Brewer's: Roast

To rule the roast. To have the chief direction; to be paramount. It is usually thought that “roast” in this phrase means roost, and that the reference is to a cock who decides which hen is to roost nearest to him, but the subjoined quotation favours the idea of “council.”

“John, Duke of Burgoyne, ruled the rost, and governed both King Charles ... and his whole realme.” —Hall: Union (1548).

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