roostern.
/ˈruːstə/, U.S. /ˈrustər/ 1.
a. Chiefly North American, Australian, and New Zealand, and formerly English regional. A male domestic fowl, a cock (cock n.1 1).
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the world > animals > birds > order Galliformes (fowls) > family Phasianidae (pheasants, etc.) > hen or cock > [noun] > cock
cockeOE
chanticleer?a1300
common astrologera1413
dunghill cock1561
red cock1591
cock-a-doodle-doo1604
roost-cock1606
alectryon1664
stag1730
rooster1772
doodle-doo1785
cock bird1788
1772 A. G. Winslow Diary 14 Mar. (1894) 45 Their other dish..contain'd a number of roast fowls—half a dozen, we suppose, & all roosters at this season no doubt.
1806 Balance (Hudson, N.Y.) 22 July 227/1 The New York Rooster—may he continue to crow!
1813 Weekly Reg. 4 192/1 If ever he lived to see Baltimore, the rooster should be treated with pound cake.
1822 J. Flint Lett. from Amer. 264 Rooster, or he-bird.—Cock, the male of the hen.
1836 C. P. Traill Backwoods of Canada 308 The produce of two hens and a cock, or rooster, as the Yankees term that bird.
1847 H. Melville Omoo lxvi With a rooster's quill, therefore, a bit of soiled paper, and a stout heart, he set to work.
1870 J. H. B. Nowland Early Reminisc. Indianapolis 149 It was during this canvass [in 1840] that Tom gave to the Democratic party their emblem, which they have claimed ever since, the chicken cock, or rooster.
1882 Garden 20 May 348 At sunrise I was awakened by a sturdy old rooster.
1899 Queensland Agric. Jrnl. 5 278 I advise only 4 pullets to a rooster.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses iii. xvi. [Eumaeus] 616 Chalk a circle for a rooster.
1923 E. W. Benjamin Marketing Poultry Products iv. 120 Cock, or Rooster.—These are the mature males.
1951 M. A. Jull Successful Poultry Managem. (ed. 2) xi. 348 A cock or old rooster is a mature male chicken with coarse skin, toughened and darkened meat.
1983 T. Winton in Meanjin Dec. 507 A wired-up run against the fence in which hens and a puff-chested little rooster pecked and picked.
2008 Atlantic Monthly Dec. 30/2 Roosters are strictly prohibited because of the noise.
b. A bird or bat that is roosting or that habitually roosts.
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the world > animals > birds > actions or bird defined by > [noun] > perching > group or bird that perches
percher1771
rooster1811
Insessores1823
1811 M. Leadbeater Cottage Dialogues Gloss. 313 It will be advantageous to make a hen house over the sty, the warmth of the lower apartment being found peculiarly advantageous to the roosters in the attic.
1850 Yale Lit. Mag. Feb. 167 The roosters on the neighboring trees..think it day, and begin to rouse the unfeathered bipeds from their slumbers, with their mellifluous clang.
1949 Brit. Birds 42 323 The more leisured flight of the roosters [sc. starlings] was in contrast to the steady procession of the migrants.
1976 Behavioral Ecol. & Sociobiol. 1 388 Exposed bole roosters [sc. bats]..do not show the conspicuous display and calling behaviors of cavity roosters.
1998 Wilson Bull. 110 422/1 Cavity roosting birds, especially communal cavity roosters, also face the possibility of becoming trapped within cavities.
2. In extended use.† a. Criminals' slang. An informer. Obsolete.† b. A violent or disorderly person. Obsolete.
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1781 G. Parker View Society & Manners II. 126 Queer rooster is a fellow who gets into a house of rendezvous for thieves, pretends to be asleep, and listens to their conversation in order to discover it to some Justice, or to inform for a reward.
1897 A. Barrère & C. G. Leland Dict. Slang II. 156 Queer rooster (American thieves), a man that lodges among thieves to pick up information for the police.
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1821 P. Egan Life in London ii. v. 276 Roosters and the ‘peep-o'-day boys’ were out on a prowl for a spree.
1855 N. Amer. Rev. 141 434 The toughest set of roosters that ever shook the dust of any town.
c. A powerful, important, or boastful person.
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the mind > emotion > pride > ostentation > [noun] > ostentatious person
peacocka1425
ruffler1536
struttera1591
flaunter1598
glisterer1628
tulip1647
parader1747
swasher1821
swash1824
dazzler1839
rooster1840
show-off1841
swankera1846
Vanity-Fairian1847
grandstander1896
spotlighter1907
swank1913
swankpot1914
showboat1932
showboater1941
pavisander1950
1840 Log Cabin 5 Sept. 3/2 Chapman, the great Rooster of the Loco-Foco party,..was formerly one of the editers [sic] of an Infidel paper, the Boston Investigator.
1871 G. Meredith Harry Richmond II. xvi. 214 Hang..your talk of a fine girl, like my Janet, as a piece of poultry, you young rooster!
1881 Philad. Rec. No. 3428. 2 It is not..in the nature of things that a rooster in the Legislature should quietly submit to be lectured by a rooster outside of the legislature.
1911 Maoriland Worker 7 July 9 ‘Blatant megaphones’ and ‘roosters’ who have been ‘got at’ are the terms used to describe ‘highly-paid’ officials of the Labour Federation.
1990 Australian 4 May (Brisbane ed.) 1/4 Stan Shneider used to be the rooster of Interwest, the giant Melbourne-based hotel group.
d. colloquial. A man; a fellow, a ‘bloke’. Often with old. Originally U.S., now chiefly New Zealand.
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the world > people > person > man > [noun]
churla800
werec900
rinkeOE
wapmanc950
heOE
wyeOE
gomeOE
ledeOE
seggeOE
shalkOE
manOE
carmanlOE
mother bairnc1225
hemea1250
mother sona1250
hind1297
buck1303
mister mana1325
piecec1325
groomc1330
man of mouldc1330
hathela1350
sire1362
malea1382
fellowa1393
guestc1394
sergeant?a1400
tailarda1400
tulka1400
harlotc1405
mother's sona1470
frekea1475
her1488
masculinea1500
gentlemana1513
horse?a1513
mutton?a1513
merchant1549
child1551
dick1553
sorrya1555
knavea1556
dandiprat1556
cove1567
rat1571
manling1573
bird1575
stone-horse1580
loona1586
shaver1592
slave1592
copemate1593
tit1594
dog1597
hima1599
prick1598
dingle-dangle1605
jade1608
dildoa1616
Roger1631
Johnny1648
boy1651
cod1653
cully1676
son of a bitch1697
cull1698
feller1699
chap1704
buff1708
son of a gun1708
buffer1749
codger1750
Mr1753
he-man1758
fella1778
gilla1790
gloak1795
joker1811
gory1819
covey1821
chappie1822
Charley1825
hombre1832
brother-man1839
rooster1840
blokie1841
hoss1843
Joe1846
guy1847
plug1848
chal1851
rye1851
omee1859
bloke1861
guffin1862
gadgie1865
mug1865
kerel1873
stiff1882
snoozer1884
geezer1885
josser1886
dude1895
gazabo1896
jasper1896
prairie dog1897
sport1897
crow-eater1899
papa1903
gink1906
stud1909
scout1912
head1913
beezer1914
jeff1917
pisser1918
bimbo1919
bozo1920
gee1921
mush1936
rye mush1936
basher1942
okie1943
mugger1945
cat1946
ou1949
tess1952
oke1970
bra1974
muzhik1993
1840 ‘S. Slick’ in Spirit of Times 21 Nov. 446/3 Well, my old rooster... The next time you see me, I hope you will know me; where did you larn manners, starin' so like all possest?
1850 ‘N. Buntline’ G'hals of N.Y. 133 Now, look here, ole rooster!
1875 Overland Monthly Oct. 361/1 The derned bald-headed old rooster! What's he singin' hymns fur now?
1896 C. King Captain Dreams 17 We four'll go round to the club and we'll have supper,—supper such as I've been spoiling to have with these two blessed old roosters ever since the Sioux campaign of '76.
1923 R. D. Paine Comrades Rolling Ocean xiv. 252 What was that rooster's name?
1929 ‘E. Milton’ Love & Chiffon 178 ‘That Rooster narks me,’ said Henare.
1944 N.Z.E.F. Times (2nd N.Z. Expeditionary Force) 4 Dec. 5 ‘I got the NZEF Times today, he said’ said the Bloke, ‘and I see you two spruikers have had it.’.. ‘I see you missed it this week and you're out the monk, says this rooster,’ said the Bloke.
1992 B. Anderson Portrait of Artist's Wife 46 We were all there, the whole lot of us and this rooster from Walters Carriers arrives for the wethers.
3. U.S. A wild violet, as used in a children's game modelled on cockfighting in which the stems of violets are joined and the flowers pulled apart. Now historical.
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society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > children's game > other children's games > [noun] > others > wild violet used in game
rooster1856
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > pea flowers > violet and allied flowers > violet > for use in medicine, confections, or games
violeta1400
rooster1856
violet1890
1856 J. Ferris States & Territories Great West i. 26 The children, among the wild violets, were playing at fighting roosters.
1884 Harper's Mag. June 94/1 Purple violets..were slaughtered by hundreds, for the projecting spur under the curved stem at the base of the flower enabled the boys to hook them together and ‘fight roosters’, as they termed it.
1907 20th Ann. Rep. Cornell Univ. Agric. Exper. Station 577 By the way, this tube is the part which enables the boys to ‘fight roosters’ with these flowers.
1946 C. Richter Fields 231 In April they played Hens and Roosters, yoking their wild white and blue violets to see which would get its head pulled off.
2002 T. Hemmerly Ozark Wildflowers ii. 170 Steyermark, in his Flora of Missouri, describes a game called ‘Hens and Roosters’ played by Ozark children using flowers of the solid purple type (hens) and bicolored ones (roosters).
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1869 Southern Rev. July 54 American demoralisation..has carried rooster into the halls of republican legislation, where it indicates a bill or proposed law which will remunerate the legislators.
1871 in M. Schele De Vere Americanisms 262 Rooster..indicates a bill, or proposed law, which will benefit the legislators—and no one else.
Compounds
rooster comb n. [compare earlier cockcomb n. 4] U.S. a plant of the genus Celosia (family Amaranthaceae), having a red flower that resembles a rooster's comb; also called cockscomb.
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the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Amaranthaceae (amaranth and allies) > [noun]
larix1548
frog grass1597
cockcomb1687
coxcomb1718
amarantoid1736
alternanthera1866
amarantad1866
iresine1866
rooster comb1959
amarant-
chaff-flower-
1959 Daily News (Estherville, Iowa) 6 May 2/3 It is reported that club members chuckled when one member identified the cockscomb as the ‘rooster comb's flower’.
1966–70 in Dict. Amer. Regional Eng. (2002) IV. (at cited word) Cockscomb—more polite to say ‘rooster comb’.
2008 St. Louis (Missouri) Post-Dispatch (Nexis) 27 Jan. 30 My grandmother used to grow pretty plants she called rooster combs. I'd like to grow them, too, but don't know if they are still around.
roosterfish n. a large predatory fish, Nematistius pectoralis (family Nematistiidae), with a prominent crest formed by elongated rays at the front of the dorsal fin, found in warm coastal waters of the eastern Pacific and popular as a game fish.
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1909 Field & Stream May 410/1 The rooster fish, so called because of its fringed dorsal fin, is a large-scaled white fsh found along the sandbanks of San Lucas Bay.
1934 W. K. Gregory & F. Lamonte World of Fishes (Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. Guide Leaflet No. 81) 46 The ornate Roosterfish may be regarded as an Amberfish with an enlarged and plume-like first dorsal fin.
1996 Orange Coast Mar. 118/2 La Paz offers watersports along with deep-sea fishing for marlin, sailfish, swordfish, tuna, roosterfish, yellowtail and more.
roosterhead n. (also †rooster's head) U.S. either of two North American wild flowers, the American cowslip or shooting star, Dodecatheon meadia, and (more fully roosterhead violet) a wild violet (genus Viola).
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > pea flowers > violet and allied flowers > allied flowers
pansyc1450
heartsease1530
pansy flower1530
three (also two) faces under (or in) a (or one) hood1548
bulbous violet1578
love-in-idleness1578
sweet violet1578
pensea1592
cull-me-to-you1597
dog's tooth violet1597
dog violet1597
kiss-me-ere-I-rise1597
live in idleness1597
wild violet1597
yellow violet1597
love-and-idle1630
love-in-idle1664
trinity1699
fancy1712
wood violet1713
marsh violet1753
tree violet1753
kiss-me-at-the-gate1787
bird's-foot violet1802
Parma violet1812
Johnny-jump-up1827
stepmother1828
Neapolitan violet1830
garden gate1842
butterfly pea1848
kissa1852
pinkany-John1854
viola1871
kiss-me1877
pink-eyed John1877
face and hood1886
roosterhead1894
trout-lily1909
1894 Jrnl. Amer. Folk-lore 7 94 Dodecatheon Meadia, var., shooting stars, roosters' heads.
1947 Atlantic July 41/2 Spring not only brought tadpoles but..big bunches of rooster-head violets that the children picked in the woods.
1976 V. Greer Glory Woods 42 The rooster heads are long gone to wherever rooster head violets go.
1998 P. Irwin Colorado's Best Wildflower Hikes xxx. 146 Many common names, such as Indian chiefs, roosterheads, and bird-bills, apply to moisture-loving shooting star, a member of the primrose family.
Derivatives
ˈroosterish adj.
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1898 ‘M. Twain’ in Harper's Mag. Mar. 536/2 He stands vast and conspicuous..self-satisfied and roosterish.
1933 ‘B. Ross’ Drury Lane's Last Case i. 24 His big shoulders drooped, and the roosterish look went out of his eyes.
2007 A. Theroux Laura Warholic viii. 94 Short, roosterish men are somehow always talking the loudest.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1772