To Roast (Grose 1811 Dictionary)

To Roast

To arrest. I’ll roast the dab; I’ll arrest the rascal.—Also to jeer, ridicule, or banter. He stood the roast; he was the butt.—Roast meat clothes; Sunday or holiday-clothes. To cry roast meat; to boast of one’s situation. To rule the roast; to be master or paramount.

Definition taken from The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, originally by Francis Grose.

Roaring Trade * Roast and Boiled

Nearby

Nathan Bailey's 1736 Dictionary of canting and thieving slang

John S. Farmer's collection of canting songs and slang rhymes

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About

Francis Grose was independently wealthy, having inherited money from his father, a jeweller. Finding himself overspending, he published a number of books; his Provincial Glossary seems to have been the starting-point for the Vulgar Tongue reproduced here.