The act of roasting.
—adjective Roasted. [<OF rostir <OHG rosten <rost a gridiron, a roast]