Roast

Part of speech: verb, noun

Pronunciation: /ɹoʊst/

Definitions

1. To prepare food by cooking it in an oven or over a flame, to mock or humorously deride someone in a playful manner, or to achieve a caramelized surface texture while keeping the interior succulent
2. The process of cooking an item thoroughly using dry heat, the act of making light-hearted jokes at someone's expense, or a technique that creates a crispy exterior for a tender interior
3. To cook food by exposing it to dry heat usually in an oven or over fire ; to tease or criticize someone in a humorous, good-natured way ; to heat food until it attains a deep, rich taste and aroma

Etymology: Before "roast" meant cooking meat over a fire, the Old French verb "rostir" also meant "to torture with fire," a sense English borrowed along with the word itself. Middle English took "rosten" from Old French, and the Old French word had come from a Frankish verb, "rōstijan," meaning "to roast or broil," which traces back to a Proto-Germanic root for the same activity. English already had its own word for the job. Old English "brǣdan," related to German "braten," meant "to roast," and it was native to the language. The French borrowing gradually displaced it, and the older verb was eventually lost from everyday English. The noun came later, from Old French "rost" or "roste," formed from the verb, so the joint of meat and the act of cooking share a single origin.

Synonyms: cook, bake, grill

Antonyms: freeze, chill