roust

[roust] /raʊst/
verb (used with object)
1.
to rout, as from a place:
to roust someone out of bed.
Origin
1650-60; perhaps alteration of rouse1
Examples from the web for roust
  • Even in the middle of the night, the buzzer would roust someone out of bed when a large, distant earthquake occurred.
British Dictionary definitions for roust

roust

/raʊst/
verb
1.
(transitive) often foll by out. to rout or stir, as out of bed
Word Origin
C17: perhaps an alteration of rouse1
Word Origin and History for roust
v.

1650s, probably an alteration of rouse. Related: Rousted; rousting.

Slang definitions & phrases for roust

roust

noun

Raid or harassment: What's the roust? You gonna close this place?

verb
  1. Esp of police officers, to harass someone; chivvy, rough up: always being rousted by cops
  2. To arrest: Try rousting me and see what real resistance is like
  3. To raid: They're rousting all the gay bars

[1970s+; fr rouster or rooster, ''a deckhand or waterfront laborer,'' attested fr the mid1800s, hence with connotations of roughness; related to roustabout, fr British dialect rous-about, ''unwieldy,'' rousing, ''rough, shaggy,'' and rousy, ''filthy''; the semantic core seems to combine roughness with laziness, in the old heroic mold, and to be associated with the behavior of the rooster, who combines rough vigor with long periods on the perch; first verb sense found in 1904 prison slang in the sense ''to jostle,'' and by the 1940s in the sense ''to jostle so as to pick a pocket'']