verb. (old).—1. To ridicule; TO QUIZ (q.v.).—GROSE.
1732. S. WESLEY, in ATTERBURY, The Epistolary Correspondence, ii. 417. On Bishop Atterbury’s ROASTING Lord Coningsby about the topic of being Priest-ridden.
1751. SMOLLETT, Peregrine Pickle, lxxi. Who no sooner entered the room than the mistress of the house very kindly desired one of the wits present to ROAST the old put.
1780. SOPHIA LEE, The Chapter of Accidents, iii. 1. But I must keep my own counsel, or my old beau of a brother will ROAST me to death on my system of education.
1854. WHYTE-MELVILLE, General Bounce, xiii. “Let them but lay a finger on my ‘Medea,’ and I’ll give them such a ROASTING as they haven’t had since the days of the ‘Dunciad.’”
1897. B. MITFORD, A Romance of the Cape Frontier, I. ix. Poor Allen was ROASTED unmercifully on the strength of it.
2. (thieves’).—(a) To watch closely; TO STALL (q.v.). Also TO BOAST BROWN and TO GET (or GIVE) A ROASTING: Fr. pousser de la ficelle. Thus (old) TO SMELL OF THE ROAST = to get into prison.—B. E. (c. 1696); GROSE (1785).
1587. Mirour for Magistrates [NARES].
| My souldiers were slayne fast before mine owne eyes, | |
| Or forc’d to flie, yeilde, and SMELL OF THE ROST. |
1879. J. W. HORSLEY, Jottings from Jail [Macmillan’s Magazine, xl. 504]. I see a reeler giving me a ROASTING, so I began to count my pieces for a jolly.
1888. G. R. SIMS, A Plank Bed Ballad [Referee, 12 Feb.]. A reeler was ROASTING ME BROWN.
PHRASES.—TO RULE THE ROAST = to lead, to domineer (B. E., GROSE); TO CRY ROAST MEAT = to chatter about one’s good fortune (B. E., GROSE); TO MAKE ROAST MEAT FOR WORMS = to kill; TO GIVE ROAST MEAT AND BEAT WITH THE SPIT = ‘to do one a Curtesy, and Twit or Upbraid him with it’ (B. E.); TO ROAST SNOW IN A FURNACE = to attempt the unnecessary or absurd. Also PROVERBIAL SAYINGS:—‘Set a fool to ROAST eggs, and a wise man to eat them’; ‘You are in your ROAST MEAT when others are in their fod’; ‘There’s reason in ROASTING of eggs’; ‘Great boast and small ROAST make unsavoury mouths.’ Cf. RIB-ROASTER.
c. 1380. The Debate of the Carpenters Tools [HAZLITT, Remains of the Early Popular Poetry of England, I. 85]. My mayster ȝet shall REULE THE ROSTE.
d. 1529. SKELTON, Why come ye nat to Courte?
| He RULETH all THE ROSTE | |
| With bragging and with boste. |
1594. SHAKESPEARE, 2 Henry IV., i. 1. Suffolk, the new-made duke, that RULES THE ROAST. Ibid. (1608), Pericles, i. 3. Pand. The poor Transylvanian is dead, that lay with the little baggage. Boult. Ay, she quickly poop’d him; she made him ROAST MEAT FOR WORMS.
1606. CHAPMAN, The Gentleman Usher, v. 1. Ah, I do domineer, and RULE THE ROAST.
1634. F. LENTON, Innes of Court Anagrammatist.
| Or to your selfe, or others, when they boast | |
| Of dainty cates, and afterwards CRY ROAST. |
1659. GAUDEN, The Tears of the Church, 682. He might … not have PROCLAIMED on the house-top to all the world, the ROST-MEAT he hath gotten.
1670. COTTON, Burlesque upon Burlesque: or, The Scoffer Scofft [Works (1725), 256].
| Par. Why then, if I may RULE THE ROAST, | |
| I affect naked women most. |
1719. D’URFEY, Wit and Mirth; or Pills to Purge Melancholy, iii. 22. When you GIVE a Man ROAST-MEAT, AND BEAT WITH THE SPIT.
1748. SMOLLETT, Roderick Random, li. Who was hand and glove with a certain person who RULED THE ROAST. Ibid. (1749), Gil Blas [ROUTLEDGE], 362. She began to see that there was REASON IN ROASTING OF EGGS.
1749. FIELDING, Tom Jones, IV. v. To trumpet forth the praises of such a person would … be CRYING ROAST MEAT.
1820. LAMB, The Essays of Elia, ‘Christ’s Hospital Five and Thirty Years Ago.’ The foolish beast, not able to fare well but he must CRY ROAST MEAT … would needs proclaim his good fortune to the world below.
1829. W. T. MONCRIEFF, Giovanni in London, i. 3. Now, sirs, I hope you’ll own we are your wives, the rulers of the ROAST.
