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 BoiledNathan Bailey's 1736 Dictionary of canting and thieving slang
John S. Farmer's collection of canting songs and slang rhymes