roost

«roost» in Mova's school dictionary: a place where birds or bats rest or sleep, such as a… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a roost, roosts); verb (roost, roosts, roosted, roosting)

meaning for a pupil

1) A roost is a place where birds or bats rest or sleep, such as a branch, a perch or a barn. tree →

2) To roost is for birds or bats to settle down to rest or sleep there. tree →

3) «Rule the roost» means to be the boss of a group or a home. tree →

4) «Come home to roost» means that bad things someone did come back to cause trouble for them. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science lessons about birds and bats, roosts are where they sleep, often in large groups; bat roosts are protected by law in the UK. Chickens roost on a perch in their coop at night. In stories the idioms show who is in charge or how bad deeds return. Phrases: rule the roost, come home to roost, bat roost, go to roost.

examples

• The hens went to roost as the sun set. tree →
• Hundreds of starlings roost under the pier. tree →
• Bats roost in the old church roof. tree →
• You must not disturb a bat roost. tree →
• In our house the cat rules the roost. tree →
• The owl roosts in the hollow tree during the day. tree →
• His lies came home to roost when the truth came out. tree →
• The parrot has a favourite roost by the window. tree →
• Evil wishes, like chickens, come home to roost. tree →

note

Noun: a roost, roosts. Verb: roost, roosts, roosted, roosting. «Rooster» (US, Australia) is a male chicken (UK: cockerel), from the same word. Both idioms are figurative, not about real birds.

In the corpora

• British bats raise one baby a year in summer roosts in roofs and trees, and sleep through winter in cold places.
• Because they lose roosts easily, the law protects them and their roosts.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «roost» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.