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toast1

Syllabification: (toast)
Pronunciation: /tōst/

Translate toast | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of toast

noun

  • 1sliced bread browned on both sides by exposure to radiant heat.
  • 2a call to a gathering of people to raise their glasses and drink together in honor of a person or thing, or an instance of drinking in this way:he raised his glass in a toast to his son
  • [in singular] a person or thing that is very popular or held in high regard by a particular group of people:he found himself the toast of the baseball world

verb

[with object]
  • 1cook or brown (food, especially bread or cheese) by exposure to a grill, fire, or other source of radiant heat:he sat by the fire and toasted a piece of bread (as adjective toasted)toasted marshmallows
  • [no object] (of food) cook or become brown by exposure to radiant heat:broil until the nuts have toasted
  • warm (oneself or part of one’s body) in front of a fire or other source or heat.
  • 2drink to the health or in honor of (someone or something) by raising one’s glass together with others:happy families toasting each other’s health figurativehe is toasted by the trade as the outstanding dealer in children’s books

Phrases

be toast

informal be or be likely to become finished, defunct, or dead:one mistake and you’re toast

Origin:

late Middle English (as a verb in the sense 'burn as the sun does, parch'): from Old French toster 'roast', from Latin torrere 'parch'. The practice of drinking a toast (toast1 (sense 2 of the noun)) goes back to the late 17th century, and originated in naming a lady whose health the company was requested to drink, the idea being that the lady's name flavored the drink like the pieces of spiced toast that were formerly placed in drinks such as wine

toast in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of toast in the British & World English dictionary

Nearby words

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