toast
/toʊst/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.96 in modern English
5
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A person, group, or notable object to which a salutation with alcohol is made; a person or group held in similar esteem.
Countable
noun
Something that is irreparably damaged or used up, especially when destroyed by heat or fire; something which has been burnt to a crisp or incinerated.
American usage; Slang; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "I ate a piece of toast for breakfast."
- "This toast and marmalade tastes heavenly."
- "Tea was a very special institution, revolving as it did around the ceremony and worship of Toast. In [public schools] where alcohol, tobacco and drugs were forbidden, it was essential that something should take their place as a powerful and public totem of virility and cool. Toast, for reasons lost in time, was the substance chosen."
- "At the reception, there were many toasts from the well-wishers."
- "The evening meal was "a repast of most recherché description," involving an endless series of toasts to almost everybody (with the notable exception of the other railway already serving Brentford, which came in for some hard knocks from various speakers)."
- "He was the toast of high society."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ters- Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *tr̥stós Proto-Italic *torstos Latin tostus Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Late Latin tostō Old French tosterbor. Middle English tostendeverb. Middle English tost English toast From Middle English tost, from the verb tosten (see below). Etymology 1 sense 3 is according to the Oxford English Dictionary a figurative application of etymology 1 sense 1 dating to 1674. It began as an epithet for a lady being supposed to flavour a bumper like a spiced toast placed in that drink. (In this context, a bumper is a drinking vessel filled to the brim.)
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /toʊst/
- British English: /təʊst/
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Food.