toast
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /təʊst/
ipa: /toʊst/
ipa: /təʉst/
rhymes: -əʊst
Forms: form: toasts
form: tost
Etymology: From Middle English tost, from the verb tosten (see below).
(person who is honored with a drink): First appears in print at the very end of the 17th century. The conventional assumption is that the use is metaphorical, “the name of a lady being supposed to flavour a drink like a spiced toast.” This is pure speculation, however, as the origin of the sense remains obscure.
(something that will be no more): Ad-libbed by actor Bill Murray in the 1984 film Ghostbusters (see quotation).
Senses: examples: text: I ate a piece of toast for breakfast.
text: This toast and marmalade tastes heavenly.
text: 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.
ref: 1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, page 23:
glosses: Bread that has been cooked lightly and browned.
examples: text: At the reception, there were many toasts from the well-wishers.
synonyms: pledge
glosses: A proposed salutation (e.g. saying "cheers") while drinking alcohol.
examples: text: He was the toast of high society.
text: Josephine Baker did not become the toast of Paris by just shaking her booty for some theater gypsies as a party wound down.
ref: 2014 May 28, John McWhorter, “Saint Maya”, in The New Republic, →ISSN:
glosses: A person, group, or notable object to which a salutation with alcohol is made; a person or group held in similar esteem.
examples: text: The metal frame survived the fire, but the plastic and rubber bits are toast.
glosses: 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.
examples: text: to become/be toast
text: If I ever get my hands on the guy that stole my wallet, he’s toast!
text: You are going to be toast if you don't submit your school project on time.
text: This chick is toast!
ref: 1984, Ghostbusters, spoken by Peter Venkman (Bill Murray):
synonyms: dead duck
dead meat
glosses: Something that will be no more; something subject to impending destruction, harm or injury.
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: A type of extemporaneous narrative poem or rap.
glosses: An old toast ("a lively fellow who drinks excessively").
examples: text: With the new Windows Push Notification Service, you can remotely send notifications from a cloud-based web service. In Windows 8, the majority of the Toast messages are standard duration toasts.
ref: 2012, Nick Lecrenski, Doug Holland, Allen Sanders, Professional Windows 8 Programming:
topics: computing
engineering
graphical-user-interface
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: A transient, informational unclickable pop-up overlay, less interactive than a snackbar.
examples: text: Go, fetch me a quart of Sacke, put a toſt in't.
ref: c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v], page 52, column 1:
qualifier: obsolete outside India
glosses: A piece of toast.
Derived terms: anchovy toast
avocado toast
beans on toast
brick toast
burn one's toast
burnt toast theory
cheese on toast
freedom toast
French toast
have someone on toast
honey toast
kaya toast
loyal toast
milk toast
pizza toast
prawn toast
Rocky Mountain toast
Shibuya toast
shit on toast
shrimp toast
sunshine toast
tea and toast syndrome
Texas toast
tiger toast
toaster
toast Hawaii
toastmaker
toastmaster
toast notification
toast of the town
toast point
toast rack
toast sandwich
toast water
tongue toast
warm as toast
watched toast never burns
whatever butters your toast
Related terms: torrent
torrid